Thomas Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere

Captain Thomas Pitt Hamilton Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere, styled The Honourable Thomas Cholmondeley from birth until 1931, was a British peer. Popularly known as Tom Delamere, he lived on and leased the vast estate known as Soysambu Ranch in Kenya.

Early life

Cholmondeley was the eldest son of Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere, whom he succeeded in 1931. His mother was Lady Florence Anne Cole, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who was the daughter of Lowry Cole, 4th Earl of Enniskillen. Cholmondeley was a descendant of the family of Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was educated at Eton. During the Second World War he served with the Welsh Guards and achieved the rank of Captain.

Lands and estates

In this period, the Cholmondeley family continued to own ancestral land and estates in Cheshire in the North of England. However, Lord Delamere lived, worked and invested most of his life in building modern Kenya. In 1934, Tom Delamere moved his family into Vale Royal Abbey, only to be forced out in 1939 when His Majesty's Government converted Vale Royal to serve as a sanatorium for soldiers of World War II. The Cholmondeleys were restored to possession of the abbey after the war, but by 1947 the house and grounds had been sold.

Personal life

Cholmondeley married on 14 June 1924, Phyllis Anne Scott, daughter of Lord George William Montagu Douglas Scott and Lady Elizabeth Emily Manners. The children of that marriage were:

The Hon. Elizabeth Florence Marion.
The Hon. Anne Jeannetta Essex.
Hugh George.

Cholmondely had become Baron Delamere by the time he and Baroness Delamere were divorced in 1944. Lord Delamere remarried on 15 June 1944 to [Mary Cholmondeley, Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom|Lady Delamere|The Hon. Ruth Mary Clarisse Ashley], daughter of the then late Lt. Col. Lord Mount Temple, who was the first Baron Mount Temple, and Amalia Mary Maud Cassel. This second marriage ended in divorce in 1955.
On 26 March 1955, Lord Delamere married, thirdly, Diana Caldwell, daughter of Seymore Caldwell, better known as Diana Delves-Broughton.

Death

Baron Delamere died at age 78 in April 1979; and he was succeeded in the lands, estates and title by his son from his first marriage, Hugh Cholmondeley, 5th Baron Delamere.