William Murray, 8th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield, Died at 85

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William David Mungo James Murray, 8th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield was born on July 7, 1930, and passed away on October 21, 2015, styled Lord Scone until 1970, was a Scottish nobleman and Conservative politician.

William is the only son of Mungo Murray, 7th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield, and his wife Dorothea Helena, younger daughter of Sir Lancelot Carnegie, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.

He served with the Scots Guards in Malaya in 1949 from 1950.

William was called to the bar, Inner Temple, in 1958 and was a barrister from 1958 until 1971, when he succeeded his father as Earl of Mansfield.

He was a member of the British Delegation to the European Parliament from 1973 to 1975 (prior to the direct election of Members of the European Parliament), and was an opposition spokesman in the House of Lords from 1975 to 1979.

William was a Minister of State at the Scottish Office from 1979 to 1983 and in the Northern Ireland Office from 1983 to 1984.

He was appointed an Honorary Sheriff for Perthshire in 1974, a Justice of the Peace in 1975 and a Deputy Lieutenant for Perth and Kinross in 1980.

William has also held a number of business and charitable appointments, such as serving as first president of the Federation of Hunting Associations of the European Communities (FACE) from 1977-79.

He was the first President of the Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders and from 1985-1996 served as First Crown Estate Commissioner.

William and his wife Pamela had three children:

Alexander, Viscount Stormont (b. 1956)
Lady Georgina Bullough (b. 1967)
Hon. James Murray (b. 1969).

The Countess is a Patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball.

William died on October 21, 2015 and succeeded by his son Alexander David Mungo Murray, Viscount of Stormont.