Ian Campbell-Gray

The son of Baroness Gray, Ian Campbell-Gray was educated at Eton and then Christ Church, Oxford. An international fencer by the age of 24 he was the youngest ever winner of the British Épée Championship in 1926, remaining so through 1952, and between then and 1936, won it three more times. Having represented All-England, Scotland and Great Britain at international level, he was a member of the British épée team at the 1936 Olympics and became the first Briton since Edgar Seligman and Martin Holt in 1912 to reach the individual épée final.

An artist and film director Campbell-Gray was also a designer of film sets and during World War II served with the Royal Engineers, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was a camouflage expert thanks to his expert artist’s eye. Ian Campbell-Gray died of an incurable disease at the age of 44 and as was his wish, he was buried at sea near Whitstable in Kent. A portrait of him was hung in the National Portrait Gallery.