Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl Of Strathmore And Kinghorne

Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was born on 21 July 1824 in Redbourn, Hertfordshire. He was the second surviving son of Thomas George Lyon-Bowes, Lord Glamis, and Charlotte Grimstead. His paternal grandparents were Thomas Lyon-Bowes, the 11th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Mary Elizabeth Louisa Rodney Carpenter. His maternal grandparents were Joseph Valentine Grimstead of Ewood Park and Merry Hall, Ashtead, Surrey, and Charlotte Jane Sarah Walsh. Originally born with the family surname Lyon-Bowes, he later changed it to Bowes-Lyon.

He was styled The Honourable Claude Bowes-Lyon from 1847 until 1865. During his youth, he participated in cricket, making four appearances in first-class matches: three for the Marylebone Cricket Club between 1843 and 1846, and once for the Gentlemen of England in 1846.

In 1865, he inherited the peerage, succeeding his elder brother Thomas. The title of Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne was part of the Scottish nobility. In 1884, the Canadian Pacific Railway named a place after him—Strathmore, Alberta—in his honor. He was created Baron Bowes, of Streatlam Castle and Lunedale, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, in 1887. As a Scottish representative peer, he served from 1870 to 1892, and he held the position of Lord Lieutenant of Angus from 1874 until his death.

On 28 September 1853, Bowes-Lyon married Frances Dora Smith, who was born on 29 July 1832 and died on 5 February 1922. They had eleven children:

1. Claude Bowes-Lyon, who became the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, (14 March 1855 – 7 November 1944), married Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. Their children included Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

2. Francis Bowes-Lyon (23 February 1856 – 18 February 1948), married Lady Anne Lindsay; they had seven children.

3. Ernest Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1858 – 27 December 1891), married Isobel Hester Drummond; their descendants included Ernestine Bowes-Lyon.

4. Herbert Bowes-Lyon (15 August 1860 – 14 April 1897), did not marry.

5. Major Patrick Bowes-Lyon (5 March 1863 – 5 October 1946), a British Army officer and tennis player, married Alice Wiltshire; they had four children.

6. Lady Constance Frances Bowes-Lyon (8 October 1865 – 19 November 1951), married Robert Blackburn; their children numbered four.

7. Kenneth Bowes-Lyon (26 April 1867 – 9 January 1911), did not marry.

8. Lady Mildred Marion Bowes-Lyon (6 October 1868 – 9 June 1897), a composer notable for her opera Etelinda, married Augustus Jessup; they had two children.

9. Lady Maud Agnes Bowes-Lyon (12 June 1870 – 28 February 1941), did not marry.

10. Lady Evelyn Mary Bowes-Lyon (16 July 1872 – 15 March 1876), died in infancy.

11. Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Bowes-Lyon (23 April 1874 – 23 August 1957), a British Army officer, married Winifred Gurdon-Rebow; they had a daughter.

Claude Bowes-Lyon passed away on 16 February 1904 in Bordighera, on the Italian Riviera, at his villa named Etelinda, a property later sold in 1913 to Queen Margherita of Italy. His estate's valuation for probate was approximately £233,927, with entailed estates valued at £716,150. His holdings included life insurance policies, household effects from Streatlam Castle, plate, farmland, and extensive landholdings including Glamis Castle, Wemmorgile Lodge, and the Wemmergill Estates.

His estate also encompassed interests in the estate of John Bowes, a relative whose inheritance had been subject to legal disputes due to the circumstances of his parentage. The 10th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne's will resulted in the English estates passing to Bowes-Lyon, with an income of roughly £20,000 annually at the time.

Under his will, he bequeathed various sums to his family members and specified the distribution of estate contents, including paintings, furniture, and household effects, primarily to his eldest son, Claude, the heir. Other bequests included specific amounts to his children, as well as provisions for his widow, with a life interest in part of his personal estate divided between her and the remainder allocated among his younger children.