John de Courcy, 35th Baron Kingsale

John de Courcy, 35th Baron Kingsale (27 January 1941 – 15 September 2005), was an Anglo-Irish nobleman who was the Premier Baron of Ireland.

He succeeded his grandfather to the title in 1969, his father, Lieutenant-Commander The Honourable Michael Robert Rancé de Courcy (1907-1940), RN, having been killed in action in 1940. His mother, Glory Elizabeth, was daughter of Engr-Cdr Alfred Claremont Evans, R.N.,[1] whose family owned a lucrative lanolin oil business; this allowed for Lord Kingsale's education at Stowe School and the Universities of Paris and Salzburg, but the business later collapsed.[2] He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Irish Guards 1962–1965, after which he resigned due to being unable to keep himself on his limited private income.

Lord Kingsale was famous for his varied career. At various times he was a property developer, law student, film extra, white hunter, and bingo caller. He also ran a dating service in Australia — which was successful although he never managed himself to marry, although he made repeated attempts to acquire a wife. He was director of several companies, Chairman of the National Association for Service to the Realm (which advocated for the return of national service) from 1979, and Patron of L'Orchestre du Monde from 1988.

The family is named for the village of Courcy-sur-Dives, in Calvados, France. They were also Lords of the Manor of Stogursey, Somerset. Lord Kingsale died in sheltered housing in Somerset, where he had lived since 1994, on 15 September 2005 aged 64.

He was succeeded in his peerages by a descendant of the 20th Baron, Nevinson Mark de Courcy, who was born 11 May 1958.

He had British North American roots through his ancestor John de Courcy, 25th Baron Kingsale (c. 1717–1776), who was born in Rhode Island.

Ancestry

References
  1. Burke's Peerage 2003, vol. 2, p. 2177
  2. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/how-to-live-like-a-lord-on-pounds-68-a-week-1315622.html
  • "Obituary - John de Courcy". 22 September 2005. Archived from the original on 23 September 2005 – via King's Mead School.
  • The Independent:The Sorry Tale of an Aristocrat on his Uppers
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Michael de Courcy		 Baron Kingsale
1969–2005		 Succeeded by
Nevinson de Courcy
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