The Earl of Munster

born March 21, 1926, died January 2001

THE death of the seventh Earl of Munster (Viscount FitzClarence and Baron Tewkesbury) brings to an end the short-lived house of FitzClarence, a line which began through King William IV (Duke of Clarence until he became monarch in 1830) and his liaison with the actress Dorothy Bland (styled ''Mrs Jordan'', though ''Mr Jordan'' did not exist). While Lord Munster is survived by three daughters, the earldom created for William and Dorothy's son, George FitzClarence, in 1831 was entailed for a male heir, and so the title now dies.

The then Tony FitzClarence is best remembered in Scotland for his outstanding work as a stained glass conservator on the Burrell Collection in Glasgow from 1979 until 1983. He became part of a formidably skilled team in ensuring that the medieval stained-glass panels selected for exhibition were in good enough condition to be displayed. The self-effacing aristocrat worked on the resin-filling of cracked specimens, some of this work in water-clear resins being pioneered at the Burrell.

He already had a developed interest in heraldic glass, with his handling of it appropriately answered back by his personal motto Nec Temere Nec Timide (neither rashly nor fearfully). His evident dexterity in arranging displays soon resulted in him managing the design of a wider exhibition of stained glass. His abilities led to the brilliantly simple idea of using the exterior glass walls of the refreshment area of the Burrell on which to mount the glass, every panel being illuminated by natural light. This method has continued from the opening of the gallery in 1983 to the present.

His talents gained the recog-nition of the wider world of stained glass, and he moved shortly after the Burrell opening to Chapel Studio in Hertfordshire, the noted firm of designers and conservators.

On the death of his father in 1983, Anthony Charles FitzClarence inherited the earldom of Munster, a seat in the Lords, and a coat-of-arms. His title reflected Dorothy Bland's Irish ancestry, while his heraldry was based on the English version of the Royal Arms of Great Britain, with a baton sinister to indicate bastardy. Educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, his family expected him to make his own way without trading on royal lineage. Thus, at just 16, he volunteered for the Royal Navy as a rating, seeing wartime service in the Mediterranean, Far East, and the Pacific.

His artistic talent was always to the forefront, and he left the navy to train as a graphic designer at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. For nine years, from 1957, he worked as a graphic artist for Daily Mirror newspapers and then for the Sun in its short-lived broadsheet period, until being made redundant by Rupert Murdoch in 1969. Following the death in 1975 of the fifth earl, his father's cousin, he became Viscount FitzClarence on the succession of his father as sixth earl.

Well-built and balding, he is remembered as a modest, almost shy, man, though much liked by his colleagues. Because of his diffidence, he rarely spoke in the Lords, though a regular attender and very much a working peer on the Conservative benches.

His public interests ranged across defence matters, museum funding, and osteoporosis, while privately he loved carpentry and field sports, and was fluent in French. From his navy days he was a keen yachtsman, and, as a younger man, a capable diver and diving instructor. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and has been a member of the Society of Industrial Artists.

He was married four times, and is survived by his fourth wife plus two daughters from his first marriage and one from the second.