Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob Astor V, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, DL (20 May 1886 – 19 July 1971) was an American-born English newspaper proprietor, politician, sportsman, military officer, and a member of the Astor family.
Biography
Astor was born in Manhattan, New York City, in 1886, the fourth child of William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (1848–1919), and Mary Dahlgren Paul (1858–1894). He was five years old when his family left New York to live in England. He was raised on an estate purchased by his father at Cliveden-on-Thames in Buckinghamshire and was educated at Eton College and at New College, Oxford. Upon his father's death in 1919, Astor inherited Hever Castle, near Edenbridge, Kent, where he lived the life of an English country gentleman.
Olympic Games
Olympic medal record
Representing the United Kingdom
Men's rackets
Gold medal – first place1908 LondonMen's doubles
Bronze medal – third place1908 LondonMen's singles
Astor represented Great Britain in rackets at the 1908 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in the men's doubles competition together with Vane Pennell, and winning bronze in the men's singles event.
Astor had been the British Public Schools rackets champion in 1904–1905, and in the same year as his Olympic competition he played singles and doubles in the British Army rackets championships.
Despite the later loss of a leg, he was able to play and win against younger opponents at squash on a prosthetic limb.
Military service
He served in the 1st Life Guards, which he joined in 1906 after a year at Oxford, and was Aide-de-Camp to Baron Hardinge, Viceroy of India between 1911 and 1914. Within his regiment he was promoted Captain in 1913 and Major in 1920.
In World War I, he was wounded serving with his regiment at Messines in October 1914. After recovering he returned to the Western Front, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 520 Household Siege Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery and awarded the Légion d'Honneur as a Chevalier. In September 1918, near Cambrai, his right leg was shattered by a shell and later amputated.
He was Honorary Colonel of the Kent and Sussex Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery, between 1927 and 1946 and Honorary Colonel of the 23rd London Regiment, between 1928 and 1949. In World War II he was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 5th Battalion, City of London Home Guard, a unit drawn from newspaper employees, between 1940 and 1944.