De L’Isle, << duh LYL, >> Lord (1909-1991), William Philip Sidney, first Viscount De L’Isle, served as governor general of Australia from 1961 to 1965. He was the last Englishman to hold the office.
Sidney was born on May 23, 1909, in London, the son of the Fifth Baron De L’Isle and Dudley. He was educated at Eton and at Magdalene College, Cambridge University. Sidney became an officer in the Supplementary Reserve of the Grenadier Guards in 1929. He served with the Grenadier Guards during World War II (1939-1945). In 1944, Sidney won the Victoria Cross, the United Kingdom’s highest military honor, for courage under fire at the Battle of Anzio, Italy.
In 1944, Sidney won election to the House of Commons as a Conservative member of Parliament. After his father’s death in 1945, Sidney took his seat in the House of Lords as the sixth Baron De L’Isle and Dudley. When the Conservative Party returned to power in 1951, Sidney became secretary of state for air (aviation minister). In 1956, he was created Viscount De L’Isle.
De L’Isle served as chairman of the Phoenix Assurance Company from 1966 to 1978. He was also a trustee with several charitable and artistic organizations, including the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the National Portrait Gallery. De L’Isle was the founding president of the Freedom Association, a conservative political organization. Queen Elizabeth II made De L’Isle a Knight of the Garter in 1968. He died on April 5, 1991.
