Victor Hay, 21st Earl of Erroll

Victor Alexander Sereld Hay, 21st Earl of Erroll KCMG (17 October 1876 - 20 February 1928), was a British diplomat and briefly a member of the House of Lords.

Family

Erroll was the only son of Charles Hay, 20th Earl of Erroll (1852-1927) and his wife Mary, daughter of Edmund and Lady Harriett l'Estrange. He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1927. In 1900, he married Mary Lucy Victoria, only daughter of Sir Allan Mackenzie, 2nd Baronet, of Glen Muick, Aberdeenshire, and they had two sons and one daughter.

He held the earldom only briefly, and was succeeded by his elder son, Lord Kilmarnock, in 1928.

Career

The young Hay entered the diplomatic service and was promoted Attaché, 1900, Third Secretary, 1902, Second Secretary, 1906, First Secretary, 1913. He was First Secretary in Copenhagen, 1918-19, then briefly Chargé d'Affaires in Berlin, on the United Kingdom's resumption of diplomatic relations with Germany in 1920, until the arrival of a British Ambassador. He remained in Berlin as Counsellor until November, 1921, and served finallly as British High Commissioner to the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission, from 1921 to 1927.

He was also an author and belonged to the St James's Club.

Publications

*"Ferelith", 1903
*"The Dream Kiss" (play), produced at the Wimbledon Theatre, 1924
*"The Anonymous Letter" (play), produced at Q Theatre, 1927

References

* [http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6148271 ERROLL, Victor Hay, 21st Earl of] at "Who Was Who 1897-2006" online
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/ www.thepeerage.com]