Jeffery Amherst, 5th Earl Amherst

Western Morning News. Thursday 17 August 1939. Earl Amherst, general manager of the Great Western and Southern Air Lines Ltd., marking the opening of St Mary's Airport, Isles of Scilly. Left to right: Mr. C.W. Cross, Mr. P.E. Stuart (Clerk of the Council), Mr. A. Woodcock (Chairman of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Co.), Earl Amherst, Mr. C.P.O. Stideford (captain of the golf club), and Mr. A.C.V. Stephens (treasurer of the golf club).

Jeffery John Archer Amherst, 5th Earl Amherst MC (13 December 1896 – 4 March 1993), styled Viscount Holmesdale between 1910 and 1927, was a British pilot and airline director.

Born in Paddington, London, in December 1896, Amherst was the eldest son of Hugh Amherst, 4th Earl Amherst, by the Honourable Eleanor Clementina St Aubyn, daughter of John St Aubyn, 1st Baron St Levan. He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards and fought in the First World War, where he was wounded, mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross. He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1927. Amherst worked as a bond salesman with Harris Forbes, as a pilot and airline general manager and was a director of British European Airways. In 1976 he published his autobiography, Wandering Abroad. He was a regular contributor in the House of Lords, making his maiden speech in 1934. His last recorded speech was in February 1985.

Lord Amherst died in March 1993, aged 96. He was unmarried and his titles became extinct on his death.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl Amherst