Mark Ogilvie-Grant

Charles Randolph Mark Ogilvie-Grant (15 March 1905 – 13 February 1969) was a British diplomat and a botanist and one of the earliest members of the Bright Young Things. Despite his earliest frivolous past, he became a hero during the 1940–1941 Greek campaign. Biography Ogilvie-Grant was born on 15 March 1905, the first son of ornithologist William Robert Ogilvie-Grant and Maud Louisa Pechell, daughter of Admiral Mark Robert Pechell. He attended Eton College where he met his long-lasting friends Brian Howard and Robert Byron. With them he was an early member of the Bright Young Things. He then moved to Trinity College, Oxford, where he was part of a group including Harold Acton, Robert Byron, Henry Vincent Yorke, Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath, David Plunket Greene, Brian Howard, John Sutro, Hugh Lygon, Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross. At Oxford Ogilvie-Grant was part of the Railway Club, which included: Henry Yorke, Roy Harrod, Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath, David Plunket Greene, Edward Henry Charles James Fox-Strangways, 7th Earl of Ilchester, Brian Howard, Michael Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, John Sutro, Hugh Lygon, Harold Acton, Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross, and John Drury-Lowe. Together with Harold Acton, William Howard, 8th Earl of Wicklow, Hugh Lygon, and Robert Byron, Ogilvie-Grant was part of the "Oxford Set" that attended the Hypocrites' Club. He was a member of the "Georgeoisie" with Alan Pryce-Jones, a group of students who dined every night at the George restaurant. He graduated in 1929 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) He was a distant cousin of Nina Caroline Studley-Herbert, 12th Countess of Seafield, another Bright Young Thing, daughter of his uncle, James Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield. For this reason, Cullen Castle, in Banffshire, home of Nina Seafield, became one of the retreats of the Bright Young Things. Among the friends who joined their parties were Nancy Mitford and Hamish St. Clair-Erskine. He was one of the closest friends and confidant of Nancy Mitford, became a frequent guest at Mitford's family house at Swinbrook and he inspired the character of Sir Ivor King in the 1940 novel Pigeon Pie. He illustrated Mitford's books, Christmas Pudding and Highland Fling. He did also the portrait of Brian Howard which appeared in the Cherwell in 1927.