Maurice Fox - Strangways , 9th Earl of Ilchester Group Captain Maurice Vivian de Touffreville Fox - Strangways , 9th Earl of Ilchester ( 1 April 1920 – 2 July 2006 ) , styled Lord Stavordale between 1964 and 1970 , was a British engineer . He served in the Royal Air Force for 40 years , from 1936 to 1976 . From 1955 , he concentrated mainly as an engineer involved with nuclear weapons . He succeeded his father as Earl of Ilchester in 1970 , and was also an active cross - bench member of the House of Lords until 1999 . His father was Walter Fox - Strangways , 8th Earl of Ilchester . He was born in Port Tawfiq in Egypt while his father was serving in the Consular Service . He was educated at Kingsbridge Grammar School , and joined the Royal Air Force as an apprentice in January 1936 , aged 15 . He trained at RAF Halton and was posted to RAF Brize Norton , where he served during the early months of the Battle of Britain . In August 1940 , he was bathing when an air raid began . He ran naked into an air - raid shelter , which happened to be reserved for members of the WAAF . After this introduction , he married one of them , Diana Simpson , in November 1941 . He completed his service in the Second World War in India and the Far East . By his return to England in 1946 , he was a Warrant Officer . He continued his service at RAF Negombo in Ceylon and RAF Kai Tak in Hong Kong . Fox - Strangeways was selected for commissioning and he attended the Royal Air Force Technical College at RAF Henlow in 1953 . By the mid - 1950s he was a Squadron Leader and became involved with the development of nuclear weapons at the Directorate of Air Armament Engineering . He then moved to the headquarters of RAF Bomber Command to work on the introduction of Thor intercontinental ballistic missile s , before working at the missile testing range at Woomera in South Australia . He then served at the V bomber base at RAF Finningley . As a Wing Commander , he served at RAF Biggin Hill , involved in recruitment of officers and aircrew . Finally , promoted to Group Captain , he was the assistant director of air weapons development at the Ministry of Technology , and was involved with the UK ' s Polaris ballistic missile programme . He succeeded as Earl of Ilchester on the death of his father in 1970 . He retired from the RAF in 1976 , having held every rank from aircraft apprentice to Group Captain . In the House of Lords , he sat as a crossbencher from 1976 , but waiting until 27 February 1980 to make his maiden speech . He attended regularly until the hereditary peer s were removed from the Lords in 1999 . He was a member of the Select Committee on science and technology . Outside the House of Lords , he was a director of Nottingham Building Society from 1982 to 1989 . He was active in the RAF Association at Biggin Hill . He was president of the Society of Engineers , and later a patron . He was a Fellow of the Institute of Nuclear Engineers , and president from 1982 to 1984 . He was a Freeman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators and became a liveryman in 1987 . He was a Freemason in the St George and Corner Stone Lodge . He had no children , but was survived by his wife of over 64 years . On his death , the Earldom passed to his nephew , Robin Maurice Fox - Strangways , 10th Earl of Ilchester .