Frederick Charles Gordon-Lennox, 9th Duke of Richmond, 9th Duke of Lennox, 9th Duke of Aubigny, 4th Duke of Gordon (5 February 1904 – 2 November 1989), also known as Freddie March and Freddie Richmond, was a British peer, engineer, racing driver, and motor racing promoter who founded the Goodwood Circuit at his Sussex estate.[1]
His interest in engineering started while he was at university and afterwards, he was apprenticed to Bentley Motors in the 1920s.[1] He began a motor racing career in 1929 when he took part in the JCC High-Speed Trial. In the next year, he became a member of the Austin team and won the Brooklands 500 Miles. He created his own team of MG Midgets in 1931 and won the Brooklands Double Twelve race, but then became more involved in the organisational side of motorsport.
He inherited the Dukedoms in 1935, along with Goodwood House and its racecourse, near Chichester. Death duties meant he had to sell the family interests in Scotland, including Gordon Castle, and settle on Goodwood. He designed and flew his own aircraft and served with the Royal Air Force during World War II. For a time, he was based in Washington, working for the Ministry of Aircraft Production.
After the war, he faced the task of rehabilitating Goodwood, and saw the potential for creating a motor racing circuit from the air fighter station built at Goodwood during the Second World War. Horse racing was an important part of the Goodwood scene, but he did not share his ancestors' interest in the sport. Opened in 1948, the Goodwood Circuit became an important venue in motor racing.[1] However, by 1966 the Duke was concerned at the increasing risks involved in motor racing and closed the circuit except for minor club activities and private testing.
The Duke was the longest-serving Vice President of the Royal Automobile Club, with which he was associated since 1948. As early as the thirties, he was the motoring correspondent of the Sunday Referee, and became the Founder President of the Guild of Motoring Writers.[1]
The Duke appeared on 14 December 1958 episode of the American version of What's My Line?.[2]
He married Elizabeth Grace Hudson (1900–1992) on 15 December 1927. She was the daughter of Rev. Thomas William Hudson and his wife, Alethea Mary Matheson, and sister of Bishop Noel Hudson. They were married for sixty-one years and had two children:[1]
