Mark Lennox-Boyd
Sir Mark Alexander Lennox-Boyd was a British Conservative politician who served as an MP from 1979 to 1997.
Early life and education
Lennox-Boyd was born at The Dorchester in London on 4 May 1943, the third and youngest son of Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton and his wife Lady Patricia Guinness, daughter of Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh. His eldest brother was Simon Lennox-Boyd, 2nd Viscount Boyd of Merton.He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford from which he graduated with a BA in 1964 and an MA in 1965. He was called to the bar by Middle Temple in 1968.
Political career
Lennox-Boyd contested Brent South in October 1974, being defeated by Labour's Laurie Pavitt.He was MP for Morecambe and Lonsdale from 1979 to 1983, and the Morecambe and Lunesdale from 1983 until his defeat by Labour's Geraldine Smith in 1997. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Energy from 1981 to 1983, PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1983 to 1984, Assistant government whip from 1984 to 1986; a Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury from 1986 to 1988, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher from 1988 to 1990, and as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of state in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1990 to 1994.
Lennox-Boyd was knighted on 19 August 1994.
Later career
Lennox-Boyd was a member of the Court of the Fishmongers' company, Prime Warden 1998–99, and served as chairman of the company's Education and Grants committee 2010–15. He was a trustee of the Georgian Group, and was chairman between 2014 and 2015. He was a Patron of Prisoners Abroad, a charity that supports the welfare of Britons imprisoned overseas and their families, and Patron of the British Sundial Society.Personal life and death
Lennox-Boyd married Arabella Parisi on 29 June 1974. Lady Lennox-Boyd was born in Italy, but left to settle in England where she later undertook a course in Landscape Architecture at Thames Polytechnic, now part of the University of Greenwich. The couple had one daughter together, Patricia Irene Lennox-Boyd. Arabella, Lady Lennox-Boyd, has a daughter, Dominique, from a previous marriage.Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd died from brain cancer at Gresgarth Hall, his home in Caton, Lancashire, on 24 July 2025. He was 82.