George Bingham, Lord Bingham

"This article is about the son of the disappeared Lord Lucan, but there is another Lord Bingham: Thomas Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill."

George Charles Bingham, Lord Bingham (born 21 September 1967), is the only son of the 7th Earl of Lucan. He has two sisters; Lady Frances Bingham (born in 1964) [http://www.thepeerage.com/p5246.htm#i52452 The Peerage] genealogy source] and Lady Camilla Bloch (born in 1970, a barrister who is married to QC Michael Bloch since 1998 and has one child, Cameron Bloch, born 2002) [ [http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=611&id=321922002 Fracassini, Camillo (24 March 2002) "Daughter of Lord Lucan gives birth to baby boy." The Scotsman] Retrieved on 17 January 2007] . In articles from The BBC and the Evening Standard announcing the 10 September 1998 arrest of Lord Bingham on assault charges. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/172435.stm "Lord Lucan's son arrested." (16 September 1998) The BBC.] Retrieved on 17 January 2007.] [ [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_19980916/ai_n11870224 Freeman, Colin (16 September 1998) "Lucan son arrested for assault on girl." The (London) "Evening Standard".] Retrieved on 17 January 2007.] , his occupation was given as merchant banker.

Succession

In 1998, Lord Bingham applied to take his father's seat in the House of Lords. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/487211.stm "Lord Lucan 'officially dead'" (27 October 1999) The BBC.] Retrieved on 17 January 2007.] This was not authorised by the Lord Chancellor because there was no definitive proof that the Earl was dead. [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article291878.ece Kwatra, Anjali (27 October 1999) "Lucan family draw line under disappearance." Press Association via The (London) Independent] Retrieved on 17 January 2007.] The following year the High Court ruled that the Earl was indeed dead, allowing his executors to finalise details relating to his estate. No death certificate has yet been granted, however. As a result, while Lord Bingham may be presumed to be the 8th Earl of Lucan, it is still not officially recognised.

Property

Following the presumed death of the 7th Earl, leaseholders or tenants on the family's former estate at Castlebar in Ireland stopped paying ground rents.

The family's connections with Castlebar span the course of 200 years, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/159503.stm (30 August 1998) "Playing cricket on Lord Lucan's pitch." The BBC.] ] and the 3rd Earl owned 62,000 acres (250 km²) there. The 4th Earl sold the family estate and handed over his cricket pitch, now the town's mall, and other sites for churches and schools to the people of the town. However, the ground rents on most of the properties were retained by the family.

In 1998, it was reported Fact|date=July 2008 that Lord Bingham was being pressured to give up the family's claim to these ground rents, which represented (were they paid) £30,000 per annum.

Unfortunate legacy

Lord Bingham revealed in a Channel 4 documentary that he does not believe his father was responsible for the death of the family's nanny, Sandra Rivett. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/07/nlucan07.xml Aldersen, Andrew & Richard Eden (7 November 2004) "Lord Lucan could still be alive..." The (London) "Daily Telegraph"] Retrieved on 17 January 2007.] [ [http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=611&id=641662005 McBeth, Jim (11 June 2005) "Lord Lucan inquiry reopened in DNA 'breakthrough'". The Scotsman.] Retrieved on 17 January 2007.] This tragedy divided the Bingham family. Veronica, Lady Lucan, who revealed in the same Channel 4 documentary as well as her official website, [ [http://www.ladylucan.co.uk Veronica, Lady Lucan's website] ] that she believes the murderer is her husband, is estranged from her three children, including Lord Bingham.

Footnotes