Lord Aberdare

Lord Aberdare (died in 2005)

"He was born Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce in London in 1919, eldest son of Clarence Napier, 3rd Baron, and Margaret Bethune, née Black...

"He went on to New College, Oxford, but his university career was cut short by the outbreak of war. He was commissioned into the Welsh Guards and ended the war as a major. A year later he married Sarah Dashwood, daughter of Sir John Dashwood, a direct descendant of Sir Francis Dashwood who founded the scandalous Hellfire Club...

"From 1979 to 1998 Aberdare was chairman of the Football Trust, which helped clubs to improve their facilities and introduce all-seat grounds after the Hillsborough disaster. After working briefly for the Rank Organisation and the BBC, Bruce set up FCM, a production company specialising in speech recordings including interviews with sporting greats and Shakespeare’s plays.

"He succeeded to the barony in 1957 when his widowed father drowned after a car crash during his second honeymoon. He became active in the House of Lords, taking a particular interest in health and sporting issues and was made a junior Health minister under Sir Keith Joseph in Edward Heath’s Government and then briefly Minister without Portfolio.

"When the Conservatives lost the election in 1974, however, Aberdare, never comfortable with the hurly- burly of party politics, became a popular and long-serving chairman of committees in the Lords. He often stood in for the Lord Chancellor and worked with quiet efficiency to ensure that the House ran smoothly...

"He is survived by his wife Sarah and their four sons, the eldest of whom, Alastair John Lyndhurst Bruce, succeeds to the title."

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• Nation Aberdare Forest Fund