fraudster and alledged murderer
He was educated at Eton and had followed
a military career, rising to the rank of Major. He was
a member of the Turf and Guards clubs and at the time owned houses
and land in Cheshire and Staffordshire as well as residing just
off Berkeley Square in London.
The Frauds
Despite inheriting substantial wealth on becoming the 11th baronet,
he was in financial difficulties by the mid 1930s. At first he
sold a large part of his land in Cheshire, which was in fact in
trust and not his to sell. Then three valuable paintings and,
later, some pearls were stolen, for which he eventually received
the insurance money. Although the insurers and the police were
suspicious, they could not prove fraud.
The Cuckold
At the end of the thirties his wife left him for Lord Moyne and
in November 1940 he took a young wife, Diana Caldwell, and went
to live in the so-called 'Happy Valley' in Kenya. Lord Erroll,
who had already seduced a number of the ex-patriot wives, soon
began an affair with Diana.
Murder
When Lord Erroll's body was found in January 1941, shot through the head in the
footwell of his Buick, suspicion fell on Sir Delves.
He was tried for Erroll's murder, but flimsy evidence, and a good
counsel, saw him acquitted for a lawyer's fee of £5,000.
Suicide
Even so, the scandal, though largely hushed up at home, resulted
in him being shunned by society on his return to England. In December
1942 he committed suicide at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool by
injecting himself at least 14 times with Medinal. It is now believed
by many people that he was Erroll's murderer.
The 1987 film White Mischief,
was based on this famous murder and its aftermath.
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Was an old Harrovian, a baronet and a member of the Turf and Jockey
clubs. In "Who's Who" he listed his recreations as horse
racing, followed by the familiar trio of "hunting, shooting
and fishing". He appears to have lead a blameless life!
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amateur jockey and raconteur
His father, the Fifth Earl, with Howard Carter, discovered Tutankamun's Tomb. He died shortly afterwards, allegedly from the Curse of King Tut, but in fact from viral pneumonia contracted following blood poisoning from a mosquito bite.
'Porchey' (he already had the title of Lord Porchester) thus inherited the title, a fortune and Highclere Castle in Hampshire in 1923. In 1926 he is recorded as a Steward of the then National Pony Turf Club and continued in that capacity until at least 1935. A keen racing man with a string of horses, he was also an accomplished amateur jockey and raced in the Thirties.
As a close friend of Jock Broughton, on hearing of Jock's acquittal, he sent the famous cable: 'HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS UNDERSTAND YOU WON A NECK CLEVERLY REGARDS PORCHEY'.
In the 1970s he embarked on a brief but popular broadcasting career as a raconteur of racing and society anecdotes.
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King's son-in-law, freemason and racing expert
He was the most distinguished of the founders. During the First
World War he inherited a fortune of £2,500,000 from his great-uncle,
the second and last Marquess of Clanricarde. In 1922 he married
the Princess Royal, thus becoming the King's son-in-law.
He was to inherit the family fortune, an earldom and the splendid
Harewood House in Yorkshire on the death of his father in 1929.
Much of his time and interest was given to racing and freemasonry.
He was an expert in all kinds of racing - flat, national hunt
and pony, and was a Steward of the Jockey Club.
He is one of the few Stewards recorded as visiting the course, which he did when he officiated at some of the annual charity meetings.
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The 6th Earl of Harewood