his family with stories and tales. Also regarded as slightly eccentric, on one occasion Lord Londonderry had taken to his bed drunk, when Ruth Graham, the wife of the American evangelist Billy Graham, came to call. Although informed that His Lordship was "indisposed", Mrs Graham insisted upon admission to his bedroom, having "come all the way on Billy's account". She was duly announced. Lord Londonderry threw aside the bedsheets and shouted, "Get in." He had an awkward and distant relationship with his parents, especially his father. The two men took opposite sides during industrial disputes involving the family coal mines, most notably during the General Strike in 1926. When he married Romaine, a brewer's daughter, his family viewed the union with disdain. It was a happy marriage by all accounts, but tragedy struck when Lady Londonderry died from cancer in 1951 and her husband plunged into depression and alcoholism. "Daddy changed, literally overnight, into a complete drunk," Lady Annabel Goldsmith, his daughter, recalled. "It was awful. He would collapse while making speeches to the cricket club, that kind of thing. He was on the bottle night and day." Lord Londonderry died from liver failure on 17 October 1955, at age 52. He was buried alongside his wife at Wynyard Park and both were later re-interred in the Londonderry family vault at St Mary's Church, Longnewton, County Durham. References External links 1902 births 1955 deaths People educated at Eton College Vane-Tempest-Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart Londonderry, M8 Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Arsenal F.C. directors and chairmen Deputy Lieutenants of Down Deputy Lieutenants of Durham Robin Deaths from liver failure 8