Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert 1924 - 2001
Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert , obit. The Times, 13 Sep 2001 and The telegraph (same day) "The 7th Earl of Carnarvon (Filed: 13/09/2001) THE 7th EARL of CARNARVON, who has died aged 77, was the Queen's racing manager and one of her oldest and closest friends. The grandson of the 5th Earl, who discovered Tutankhamen's tomb with Howard Carter, Lord Carnarvon succeeded his father to the title in 1987. By that time, he had already established a reputation not only as a first class breeder of horses, but also as a leading figure in local government, planning and conservation. Lord Carnarvon had developed his interest in racing during early boyhood when he used to watch his father, the 6th Earl, an engagingly rakish countryman, riding as an amateur on the flat. Gifted with an agile brain and a sharp eye, Lord Porchester (as he then was) began his career as an owner and breeder at the age of 19 when his father took him to Fred Darling's yard at Beckhampton and invited him to choose a yearling as a present. He picked one he called The Solicitor. As a two-year-old The Solicitor was ridden by Gordon Richards to win two races at Ascot in 1943. After the war Carnarvon had horses in the Bedford House stable at Newmarket, managed by Jack Clayton. The best was Tamerlane, who won the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1955. Another successful horse was the useful filly Hiding Place, who won the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket as a three-year-old in 1966 and went on to success at Kempton Park and Sandown Park. In 1979 Carnarvon purchased the Highclere stud from his father. The stud had been built by his grandfather at the family seat of Highclere Castle, a 6,000-acre property on the Hampshire/Berkshire border with a "Jacobean" gothic castle designed by Sir Charles Barry. It became his abiding interest and he developed it considerably. He had an intuitive knack for sending mares to the right stallions and a fantastic memory for blood lines. The Highclere stud went on to be notably successful in breeding high-class winners. Hiding Place became one of the most influential mares at the stud. Among her offspring were the colts Smuggler and Little Wolf and the filly Cubby Hole. Smuggler established himself among the best three-year-olds of 1986 by winning the Warren Stakes at Epsom, the Princess of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket and the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood. Little Wolf completed a notable double in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and the Goodwood Cup in 1983. Hiding Place's daughter Cubby Hole became the mother of Niche, who won the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket in 1983. One of Lord Carnarvon's most popular horses was Lyric Fantasy, dubbed the "Pocket Rocket". Bought as a yearling for 12,500 guineas, she won the valuable Sales Super Sprint on Carnarvon's home ground at Newbury in 1992, beating Aradanza by an easy six lengths. She also won the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot and later beat the cream of the older sprinters in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York. The next season Carnarvon had another top class filly in Lemon Souffle, who won the Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket, the Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh and the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket in 1994. Lord Carnarvon played an important part in the administration of racing, notably as chairman of the Jockey Club's Race Planning Committee, whose report led to the creation of the Pattern, which identified and classified the most important races, in 1967. In 1971, this became the European Pattern, which remains the undisputed basis for international values in bloodstock. He became chairman of the Newbury Race Committee in 1985, of the Equine Virology Research Foundation the following year and was twice President of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association from 1969 to 1974 and from 1986 to 1991. Lord Carnarvon had been a friend of the Queen's since she was a teenager; she called him "Porchie" (after his former courtesy title of Lord Porchester). They remained close friends through their shared love of racing. She was a frequent guest at Highclere and he became her racing manager in 1969. But his record in this post attracted some controversy and he became known as the man who had failed to find the Queen a Derby winner. He was also widely blamed for the dismissal of her trainer Major Dick Hern, a well-liked man who was relieved of his duties at the Queen's West Ilsley stables in 1989. The sacking of the wheelchair-bound Hern, amid a tide of emotion, was one of the more difficult moments of Carnarvon's life and he was cast in the popular media as the villain of the piece. Fortunately a compromise was reached, whereby Hern was to share the West Ilsley stable with the Queen's new tenant in 1990, to give him time to find alternative premises in which to continue training. Lord Carnarvon's interests ranged far wider than racing. From his American mother, Catherine, he inherited a keen sense of public duty, having helped her in the Paddington soup kitchens before the war: "I developed such respect for the way the poor coped with so little, that I decided then I would do as much for other people as I could," he recalled. After the war, this precipitated his unsuccessful candidacy for the constituency of Basingstoke, before he was elected unopposed as an Independent to Hampshire County Council. He remained a member of the council for 24 years, serving as vice-chairman and then chairman from 1973 to 1977. He was vice-chairman of the Association of County Councils (ACC) from 1972 to 1974, and chairman of the ACC's planning committee from 1968 to 1974. During the Seventies he was chairman of the South East Economic Planning Council and from 1989 chairman of the South East Regional Planning Council (Serplan), the body responsible for long-term land use and planning in the South East. Among other projects, he was involved in the Maplin airport project, the Channel Tunnel, the M25 and the development of London's Docklands. In 1978 he carried out a public inquiry for the Government into the future of Exmoor which recommended that the national Park Authority should be given statutory powers to declare special conservation areas, a recommendation subsequently implemented by the Government. Lord Carnarvon carried out his duties with great sensitivity and charm, taking care to consult local government officers in policy and management decisions. He was always prepared to admit he was wrong, having found that "the easiest way to get a meeting back on your side is to say 'I'm terribly sorry, I made an absolute ass of myself. I do apologise.' It's the best form of attack." When he retired from Hampshire County Council, he was very touched when the local branch of NALGO presented him with a crystal decanter. His contributions to local government were recognised in 1976 with a knighthood. Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert was born at Highclere on January 19 1924, the son of the 6th Earl of Carnarvon, and given the courtesy title of Lord Porchester. The Earldom had been created in 1793 for his ancestor Henry Herbert, who had been MP for Wilton and later became Master of the Horse. From his father, a younger son of the 8th Earl of Pembroke, the 1st Earl had inherited the Highclere estate which became the family seat. Lord Porchester's parents were divorced when he was 13 and he lived with his mother in London. He was educated at Eton where he excelled in boxing. Commissioned in the Royal Horse Guards during the war, he served in North Africa, spending his 19th birthday in the Sinai desert. After the War, he attended the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester where he was said to have acquired an unusually expert knowledge of grasses. He went into farm management and in the late 1950s took control of a third of the Highclere estate. After succeeding his father to the title in 1987, Lord Carnarvon took his place on the crossbenches of the House of Lords. He immediately set about making Highclere Castle pay its way. In 1989 he opened its doors to the public for the first time following the discovery earlier that year of a hoard of some 300 antiquities brought from Egypt by his grandfather, which had lain undisturbed in a hidden store cupboard for 60 years. Lord Carnarvon was appointed KCVO in 1982, and was Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire in 1965. He married, in 1956, Jean Wallop, an American-born cousin of the Earl of Portsmouth. They had a daughter and two sons, of whom the elder, George, Lord Porchester, born in 1956, succeeds to the Earldom. Ã Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002. Terms & Conditions of reading. Commercial information. Privacy Policy."
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| Born: Highclere, Hants., England 19th Jan 1924 | Baptised:
| | Died: 11th Sep 2001 | Buried:
| | Family: Herbert |
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