Michael Astor

Michael Astor was born on 10 April 1916. He was the fourth child of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, and Nancy Witcher Langhorne, both Members of Parliament.^[1] He attended prep school at St. Michael's, Uckfield, where he was a contemporary of the future writer and painter Denton Welch, who later included him in a short story. He was educated at Eton College and gained the rank of captain, serving in the Royal Artillery (Territorial Army).^[1] He served as an officer during WW2 in "Phantom" GHQ Liaison Regiment.

He was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Surrey East in the 1945 general election.^[2] He kept his seat in the 1950 election but did not stand in 1951. He wrote a memoir, Tribal Feeling, published in 1963, and a novel, Brand, published in 1968.^[3]

Astor married three times:

• Barbara McNeill (1942–1961), with whom he had four children.
• Pandora Clifford (1961–1968). Annabel Jones, his stepdaughter from his second marriage, married his nephew, William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor.^[4]
• Judith Innes (1970–1980), with whom he had a daughter, Polly in 1971. Polly has a daughter, Martha West, with actor Dominic West.^[5]