John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan

Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer and gambler. The eldest son of George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan and Kaitlin Dawson, he was the great-great-grandson of George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, who led the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade. An evacuee during World War II, Lucan attended Eton College and served with the Coldstream Guards in West Germany from 1953 to 1955. Having developed a taste for gambling, he played backgammon and bridge, and was an early member of the exclusive group of wealthy British gamblers at the Clermont Club. Lucan's losses often exceeded his winnings, yet he left his job at a London-based merchant bank and became a professional gambler. He was known as Lord Bingham from April 1949 until January 1964, during his father's lifetime.