Viscount Whitelaw was the first hereditary peerage title created in the United Kingdom for eighteen years, in 1983. It was conferred on Deputy Prime Minister William Stephen Ian Whitelaw with remainder limited to heirs male, and as he had only daughters it became extinct on his death. His eldest daughter married and divorced the heir presumptive to the Earl of Swinton, and her two sons by that marriage are in line to inherit that title, so a special remainder to the viscounty would have seen it submerged in the earldom in any event.
Whitelaw attended Trinity College, Cambridge, then joined the British Army, earning the rank of Major in the Scots Guards; during the Second World War, he was awarded the Military Cross.
Whitelaw faced many challenges in attempting to manage the House of Lords, facing a major defeat over abolition of the Greater London Council within a year of taking over.
William Whitelaw died of natural causes at the age of 81 in 1999.
ViscountWhitelaw was the first hereditary peerage title created in the United Kingdom for eighteen years, in 1983.
It was conferred on Deputy Prime Minister William Stephen Ian Whitelaw with remainder limited to heirs male, and as he had only daughters it became extinct on his death.
His eldest daughter married and divorced the heir presumptive to the Earl of Swinton, and her two sons by that marriage are in line to inherit that title, so a special remainder to the viscounty would have seen it submerged in the earldom in any event.
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