Michael Astor

The Hon. Michael Langhorne Astor (10 April 1916 – 28 February 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician.

Michael Langhorne Astor, 1948

Early life

Michael Astor was born on 10 April 1916. He was the fourth child of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, and Nancy Witcher Langhorne, both Members of Parliament.^[1] He attended prep school at St. Michael's, Uckfield, where he was a contemporary of the future writer and painter Denton Welch, who later included him in a short story. He was educated at Eton College and gained the rank of captain, serving in the Royal Artillery (Territorial Army).^[1] He served as an officer during WW2 in "Phantom" GHQ Liaison Regiment.

Career

He was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Surrey East in the 1945 general election.^[2] He kept his seat in the 1950 election but did not stand in 1951. He wrote a memoir, Tribal Feeling, published in 1963, and a novel, Brand, published in 1968.^[3]

Personal life

Astor married three times:

• Barbara McNeill (1942–1961), with whom he had four children.
• Pandora Clifford (1961–1968). Annabel Jones, his stepdaughter from his second marriage, married his nephew, William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor.^[4]
• Judith Innes (1970–1980), with whom he had a daughter, Polly in 1971. Polly has a daughter, Martha West, with actor Dominic West.^[5]