9th Duke of Grafton 1930-1936

The 9th Duke was John Charles William FitzRoy, the sixteen year old grandson of his predecessor. A mechanical enthusiast, he devoted much of his leisure to trying out the latest developments in motoring and flying. Soon after coming into the dukedom, he was injured while testing a new motor-cycle at Euston Hall. A member of the Cambridge Gliding Club, he quailified as a glider pilot, and in the year of his death had been among the new drivers at Brooklands. He filled the stables at Euston with all manner of machinery, and the stately avenues which once echoed to the galloping feet of thoroughbred horses carrying his ancestors, resounded, during his short tenure of the dukedom, to the less pleasant chug-chug of motor-cycles exuding oily smoke.

Like his father, Lord Ipswich, killed in a flying accident in 1918 while serving in the Royal Air Force, he was destined to have a tragic end. Two days after reaching his twenty-second birthday - August 3rd 1936 -he met with disaster while competing in the Limerick International Grand Prix. He lost control of his car during the first lap at an S bend and the vehicle skidded, mounted a path, crashed into a wall, and burst into flames. Three spectators sitting on the wall were also burned. The Duke was flung out, with his clothing on fire he received severe burns on the head, body and legs. He died within a few hours of entering Limerick Hospital

He was succeeded by his cousin, Charles Alfred Euston FitzRoy.