Charles Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan

Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan (born 6 September 1945) is a British Conservative party politician.

The grandson of Maurice Towneley-O'Hagan, 3rd Baron O'Hagan, he inherited the family title at the age of 16 on his grandfather's death in 1961, his father the Hon. Thomas Anthony Edward Towneley Strachey having predeceased him in 1955. He was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, and served as a Page to Queen Elizabeth II between 1957 and 1961.^[1] He first took his seat in the House of Lords on 5 December 1967,^[2] and gave his maiden speech whilst he was still a student.^[3] A relative of the Strachey Baronets, he is the great-great-grandson of Edward Strachey, 1st Baron Strachie.

He became an Independent MEP for Devon in December 1972, losing his seat in 1975 after a decision by the Conservative and Labour parties to cease appointing Independents and Liberals to the European Parliament. In the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, he was returned for Devon as a Conservative, with 61.8% of the vote. He was then re-elected in 1984 and 1989, with 54.7% and 46.4% of the vote respectively, and remained an MEP until his retirement in 1994, when his constituency was abolished.^[4] He was generally regarded as pro-European.^[5] Towards the end of his term of office, he suffered from ill health, and his overall attendance record slipped to the second-lowest of any UK MEP, behind Ian Paisley.^[6] During his time as an MEP he also served as a whip and a frontbench spokesman for the Conservative government in the House of Lords.

He had been involved in the Primrose League before its dissolution, serving as its Chancellor from April 1979 to April 1981.

In 1999, in line with most other hereditary peers, he lost his right to sit in the House of Lords, although he had been on a leave of absence since the previous year, in the wake of declining health.^[7]

He made headlines in 2008, offering to sell some of his subsidiary titles to pay for medical bills.^[8] In 2009, it was reported that Lord O'Hagan had stepped forward on behalf of the Towneley family to claim the title of 15th Lord of Bowland. Previously, this ancient Lancastrian lordship had been thought lost or in the possession of the Crown having disappeared from the historical record in late nineteenth century.^[9] The Towneleys had owned the Bowland Forest Estate from 1835 and it transpired that the title had been retained by an extinct family trust.^[10] The title was auctioned and later came into the possession of a Cambridge University don who thereby assumed the title 16th Lord of Bowland.^[11][12][13]

Lord O'Hagan has been married three times - firstly to Princess Tamara Imeretinsky (1967–84), secondly to Mary Roose-Francis (1985–95), and thirdly to Elizabeth Smith (1995–present). He has two daughters - one from each of his first two marriages (Nina, b.1968; and Antonia, b.1986) - and his heir apparent is his younger brother the Hon. Richard Towneley Strachey.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Who's Who 2009
2. ^ Preamble, Hansard, vol 287, c521, 5 December 1967.
3. ^ University Students' Discontents, Hansard, vol 293, cc716–830, 19 June 1968.
4. ^ Your MEPs: The Lord Lord O'Hagan, European Parliament.
5. ^ How to needle the commissioners, Diary, The Independent, 4 March 1993.
6. ^ Sarah Lambert and Andrew Marshall, British MEPs pass the value-for-money test, The Independent, 23 May 1994.
7. ^ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/minutes/980728/ldminute.htm
8. ^ My lord! Four East Lancashire titles up for sale, Lancashire Telegraph, 29 April 2008.
9. ^ Forest of Bowland official website
10. ^ Lancashire Evening Post, 1 November 2009: http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Lordship-snapped-up.5784643.jp
11. ^ Lancashire Evening Post, 10 November 2009: http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Buyer-of-aristocratic-title-revealed.5809156.jp
12. ^ Lancashire Telegraph, 13 November 2009: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/4738892.New_Lord_of_Bowland_is_don_at_top_university/
13. ^ "Keeping Up Traditions of Beautiful Bowland". Lancashire Evening Post. 22 April 2010. http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Keeping-up-traditions-of-beautiful.6245636.jp. 

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Maurice Towneley-O'Hagan, 3rd Baron O'Hagan	Baron O'Hagan 1961 – present	Incumbent Heir: The Hon. Richard Towneley Strachey (brother)

Persondata
Name	Charles Towneley Strachey
Alternative names
Short description	Member of House of Lords and Member of European Parliament
Date of birth	6 September 1945
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death