David Beatty, 2nd Earl Beatty

Beatty was born on 22 February 1905. He was the eldest son of Admiral of the Fleet David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty and his wife Ethel. He had one brother, Peter Beatty. From his mother's first marriage to Arthur Tree (a son of Lambert Tree), he had an elder half-brother, Ronald Tree, who served as MP for Harborough and friend of Winston Churchill. Ronald was married to Nancy Keene Field (née Perkins) (widow of his first cousin Henry Field) and Marietta FitzGerald (née Peabody), a granddaughter of the Rev. Endicott Peabody.[1]

His maternal grandfather was the American businessman Marshall Field. His father was the second son of five children born to Captain David Longfield Beatty and Katherine Edith Beatty (née Sadleir), both from Ireland: David Longfield had been an officer in the Fourth Hussars where he formed a relationship with Katrine, the wife of another officer.[2]

Beatty was educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, on the Isle of Wight, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. In 1919, he gained the courtesy title of Viscount Borodale when his father was created Earl Beatty.

In 1919, he gained the rank of Midshipman in the service of the Royal Navy. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1928. He would later serve in the Leicestershire Yeomanry, part of the Territorial Army, and gained the rank of Lieutenant in 1933.

Beatty, holding the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1942.[3]

Beatty was married four times, the first three times to Americans. His first marriage was to Dorothy Rice (née Power) Baragwaneth on 21 April 1937, a younger sister of Thomas Sarsfield Kent Power (later the United States Air Force General in World War II to direct the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan). David and Dorothy (who had previously been married to Harry Ester Reynolds Hall and John Gordon Baragwaneth) were divorced in 1945. On 10 December 1954, she was married to Peregrine Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow, remaining married until her death in 1966.[4]

On 7 February 1946, he remarried to Dorothy Rita (née Furey) Bragg (1918–2006), the widow of Sgt. Richard Edward Bragg RAF, and daughter of Michael James Furey of New Orleans, Louisiana. Between 1946 and 1950, she had an affair with Conservative Party leader Anthony Eden whilst he was separated from his wife. [5] Before their divorce in 1950, they were the parents of one son:[4]

• David Beatty, 3rd Earl Beatty (b. 1946), who married Anne Please in 1971. They divorced in 1982 and he married Anoma Corinne Wijewardene in 1984.[4]

His third wife was Adelle (née Dillingham) O'Connor (d. 1990), the former wife of William V. O'Connor of Los Angeles, California and the daughter of M. Dillingham, of Oklahoma City. They married on 5 July 1951 and divorced in 1958 before having had one daughter:[4]

• Lady Diana Beatty (b. 1952), who married Nicolas Gage, 8th Viscount Gage in 1974. They divorced in 2004.[4]

After their divorce, Adelle married Stanley Donen in 1960. His fourth wife was Diane Kirk Blundell, a daughter of John Rutherford Blundell of Hayling Island in Hampshire. She was one of the last generation of debutantes to be presented to the Queen, in 1958.[6] They married on 3 December 1959 and remained married until his death. From his fourth marriage he had a son and a daughter:[4]

• Hon. Nicholas Duncan Beatty (b. 1961), who married writer Laura Keen (b. 1963), a granddaughter of Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe and sister of actor Will Keen and poet Alice Oswald.[4]
• Lady Miranda Katherine Beatty (b. 1963), who married Alan Stewart, youngest son of Sir Dugald Stewart of Appin in 1989. In 2000, she married Michael Hutchinson of Exminster.[4]

Lord Beatty died on 10 June 1972 and was succeeded by his eldest son, David. After his death, Lady Beatty remarried to Sir John Nutting, 4th Baronet of Chicheley Hall, in 1973.[4]

• The Peerage
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl Beatty