A Service to Celebrate the Life and Work of The Rt Hon Lord Ampthill CBE

26 October 2011 at 12:00 pm

A service to celebrate the life and work of The Rt Hon Lord Ampthill was held in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 26 October 2011 at 12.00 noon.

Lord Ampthill, who died on April 23 aged 89, was a theatrical impresario and deputy speaker of the House of Lords.

Lord Ampthill was born on October 15 1921. He served with the Irish Guards during the Second World War and went on to serve with Allied land forces. His career included a time as general manager at Fortnum & Mason; he was chairman of the New Providence Hotel Co, which developed a luxury hotel at Nassau in the Bahamas; from 1953 he made a career in theatrical management, becoming managing director and owner of Linnet & Dunfee. He left the theatre business in 1981 and joined the board of United Newspapers. After United bought the Express titles, Ampthill was also deputy chairman both of Express Newspapers from 1989 and of United itself from 1991.

He was chairman of Dualvest, an investment trust venture, and a director of Leeds Castle Foundation.

Lord Ampthill sat as a crossbencher before becoming the deputy speaker and the chairman of committees in the House of Lords from 1992 to 1994.

He was appointed CBE in 1986.