Baron William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Lord Beaverbrook

Other Events:

• Occupation: Newspaper Proproetor
• _UID: 4DBF67D9497545C88015BCCF9FD64BC9C038
• Residence: 1924, 76 Hurlingham Road, Fulham, London, England
• Emigration: 2 Aug 1924, London, England
• Immigration: 3 Aug 1926, New York, New York, USA
• Residence: 1927, 76 Hurlingham Road, Fulham, London, England
• Residence: 1930, Stornoway House, 13 Clevelnad Road, St James, London, England
• Residence: 29 Jul 1931, 29 Bury Street, St James, London, England
• Residence: 1933, 13 Cleveland Row, Westminster, London, England
• Occupation: 1 Mar 1935; journalist
• Residence: 1 Mar 1935, Stormway House, Clevland Row, London, England
• Residence: 1938, Cherkley, Leatherhead, Surrey, England
• Immigration: 30 Mar 1947, Miami, Florida, USA
• Cremated: 14 Jun 1964, England

Notes:

Rahno was asthmatic, as was her brother, William
Thomas Barton Aitken, and many of the older folk at Torphichen, always maintained that Max was born in Torphichen. The birth was supposed to have taken place when William and Jane were home on leave. However the records show that Max was born in Canada.
In later life Max described himself as "conspicuously naughty and rather idle boy."
He along with the other children in Newcastle, attended Harkins Academy.
On Sundays Max pumped the pipe organ at the church, for a payment of 25 cents per week. He got the sack after falling asleep during a church service. (It was probably this memory that caused him to install an automatic pump in the pipe organ he donated to the church.)
At about the age of 13, in 1893 he produced his first paper, "The Leader", which he sold for 1 cent a copy. This was closed when his father found him working at 2.00 a.m. Sunday morning. He became a correspondent for the Saint John Sun.
When he was 16 he was sent to sit the entrance exam for Dalhousie University at Halifax. Because of having to learn Greek or Latin he did not complete the entrance. The thought of having to learn a dead language repulsed him.
Instead of going to university he went to work in a drug store. There he met an important customer, Mr Sinclair.
Mr Sinclair helped financially to allow Max to study law. Max repaid him before he made his millions. By the time he made his money, Mr Sinclair had died, Max created an Ice Rink for the young people of Newcastle and called it the Edward Sinclair Ice Rink in memory of his benefactor.
Max joined the law office of Mr Bennett later the Prime Minister of Canada. Also dabbling in stocks and shares he became a successful businessman eventually moving into newspaper publishing.
On 28 Dec 1905 the announcement of his engagement was published in the Montreal papers. Typical of the haste in which Max worked he was to be married on 29 Jan 1906, to Gladys Drury, "Gladys Drury, a girl universally liked and universally thought beautiful."
She was very young being 18 to his 26.

The wedding of Willaim and Gladys was reported in the "Halifax Morning Chronicle."The ceremony was a very quiet wedding which was attended by Max's mother, his brother Traven and 43 other guests."
After making a fortune in Canada he moved to England and became a newspaper owner.
He was the founder of The Sunday Express and owner of Beaverbrook Newspapers.
Moving into politics in England he became a Member of Parliament for Ashton Under Lyne (1910-1916). He had made his home at Cherkley, near Leatherhead, Surrey.
In 1911 he was knighted, much against the wishes of George V, becoming Sir Max Aitken.
1915 saw him with the Canadian Expeditionary Force as "Eye Witness", the Canadian Government Representative at the Front (1916). Wrote the book "Canada in Flanders" which went into its 13th print in 1916.
Created a Baronet in 1916 and in 1917 became the first Baron Beaverbrook.
He held various cabinet posts and during WWII he was Minister for Aircraft Production. He was a philanderer as well as a philanthropist and could be a proper tyrant in his dealings with people.
His marriage was not always a smooth one. Despite his proffessed love of Gladys he had many mistresses,Tallulah Bankhead actress, Rebecca West author of Sunflower, Mrs Diana Cooper wife of a fellow cabinet minister and others. Some he had affairs with over many years but he could not even be faithfull to them as he had other affairs at the same time. Principal amongst his mistresses was Mrs Jean Norton.
In 1925 he installed Jean Norton in a house on his Cherkley Court estate. She remained as his principle mistress until 1945.
In 1927 Gladys was very ill with a brain tumour. She was then residing at Stornaway House, Max's London residence.
Janet, their daughter, convinced him of the seriousness of her mother's illness. And so Max returned to London, from the south of France, where Max was living with Jean Norton.
He arrived in time for his wife's death.
True to his hyprocrisy, he wandering the hallways of Stornaway House wringing his hands and proclaiming "I have lost my harbour".
Mrs Norton took over his wife's duties after Gladys died.
When Mrs Norton died in 1945 again he was found wringing his hands and this time proclaiming "I have lost my moorings".
He was a multi millionaire making most of his money from newspapers.
As a newspaper mogul he was able to organize the British news media to impose a news blackout on the future King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson's affair.
Max celebrated his 85th birthday by having a party for 650 people, all men. By this time he was finding it absolute agony to walk being taken everywhere in a wheelchair, but on this occasion he walked to the party and then gave a brilliant speech. Two weeks later he died.
He was often accused of some shonky deals, especially in his younger days.
He always maintained he was born in Canada so that after he died there would be a certain tax saving.
Max died on 9 Jun 1964, at Leatherhead, SRY. England, and was cremated on 14 Jun 1964, in England and the ashes taken back to Canada.
The Town Council of Newcastle wanted his ashes to be buried in the town square but he thought the pigeons would poop on him so before he died he had a cairn erected, where his ashes would be interred. There was a house blocking the view from the cairn up the Miramachi River. So he purchased the house and had it demolished.
When his ashes were interred in the cairn he had, at last, his view of the river.
Beaverbrook was determined not to leave any of his money to the government so if he could not take it with him he left his money to various charitable trusts, to minimise death duties. No money was left to his relatives but he did leave them shares in various businesses.


Emigration:
Departed on board the Empress of France for Quebec, Canada

Immigration:
Departed Southampton, England

Residence:
Also had a residence at Warren Tower, Cheveley, Cambridgeshire

Residence:
Departed Southampton for Quebec, Canada onboeard the "Empress of Britain"

Occupation:
Departed Rio de Janiero for Southampton onboard the Cap Arcona


Immigration:
Arrived onboard aircraft CF-BKE from Nassau, Bahamas

William married Lady Gladys Henderson Drury on 29 Jan 1906 in Garrison Chapel, Halifax, Canada. Gladys (daughter of Major General Charles William Drury and Mary Louise Henderson) was born on 15 Feb 1885 in Canada; died on 1 Dec 1927 in London, England; was buried in St Michael Churchyard, Mickleham, Surrey, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Marcia Anastasia Christoforides on 2 Jun 1963 in Surrey, England. Marcia (daughter of John Christoforides and Mildred) was born on 27 Jul 1909 in 15 Queens Road, Wimbledon, Surrey, England; died on 28 Oct 1994 in Surrey, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• _UID: 2B9A49C765DE461893FCA5D0C5CAE17D67C4
• Residence: 2 Apr 1911, 23 Parkside, Knightsbridge, London, England
• Residence: 8 Apr 1927, Stornoway House, St James, London
• Immigration: 5 Aug 1962, New York, New York, USA
• Residence: 5 Aug 1962, Milverton, Somerset, England
• Residence: 18 Nov 1988, The Maple Stud, Ewhurst, Surrey, England

Notes:

In her autobiography she says she was born at Arm, Halifax. But in a biography of her father "Lord Beaverbrook, a Life" by Anne Chisholm and Michael Davie, her place of birth is given as Peurto Rico.
" He (Beaverbrook) planned to go south in January to recuperate: to Peurto Rico. 'I am leaving Mrs Aitken behind because she seems to be getting on so well here. Her family is in mourning and not going out at all and consequently she has no temptation to over-exert herself......... ."
".... their plans changed and she went with him to Peurto Rico.
The birth of their first child, Janet, on 9 Jul 1908, he said, 'increased the intimacy of our relationship."
When 6 Dec 1917 the French munitions ship, Mont Blanc, blew up, in Halifax Harbour, it destroyed government buildings housing the birth death and marriage records for Halifax.
This was supposedly why Janet never had a birth certificate.
More likely it was because she was not born in Halifax?

Janet was an invetrate traveller and it was she who first travelled to Barbados and found Holders House, which she purchased in 1963.
She was a great horsewoman and it was her idea that all the Kidd children should be named with names beginning with "J". This saved the cost of changing monogrammed horseboxes, saddlecloths, etc.
Thus we have Jane, John, Jemma, Jodie, Jack, etc.
Gourlay quotes Michael Foot (MP) in "The Beaverbrook I Knew" as saying 'Janet had strong streaks of the Beaverbrook charm ' but she did not possess her father's devotion to politics or journalism. 'Janet had a streak, too, of the old man's guile to add to the charm, but she was still no politician.

Residence:
Arrived Southampton on board the "Majestic" from New York

Immigration:
Arrived on Flight BA 505 from London

Janet married Sir Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll on 12 Dec 1927 in Chelsea, Middlesex, England. Ian (son of Douglas Walter Campbell and Aimee Lawrence) was born on 18 Jun 1903 in Paris, France; died on 7 Apr 1973 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Janet married Hon William Drogo Sturges Montagu in 1935 in London, England. William (son of Lord George Charles Montagu, 9th Earl of Sandwich and Alberta Sturges) was born on 29 May 1908 in London, England; died on 26 Jan 1940 in Hinchingbrook, Huntingdonshire, England; was cremated on 30 Jan 1940 in St Mary Magdalene Church, Brampton, Huntingdonshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Janet married Thomas Edward Dealtry Kidd, O.B.E. on 11 Jul 1942 in Chanctonbury, Sussex, England. Thomas was born on 8 Nov 1910 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada; died in 1979 in Ewhurst, Surrey. England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Military Award: Czechoslovak War Cross
• Military Award: DFC
• Military Award: DSO
• _UID: F111829CC6A64937902BDEC91A843A6EB4EE
• Residence: 2 Apr 1911, 23 Parkside, Knightsbridge, London, England
• Immigration: Aug 1924, Quebec, Canada
• Occupation: 2 Aug 1924; student
• Immigration: 31 Aug 1926, Southampton, Hampshire, England
• Residence: 1932-1933, 13 Cleveland Road, St James London, England
• Emigration: Dec 1935, Cherbourg, France
• Immigration: 21 Dec 1935, New York, New York, USA
• Occupation: 21 Dec 1935; director
• Residence: 1937, 15 Portman Square, Westminster, London, England
• Occupation: 29 Sep 1939; Flying Officer, 601 Sqdn
• Residence: 29 Sep 1939, Tower House, Orpington, Kent, England
• Occupation: 1945-1950; Tory Member of Parliament for Holborn
• Residence: 1955, Wellbottom Cottage, Givons Grove, Epsom, Surrey, England
• Immigration: 24 Apr 1959, Hamilton, Bermuda
• Residence: 24 Apr 1959, 12 Fleet Street, London, England
• Immigration: 9 Jun 1962, New York, New York, USA
• Residence: 9 Jun 1962, 12 Fleet Street, London, England
• Residence: 30 Apr 1985, 33 Crown Reach, Grosvenor Road, London, England

Notes:

Educated at Westminster then Pembroke College Cambridge. And joined the RAF, Auxillary, in 1935
In 1939 "Max was off flying passenger planes in America, and delivering war planes to the Republicans in Spain."According to Michael Foot in Gourlays "The Beaverbrook I Knew" Max had aquired "the exceptional experience which made him the best equipped pilot in the world when the catastrophe finally came. He was as handsome as Apollo, as swiftly moving as Mercury, but newspapers would have to wait for his attention until after he had helped win the Second World War."
When WWII started he became a Pilot Officer in the RAF. During the Battle of Britain he was a day fighter pilot.
On 28 Nov 1939 Max was recommended for a "Mention in Despatches" in connection with the low flying aatack on Borkum. This recognition was not approved.
On 18 May 1940, whilst leading a section of aircraft on patrol over Brussels, this officer attacked one of 12 Heinkel 111s which was finally seen to be losing height with one of its wings on fire with black smoke pouring from the other.
The next day, 19 May 1940, when leading a section of the Composite Squadron 601 and 145 on patrol in Cambrai-Douai sector, a large number of Heinkel 111 and Junkers 87 aircraft, escorted by Messerschmitt 110s, were sighted. Squadron Leader Aitken attacked and succeeded in destroying a Heinkel. After following the aircraft down he sighted a Junkers 87 flying at 100 feet which he attacked.
He was put forward for an immediate DFC, on 27 Jun 1940, by Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, Air Officer Commanding 11 Group. This was approved on 29 June 1940
During the Battle of Britain he was a day fighter pilot in No. 601 Squadron.In 1941he became Wing Commander and assumed charge of No.68 Squadron flying Blenheims, converting to Beaufighters, in a night fighter squadron
In 1941-2 he commanded a night fighter squadron. He became a Group Captain, commanding a Strike Mosquito Wing in Norwegian waters, in 1943.
On 5/6 March 1944, piloting Beaufighter LZ330 F, he destroyed two JU.52s.
Returning to the UK he then commanded the Banff Strike Wing (Coastal Command Mosquitos) in Norwegian waters, in 1943
He was mentioned in despatches and won a DSO, a DFC and the Czechoslovak War Cross, which he was presented with by Dr Benes then President of Czechoslovakia.
He survived the war but his marriage did not and Max and Cynthia were divorced in 1944.
In 1945 he was elected Tory Member of Parliament for Holborn, holding the seat until 1950
On the death of his father, the 1st Baron Beaverbrook, on Jun 9th 1964, John became the 2nd Baron. This title he disclaimed, for life, on 12th June 1964.
He held directorships in the Express (Beaverbrook) group of newspapers, Trafalgar House Publishers and Associared TV. Elected Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick in Canada.

Immigration:
Departed on the Empress of France from Southampton

Immigration:
Departed on board the Aquitania from New York

Emigration:
Departed onboard the Bremen for New York

Immigration:
Departed Cherbourg,France onboard the Bremen

Immigration:
Arrived on Flight Eagle 1010 from New York

Immigration:
Arrived on flight BOAC BA 501/687 from London

Buried:
Ashes scattered at sea, Specifically: off Cowes on the Isle of Wight

John married Cynthia Helen Glencairn Monteith on 26 Aug 1939 in Portman Square, London, England. Cynthia (daughter of Col Hugh Glencairn Monteith, DSO OBE and Dorothy Huntley Dunell) was born in 1916; was christened on 23 Nov 1916 in Holy Trinity, Brompton, London, England; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Occupation: Captain, Royal Fusilliers
• _UID: 19225B945F5445FAA39F9A73AE808725454F
• Immigration: 12 Nov 1933, New York, New York, USA
• Emigration: 28 Sep 1935, London, England
• Occupation: 28 Sep 1935; journalist
• Residence: 28 Sep 1935, 29 Bury Street, London, England
• Residence: 1938, Shepherds Close, Leatherhead, Surrey, England
• Residence: 4 Aug 1947, Pilots Point, Totland Bay, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England

Notes:

Peter's middle name is from his godfather, Rudyard Kipling, who was at that time a friend of his father's.

Educated at Westminster and then became a Stockbroker. His stockbroking career started in London, England, when he joined the Canadian firm of Wood Gundy. Later he was transferred to Canada.

A "Voiturette" driver, he raced with his own Maserati then he bought an ERA-B in August 1938 and raced it in the South African Grand Prix. At one stage he owned a Shelsley Frazer Nash which he eventually exchanged for an SS100.
During WWII he was serving as a Captain in the Royal Fusiliers when he was wounded. It was then that he met his future wife.Marie (Patsy) Maguire was the Australian nurse who looked after him when he was recovering from his injuries.

In 1947, off the coast of Sweden, he was single handedly sailing a yacht through some rough weather when he fell from the boat. He was injured in the fall but managed to get the boat back to shore. He was taken to hospital and given morphine for the pain. Tragically he was allergic to morphine and died in his hotel room in Stockholm

Immigration:
Arrived on board the Markland from Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Emigration:
Departed London onboard the Andalucia Star for Santa Cruz, Tenneriffe

Peter married Janet Ruth Murrene MacNeil on 25 Jan 1934 in St Columba's, Pont Street, Chelsea, Middlesex, England. Janet (daughter of Murray MacNeil) was born in 1912; died in 1947. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Peter married Marie Patricia MacGuire on 28 Oct 1942 in Chanetonbury, Surrey, England. Marie (daughter of Living and Living) was born on 11 Nov 1916 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; died on 27 Jan 1995 in Westminster, Greater London, England; was buried in 1995 in St Michael Churchyard, Mickleham, Surrey, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Occupation: Newspaper Reporter
• _UID: A68E853DE4BA4875AB55D33A8B83760FF11B
• Emigration: 16 Jun 1951, New York, New York, USA
• Immigration: 4 Jan 1962, New York, New York, USA
• Residence: 1992-1993, 244 W 11th Street, Apt 2f, New York, New York, USA

Notes:

When Jeanne was 2 her mother, Janet, ran away from Jeanne's father and dumped Jeanne onto her grandfather, Lord Beaverbrook. Beaverbrook brought her up for the next 9 years, when Jeanne was sent to boarding schools.
Wanting to become an actress she joined the "Old Vic".
After contracting pneumonia she decided that draughty stages and cold "digs" were not for her. She joined the family business as a newspaper reporter and travelled the world with her grandfather, Lord Beaverbrook.
Eventually she met the author Norman Mailer. Jeffrey Meyers, in the National Review, 26 Jul 1985, says, she was the mistress of Henry Luce the founder of "Time-Life". And this is what attracted Norman Mailer to her.
Within a few months Jean was pregnant with Kate. Norman was taken to meet Beaverbrook in the south of France who liked him and so gave his aproval so Jean and Norman married in 1962.
The marriage was a stormy one and was not destined to last.

James Humes, the author, on being interviewed, by Brian Lamb, about his book "Ghostwriter to 5 Presidents" gives the following story;
Lamb. "And then there is another story about a relative of Lord Beaverbrook.Humes. "Yes. Well, there was Lady Jean Campbell who was a kind of a - she was the grandaughter of Beaverbrook. and I was going out in - 1964 convention."
Lamb. "San Francisco?"
Humes. "Wa - Yea. And I was for Scranton. And I was a Legislator in the Legislature and Scranton was the Governor. I see Jacob Javits, and next to it an English voice. And so I started talking. We established friends, and she said 'Oh, my' - - she had this - - her grandfather had given her this job, she's no journalist, and what should she do?
I gave her a headline.
I take her to lunch at Ernie's.
Now I do not know that she's married.....
We just go for lunch. And we'd just ordered our first course of shrimp. Suddenly she says, 'It's my husband! He'll kill you! He'll kill you!
So we went out through the kitchen, out the back door, and I never did pay for the shrimp. I mean it was Norman Mailer and I think he did actually stab some one in jealousy a couple of years earlier.
She's quite a character - is quite a charcter. I guess - I mean, I think she's now in an Anglican convent.
But there are rumours of her - strong rumours that she's the only person in the world who knew, biblically speaking, in one year, Khrushev, Kennedy, and Castro."

After Jeanne left Norman she fled to her best friend, a southern aristocrat, John Cram, with a plantation in North Carolina.
Norman and Jeanne were divorced in 1963.
Between 1978 and 1988 Jeanne was "High Commissioner for the Clan Campbell Society of North America".
Her marriage, to John Cram, does not seem to have been very successful either.
In 1995 Jeanne said, in a newspaper article, "I think I am still married. I haven't seen him for quite some time but I have had no notification."

Jeanne resided in New York.
She converted from the Church of England and became a Roman Catholic. Working as a volunteer she worked for Mother Teresa's Hospice for Aids patients, in New York.
Between 1974 and 1988 Jeanne was "High Commissioner for the Clan Campbell Society of North America".


Emigration:
Departed on board flight BOAC 514/007 for London

Immigration:
Arrived on Flight BOAC 501 from London

Jeanne married Norman Kingsley Mailer in 1962, and was divorced in 1963 in Mexico. Norman (son of Isaac Barnet Mailer and Fanny Schneider) was born on 31 Jan 1923 in Long, Branch, New Jersey, USA; died on 11 Nov 2007 in New York, New York, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• _UID: 0EFC0D7C91FA4B78BA27E84396F7751E0D3B

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]