Josslyn Victor (Hay) Hay Twenty Second Earl of Erroll (1901 - 1941)

Biography

Josslyn (Hay) Hay Twenty Second Earl of Erroll is a member of Clan Hay.

Josslyn Victor Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll, was a British peer, famed for the unsolved case surrounding his murder and the sensation it caused during wartime Britain.

Early Years

Hay was born 11 May 1901, in London, England. He was the eldest son of the diplomat Victor Hay, Lord Kilmarnock (later Earl of Erroll) and his wife Lucy, the only daughter of Sir Allan Mackenzie, 2nd Baronet. In 1911, he attended the coronation of George V and carried his grandfather's coronet. He began at Eton College in 1914 but was dismissed two years later.

Although possessing one of Scotland's most distinguished titles, by this time the earls had no wealth, and were forced to develop careers in order to earn their living. In 1920, Hay was appointed honorary attaché at Berlin under his father, who was earlier appointed chargé d'affaires there.[3] His father was soon appointed High Commissioner to the Rhineland, but Hay stayed in Berlin and served under Lord D'Abernon until 1922.

After passing the Foreign Office examinations, Hay was expected to follow his father into diplomacy, but instead became infatuated with Lady Idina Sackville, a daughter of Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr, divorced wife of the politician Euan Wallace and the current wife of Charles Gordon. Lady Idina soon divorced her husband in 1923 and she and Hay were married on 22 September 1923.

Kenya

After causing a society scandal due to their marriage – she was twice-divorced, notoriously unconventional in many ways, and eight years his senior – Hay and his wife moved to Kenya in 1924, financing the move with Idina's money. Their home was a bungalow on the slopes of the Aberdare Range which they called Slains, after the former Hay family seat of Slains Castle which had been sold by Hay's grandfather, the 20th Earl, in 1916. The bungalow sat alongside the high altitude farms which other white settlers were establishing at the time. The couple had one child, Diana (1926-1978). After Hay began accumulating debts, his wife began acccussing him if cheating her finanncially. After Hay inherited his father's titles in 1928, his wife divorced him.

Hay then began an affair with Edith Maude ("Molly") Ramsay-Hill, wife of the British War hero, Cyril Ramsay-Hill. After Edith left her husband, the couple was married on 8 February 1930, in London. They soon returned to Kenya, where they lived at Oserian, Edith's Moroccan-style house on the shores of Lake Naivasha.

On a visit to England in 1934, Lord Erroll joined Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists and on his return to Kenya a year later, became president of the Convention of Associations. He attended the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1936 and was elected to the legislative council as member for Kiambu in 1939. At the outbreak of World War II that year, Lord Erroll became a captain in the Kenya Regiment and accepted the post of Military Secretary for East Africa in 1940.

The colonial elites of Happy Valley, were notorius for their drinking, drug use, promiscuity, and adultry. Lord Erroll and his new Countess were fully engulfed in this hedonistic lifestyle, and as a result, on 13 Oct 1939, Lady Erroll died of what was ruled an accidental overdose of alchohol, heroin, and morophine. She was just 45 years old.

Murder

Not long after his wife's death, Lord Erroll met Lady Diana Broughton, wife of Sir Jock Delves Broughton, and soon began a romantic affair. On 24 Jan 1940, after spending a night with Lady Delves Broughton, Lord Erroll was found shot dead in his Buick at a crossroads on the Nairobi-Ngong Road. Sir Jock was accused of the murder, arrested on 10 March, and placed on trial begining 26 May. On 1 July, however, he was acquitted of the murder, due largely to the fact that there were no eyewitnesses to the killing; the evidence presented against him was weak; and his hairdresser served as foreman of the jury. A year later, he committed suicide in England.

Lord Erroll was buried in the graveyard of St Paul's Church, Kiambu, Kenya, next to his second wife, Edith. His earldom and lordship passed to his only daughter, Diana, whilst his barony of Kilmarnock passed to his brother, Gilbert.

Research Notes

Succeeded as the 23rd Lord Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll, and the 5th Baron Kilmarnock, of Kilmarnock, Co. Ayr on 20 Feb 1928;

1938 gained the rank of Captain in the Kenya Regiment; fought in the Eritrean Campaign in 1940; Deputy Director of Manpower and Military Secretary, East African Command between 1940-1941

Sportsman: raised polo ponies, race-horses;

Kenyan cattle ranch owner - first Kenyan settler to breed high-grade Guernsey cattle; one time chairman of the Naivasha Farmers Assn., Kenya.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josslyn_Hay,_22nd_Earl_of_Erroll

See Also:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #48242411
• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 04 September 2019), memorial page for Josslyn Victor Hay (11 May 1901–24 Jan 1941), Find A Grave Memorial no. 48242411, citing St.Pauls Church, Kiambi, Kiambu, Kiambu, Kenya ; Maintained by Ted Newcomen (contributor 46879618) .

References: Josslyn Victor Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll #46305, b. 11 May 1901, d. 24 January 1941 http://www.thepeerage.com/p4631.htm

Lady Myra Idina Sackville #46306, b. 26 February 1893, d. 5 November 1955 http://www.thepeerage.com/p4631.htm