Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith

Background and education

Asquith was the only son of Raymond Asquith, a barrister, by his wife the former Katharine Horner. He was the grandson of H. H. Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, British Prime Minister from 1908 until 1916. Lord Oxford's two older sisters both predeceased him; the younger of these was Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith, later Lady Hylton (1910–1996), who was married to William Jolliffe, 4th Baron Hylton and became the grandmother of the actress Anna Chancellor.

He inherited the earldom in 1928 on the death of his grandfather, since his father had been killed in the First World War. He was raised as a Roman Catholic after his mother's conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1923 and was educated at St Ronan's School and Ampleforth College. He then became a scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. In 1941, Asquith was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and from 1942 to 1948 he was an Assistant District Commissioner in Palestine.

Career

Lord Oxford was Deputy chairman Secretary of the British Administration Tripolitania from 1949 to 1950, Director of Interior Tripolitania in 1951 and Advisor to the Prime Minister of Libya in 1952. In 1955 he was Administrative Secretary of Zanzibar and from 1958 to 1962 was the Administrator of Saint Lucia. He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1961. Oxford was the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Seychelles from 1962 to 1967, and the Commander of the British Indian Ocean Territory from 1965 to 1967. In 1964, he was advanced as Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. He also held the posts of Constitutional Commander of the Cayman Islands in 1971, and Turks and Caicos Islands from 1973 to 1974.

Marriage and children

Lord Oxford married Anne Mary Celestine Palairet (14 November 1916 Paris – 19 August 1998 at Frome, Somerset), daughter of Sir Michael Palairet (1882–1956) by his wife Mary de Vere Studd, on 28 August 1947 at the Brompton Oratory. Anne Oxford was also a Roman Catholic via her parents' conversions.

Lord and Lady Oxford had five children: two sons, both diplomats, and three daughters (the middle one married to another diplomat):

• Lady (Mary) Annunziata Asquith (born 28 July 1948), partner of Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield
• Lady Katharine Rose Celestine Asquith (born 1 October 1949), in 1970 married Adam Ridley, divorced 1976; married secondly 1985 Nathaniel Page, son of Sir John Page.
• Raymond Benedict Bartholomew Asquith, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith (born 24 August 1952)
• Lady Clare Perpetua Frances Asquith (born 28 March 1955)
• Hon Sir Dominic Antony Gerard Asquith, KCMG (born 7 February 1957), a former British Ambassador to Iraq, Egypt and Libya.

Lord Oxford inherited the estate of Mells from his mother Katharine Asquith, younger daughter of Sir John Horner, of Mells and his wife Frances Graham.

The Countess of Oxford and Asquith died in 1998. The Earl died, aged 94, on 16 January 2011. He was succeeded in his peerage titles, which he had held for over eighty years, by his elder son, Raymond (b. 1952), a former British diplomat and elected hereditary member of the House of Lords.