Disappearance of Lord Lucan

Date: November 8, 1974 • Location: London, United Kingdom

British peer Lord Lucan disappeared without a trace, a day after allegedly murdering Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny.

Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer and gambler who vanished in 1974 after being suspected of killing Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny, and attempting to murder his wife. An evacuee during World War II, Lucan attended Eton College and served with the Coldstream Guards in West Germany from 1953 to 1955. He developed a taste for gambling, playing backgammon and bridge, and became an early member of the exclusive group of wealthy British gamblers at the Clermont Club. His 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.