Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl Of Oxford And Asquith

Julian Edward George Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, was born on 22 April 1916 and died on 16 January 2011. He was a British colonial administrator and a hereditary peer.

He was the only son of Katharine (née Horner) and Raymond Asquith, a barrister. His paternal grandfather was H. H. Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 until 1916. Julian Asquith’s two older sisters both predeceased him; the younger of these sisters was Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith (1910–1996), who was married to William Jolliffe, 4th Baron Hylton, and became the grandmother of actress Anna Chancellor.

Julian Asquith inherited the earldom in 1928 upon the death of his grandfather, as his father was killed during the First World War. His mother converted to Roman Catholicism in 1923, after which he was raised as a Roman Catholic. His education included St Ronan's School, Ampleforth College, and studies at Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. In 1936, he participated in the opening of the new building of Campion Hall at Oxford, alongside figures such as the Spanish ambassador to London, the Duke of Alba, and Alban Goodier S.J., the former Archbishop of Bombay.

During World War II, Asquith was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1940 and served with the 3rd Field Squadron in Egypt. From 1942 to 1948, he served as an Assistant District Commissioner in Palestine.

Following the war, he pursued a career in the Colonial Service. He served as Deputy chairman Secretary of the British Administration in Tripolitania from 1949 to 1950, was appointed Director of Interior for Tripolitania in 1951, and was an Advisor to the Prime Minister of Libya in 1952. In 1955, he was appointed Administrative Secretary of Zanzibar, and from 1958 to 1962, he served as the Administrator of Saint Lucia.

He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1961. From 1962 to 1967, he served as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Seychelles, and from 1965 to 1967, as the Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory. In 1964, he was elevated to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG).

Further roles included serving as the Constitutional Commander of the Cayman Islands in 1971 and the Turks and Caicos Islands from 1973 to 1974.

On 28 August 1947, Asquith married Anne Mary Celestine Palairet at the Brompton Oratory. She was the daughter of Mary de Vere Studd and Sir Michael Palairet (1882–1956). Both were Roman Catholics. The couple had five children: three daughters and two sons. Their children included Lady (Mary) Annunziata Asquith (born 28 July 1948), who was a partner of Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield; Lady Katharine Rose Celestine Asquith (born 1 October 1949), who married Adam Ridley in 1970 and later Nathaniel Page in 1985; Raymond Benedict Bartholomew Asquith, who became the 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith (born 24 August 1952); Lady Clare Perpetua Frances Asquith (born 28 March 1955); and Sir Dominic Antony Gerard Asquith (born 7 February 1957), a diplomat who served as British ambassador to Iraq, Egypt, and Libya.

He inherited Mells Manor from his mother, Katharine Asquith. Lady Oxford and Asquith passed away in 1998. Julian Asquith died at the age of 94 on 16 January 2011. He was succeeded in his peerage by his elder son, Raymond Asquith, a former diplomat and a hereditary member of the House of Lords.