John Jacob Astor IV IV was born on July 13, 1864 at his parents' country estate Ferncliff in Rhinebeck, New York. He was the youngest of five children and only son of businessman, collector, and race horse breeder/owner William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn. His four elder sisters were Emily, Helen, Charlotte, and Caroline ("Carrie"). He was a great-grandson of fur-trader John Jacob Astor and Sarah Cox Todd, whose fortune made the Astor family one of the wealthiest in the United States. Astor's paternal grandfather William Backhouse Astor, Sr. was a prominent real estate businessman. Through his paternal grandmother, Margaret
John Astor John Astor John Astor (26 September 1923 – 27 December 1987) was an English politician. John was the third son of John Jacob Astor V (1886–1971) and Violet Mary Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (1889–1965). He had two elder brothers, Gavin (1918–1984) and Hugh (1920–1999). Violet also had two children, Mary (1910–2003) and George (1912–1997), from her first marriage to Lord Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice (1874–1914). He was educated at Summerfields and Eton College. During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was a Berkshire County Councillor from 1953 and an alderman from 1960. Astor was elected as the MP