PRESIDENTIAL ROLE FOR LORD CRATHORNE
The Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, is following in his father’s footsteps of almost 50 years ago as he takes up the role of President of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society for 2014/15.
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The appointment comes as Lord Crathorne is also given The Freedom of The Town of Richmond, and in September, on his 75th birthday, he steps down as Lord-Lieutenant after serving for 15 years.
As President, Lord Crathorne will represent the Society at events around the region, and chairs the various internal planning meetings for its high profile event, the Great Yorkshire Show. The climax will come next July when he tours the event, meeting special guests, visitors and exhibitors.
Lord Crathorne has been a familiar face for many years at the three day farming and countryside showcase, latterly accompanying the many royal visitors during their tours in his capacity as Lord-Lieutenant. At July’s Great Yorkshire Show, HRH The Princess Royal and HRH The Countess of Wessex were the Society’s guests.
“I am very excited and enormously honoured to be President,” he said. “It’s particularly significant to me as it was a role my father undertook in 1967. I have always had a great affection for the Great Yorkshire Show and indeed an interest in the Society’s work year-round in raising the profile of farming and rural communities and celebrating farming excellence.”
The Great Yorkshire has changed since 1967. Today there are around 2,000 sheep entered, 50 years ago there were just over 400, similarly with cattle figures and attendance figures were less than 100,000 whereas today they number around 130,000+. However, core similarities remain. “Many families who were involved 50 years ago, are still taking part today, either as visitors, sponsors or as exhibitors. And of course the ethos remains the same, to show the best of British farming,” said Lord Crathorne.
Lord Crathorne’s home is at Crathorne. He was appointed Lord-Lieutenant in 1999 and two years ago HM The Queen also awarded him the KCVO (Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order).
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8 August, 2014
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THE LORD CRATHORNE KCVO Kst J FSA LLD
James Dugdale was born in England in September 1939. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in Fine Arts. He also drew cartoons for Cambridge magazines; played Royal Tennis for the University; drummed with a jazz group; became the Oxford and Cambridge wine tasting champion, and was a member of the Footlights Dramatic Club, along with David Frost and John Cleese.
After leaving University in 1963, he joined Sotheby’s and worked in the Impressionist and Modern Paintings Department. Three years later he went to work at the associated company, then called Parke-Bernet in New York, and in the next three years visited every state in America.
In the 1969 he returned to England to help manage the Crathorne Estate in North Yorkshire and to set up an independent Fine Art Consultancy business in London. Since 1980 his main business interest has been as a director or consultant to hotel companies which have included Cliveden and Crathorne Hall Hotel.
For many years he lectured in the States on a variety of subjects connected to England’s Heritage and gave a series of lectures on ‘Aspects of England’ at the Metropolitan Museum, New York in 1979. In 1988 he lectured in New Zealand and Australia on Captain Cook.
He was Chairman of The Georgian Group for 9 years, and is Chairman of the Captain Cook Birthplace Trust. For 3 years, he was a Trustee of The National Heritage Memorial Fund, which also manages the Heritage Lottery Fund. For 15 years he was on the Yorkshire Regional Committee of the National Trust. He is a Trustee of the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
He is a keen photographer and his own photographs are exhibited regularly. His photographs have appeared in The Times and Sunday Times, Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mail and Evening Standard and in various books.
He has written for magazines such as Apollo, The Connoisseur and British Heritage. He has published a book on the painter, Edouard Vuillard and completed a book about his mother’s family called Tennant’s Stalk. In 1989 he co-authored A Present from Crathorne. His book, Cliveden the Place and the People was published in 1995 and included many of his photographs. It is now in its third edition. In 1998 his book The Royal Crescent Book of Bath was published. In 1999 he was co-photographer of a book called Parliament in Pictures published by Thames & Hudson.
He inherited his title of Lord Crathorne from the first Lord Crathorne in 1977 and since then has attended the House of Lords as a Conservative Peer. At Westminster, he is Chairman/Secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Arts & Heritage Group, Secretary of the All-Party Photographic Group, he is on the editorial Board of The House Magazine and has been Chairman of the Works of Art Committee in the House of Lords. In November 1999 he was voted to be one of the 92 Hereditary Peers to remain in the reformed House of Lords.
In 1999, H.M. The Queen appointed him Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, and this role currently occupies most of his time until 12 September 2014 when, on his 75th birthday he retires. He is President and Patron of numerous local organisations involving the Armed Services, the Church, the Magistry, St John, the Red Cross, the Scouts among others.
In 2012, H.M. The Queen awarded him the KCVO.
He married Sylvia Montgomery in 1970, they have three children, Charlotte, Thomas and Katharine Dugdale. The family home is at Crathorne.
YORKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY:
The Yorkshire Agricultural Society was formed in 1837 and is a charity dedicated to supporting the farming industry and rural life. The Society is the organiser of the annual farming and country showcase, the Great Yorkshire Show and its sister event, Countryside Live. Both take place at the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire and are flagship events for agriculture and rural life. Dates for the 2015 Great Yorkshire Show are Tuesday 14 – Thursday 16 July, and this autumn’s Countryside Live takes place Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 October.
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