Francis Stapleton-Cotton, 4th Viscount Combermere
Francis Lynch Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, 4th Viscount Combermere DL
Early life
He was born on 29 June 1887. He was the only son of Robert Stapleton-Cotton, 3rd Viscount Combermere and the former Isabel Marian Poole, the former wife of Cudworth Halsted Poole of Marbury Hall.His paternal grandparents were Col. Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, 2nd Viscount Combermere and Susan Alice Sitwell. His maternal grandparents were Sir George Chetwynd, 3rd Baronet and Lady Charlotte Augusta Hill.
He was educated at Harrow School in London.
Career
Upon his father's death on 20 February 1898, ten-year old Francis succeeded as the 9th Baronet Cotton of Combermere as well as the 4th Baron Combermere of Combermere and the 4th Viscount Combermere of Bhurtpore.In 1916, Combermere gained the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery and fought in World War I between 1916 and 1919, where he was wounded. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Herefordshire between 1953 and 1960.
Personal life
On 30 October 1913, Lord Combermere married Hazel Louisa Agnew, the second daughter of Henry de Courcy Agnew and the former Ethel Anne Goff. They divorced in 1926, and she later died on 15 April 1943.On 1 January 1927, Combermere remarried to his first wife's cousin, Constance Marie Katherine Drummond, the youngest daughter of Lt.-Col. Sir Francis Dudley Williams-Drummond. Together, they were the parents of two sons:
- Michael Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, 5th Viscount Combermere, who married Pamela Coulson, a daughter of Rev. Robert Gustavus Coulson.
- Capt. Hon. David Peter Dudley Stapleton-Cotton, married Susan Nomakepu Albu, second daughter of Sir George Albu, 2nd Baronet, in 1955.