NUNNELEY, William Pitcairn 1948-2025

[Richard R]

Lots of potential to add to/amend this post, but I’ve got to the stage where I want to post & be rid of it!

From the Telegraph of 5 May 2025: NUNNELEY William Pitcairn, died peacefully at home on 23rd April 2025. Loving husband of Caroline and most dearly loved father and grandfather. Private family funeral. Service of Thanksgiving at St Andrew's Church, Naunton at 11 a.m. on Saturday 7th June. Please let the family know if you wish to attend… No flowers. Donations to Kate's Home Nursing, Injured Jockeys Fund and Hunt Staff Benefit Society c/o W.J. Wright Funeral Directors, Rectory House, Bourton-on-the-Water…

He was s of Maj David Charles William NUNNELEY 1918-71 (s of Capt William Pitcairn NUNNELEY c1877-1921 of Queen Mary’s, St Andrews, Fife (elder s of William Joseph NUNNELEY 1847-84 scion of that gentry family f/o Park House and Georgina PITCAIRN of Pitcullo Castle, Fife) by his c1915 m reg Q1 Kent to as her 1^st of 3 h Frances Marjory GARRATT 1883-1956 (Mrs Barclay Black)) by his c1947 m reg Q1 London to [as her 2^nd h] Rosemary Joan MONRO 1917-2009 d of Herbert Trevelyan MONRO 1868-1945 of The Lawns, Byfield, Northants by his 1913 m reg Q3 Warks to Dorothy NIGHTINGALE 1894-). He m 1^st 1975 reg Q3 W Sussex (div) as his 1^st w (her 1^st h) Fiona Mary (she m 2^nd 1992 Hon Robert Laing s of LP Baron Laing of Dunphail 1923-2010) d of G Freddy B GRANT of Church House, Washington, Pulborough, Sussex; he m 2^nd 1990 reg Q4 Glos Caroline Anne WALLACE b July 1950 (the sculptor) and had issue by 1^st marriage

1. Andrew Pitcairn b May 1978 reg Q2 N Yorks (fund manager): m 200_ (eng Times 16 April 2004 where he’s described as elder s) Victoria C. d of Paul FORBES d bef 2004 of Santon, IoM.

2. a son

1. Miranda Fiona b 1980 reg Q4 N Yorks: m 20__ (eng Times 30 Oct 2009) James Forbes b 1976 s of Lt Cdr Ian Patrick Forbes MEIKLEJOHN b 1939 reg Q2 London of Blervie, Morayshire and Fiona Margery b 1945 d of Maj John Alexander LOCHORE ka1944 (s of Sir James LOCHORE 1874-1953) and Hazel Mary 1918-2010 d of Sir Robert Weston BROOKE DSO MC 2^nd Bt 1885-1942 and Margery Jean MBE c1886-1975 d of Alexander GEDDES of Blairmore, Abderdeen and _ SHARPE, and had issue

1.1 Ludovic Forbes MEIKLEJOHN b 2009 reg Q4 Rochdale

1.2 Alfred Andrew MEIKLEJOHN b 2015 reg Q4 Ken&Chelsea

1.1 Indigo Daisy F. MEIKLEJOHN b 2013 reg Q2 Ken&Chelsea

2. Olivia Lucy b 24 Sep 1986 (Times 27 Sep) reg Q4 N Yorks

[colinp]

Obit in the Daily Telegraph 10 July 2025 -  William Nunneley, master of foxhounds and head of stewarding across British racecourses – obituary

EXTRACTS:

William Nunneley, master of foxhounds who became head of stewarding across British racecourses

A stickler for standards, he once hauled a recalcitrant and scruffy steward from his West Country farm to Jermyn Street to buy a tweed suit

William Nunneley, who has died aged 77, was a master and huntsman of five packs of foxhounds before rising through the ranks of racing to become the British Horseracing Authority’s head of stewarding.

His foxhunting career began with mastership of the Tedworth Hunt in 1968 but he is best remembered for the fine sport shown during the 1970s while he was Master of the Morpeth in Northumberland.

He was endowed with a great sense of humour, a zest for life, and the mythical common touch, and hunting in his company was always fun. In retirement he became a confidant and mentor to young masters navigating the current choppy waters.

Nunneley’s long career as a racing official, from part-time judge in 1980 to head of stewarding between 2002 and 2013, also spanned an era of unprecedented change during which the centuries-old Jockey Club ceded governance of racing to the British Horseracing Authority.

As head of stewarding, responsible for the practical management of race days, Nunneley was a fixture at every high-profile meeting in the country, from Royal Ascot in June to the Cheltenham Festival in March. He appointed two former jockeys as his deputies, and with their help the transition was made from a system reliant on amateur stewards to professional stipendiaries with a vote on the panel [….]

William Nunneley was born on March 23 1948, the second of three children and the only son of sporting parents. His father, Major David Nunneley, was a Gordon Highlander who was captured in Singapore and sent to work on the notorious Siam-Burma railway, an experience from which he never fully recovered.

After the war he married Rosemary Whitbread, a keen hunting lady and one-time secretary of the Cotswold Hunt whose grandfather was the sporting artist, Basil Nightingale [….]

On his return from a working holiday in Zimbabwe, the 20-year-old William announced his intention to take a pack of hounds, somewhat to the dismay of his father, who had anticipated a military career. Masterships of the Tedworth and Morpeth, where he met his first wife, Fiona Grant, were followed by shorter stays with the Bedale and Middleton in North Yorkshire, where the subscribers did not always appreciate their master’s patient approach to hunting hounds.

On giving up his mastership of the Bramham Moor in 1990, Nunneley married the equine artist and sculptor Caroline Wallace, who was to nurse him through ill-health during the last six months of his life [….]

After retirement the Nunneleys spent eight years at With​ypool on Exmoor, where they dispensed hospitality to visitors from near and far and William enjoyed following the Devon and Somerset staghounds.

Latterly they returned to the county of his childhood, where it was open house to all-comers and a favourite pit stop for the North Cotswold hunt staff on summer hound exercise. A neighbour visiting shortly before Nunneley’s death recalled his anxiety lest her glass run dry, and reported that his brilliant sense of humour stayed with him until the end.

William Nunneley is survived by his second wife Caroline, by a son, a stepson and a stepdaughter from that marriage, and by a son and two daughters from his first marriage.

William Nunneley, born March 23 1948, died April 23 2025​

[S R Eglesfield]

As per his obituary in The Daily Telegraph, the late Mr Nunneley's second son, Fergus William NUNNELEY (birth registered 1992 - Gloucester), was from his second marriage to (as her second husband) Mrs Caroline Anne WALLACE, née DOYNE-DITMAS, of a branch of the Ditmas of Countess Weir, Devon, landed gentry (LG) family. Her first husband (marriage registered Q1 1974 - Westminster) was Maj Malcolm Charles Robarts WALLACE (born 12 VI 1947), by whom she was the mother of Maj Harry Alexander Robarts WALLACE (born 1980) and Philippa Anne S WALLACE (born 1981).

 

Mrs Nunneley's paternal grandfather, Maj Harold Edward Churton DOYNE-DITMAS (19 IV 1881 - 26 VII 1945), assumed the surname of Doyne in addition to his patronymic by Royal Licence on 1 May 1918. His wife (married 5 XII 1906), Sibyl Harriet Monoux PAYNE (25 VI 1885 - 1976), was the second daughter and co-heir of Philip Monoux PAYNE (c.1858 - 29 XI 1935; he was styled as Sir Philip Monoux Payne, 7th Bt, but it seems that his descent was illegitimate, and he was not entitled to the baronetcy) and his wife, Winifred DOYNE (1862 - 1918), only daughter of Richard Vigors DOYNE (19 X 1824 - 1897), of that LG family, of Wells, County Wexford.

 

Mrs Nunneley's maternal grandfather, Cdr Robert Tatton BOWER (9 VI 1894 - 5 VII 1975), MP (Conservative) for Cleveland, 1931-45, was of that LG family, formerly of Welham. His wife (married 24 IX 1922), the Hon Henrietta May Caribbea STRICKLAND (6 II 1903 - 1975), was the fifth daughter of the 1st and last Baron Strickland (6th Count della Catena in Malta) and his first wife (married 26 VIII 1890), Lady Edeline SACKVILLE (10 IX 1870 - 15 XII 1918), daughter of the 7th Earl De La Warr. Lord Strickland was a remarkable man, having in his time been a member of both Houses of the UK Parliament, as well as Prime Minister of Malta, among the other offices he held.