ROPNER, Robert Bruce Beecroft 1933-2022
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Richard R
Apr 23, 2022, 5:08:09 AM4/23/22
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From the Telegraph of 23 April 2022: ROPNER Robert Bruce Beecroft died peacefully on 15th April 2022, aged 89, beloved husband of Willow, father of Robert and Nicola, grandfather of Angus, Max and Poppy and great-grandfather of Finley, Leon and Paddy. A service of Thanksgiving will be held at St Michael’s, Kirklington, North Yorkshire on 26th May 2022 at 2 pm.
He was s of Sir Robert Desmond ROPNER 1908-77 (gs of Sir Emil Hugo Oscar Robert ROPNER 1st Bt 1838-1924) and his 1st w (her 1st h) Dorothy Beecroft Sheila 1912-85 d of Sir Edmund Beecroft Francis Heathcote LACON 5th Bt 1878-1911 and Jane Gorham. He m 1960 Willow d of James William HARE of Thorner, Yorks, and had a son and a dau as above.
He was s of Sir Robert Desmond ROPNER 1908-77 (gs of Sir Emil Hugo Oscar Robert ROPNER 1st Bt 1838-1924) and his 1st w (her 1st h) Dorothy Beecroft Sheila 1912-85 d of Sir Edmund Beecroft Francis Heathcote LACON 5th Bt 1878-1911 and Jane Gorham. He m 1960 Willow d of James William HARE of Thorner, Yorks, and had a son and a dau as above.
Richard R
May 4, 2022, 6:06:31 AM5/4/22
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I neglected to record his OBE (as did DPB)
Obit in the Times of 4 May 2022:
E X T R A C T
Bruce Ropner obituary
Fast-living British bobsleigh champion, friend of Lord Lucan and shipping heir who build his own cricket ground and racing car circuit
...On one occasion he alarmed the young Duke of Kent by driving him at 132 mph in a 1930s eight-litre Barnato Hassan Bentley down the Great North Road. “The wheels were hardly touching the ground,” the duke reported, according to Ropner’s diary. The Bentley was still in one piece five decades later when it was sold for £1 million.
As if Ropner’s life was not already sufficiently colourful, he bobsleighed with Lord Lucan, umpired the inaugural cricket match on his own ground with Dickie Bird and converted a disused airfield into a racing car circuit....
...Although Ropner took having fun more seriously than he took himself, he also had a serious side, finding time to work for his family shipping firm, run his estate in North Yorkshire and chair his local Conservative Party association. He also found time to marry Willow Hare, a debutante who had been presented to the Queen....
...Jeremy Ropner would tell his family in later life how bizarre it was to have had someone who became so infamous sitting right behind him in the sled. “No one disliked Lucan but he was regarded as a bit thick,” he said. When Lucan disappeared after allegedly killing his children’s nanny in 1974, there was little further discussion about him among the Ropners, who were not gamblers....
...Ropner became chairman of the British Bobsleigh Association and was awarded an OBE for services to youth.
Robert Bruce Beecroft Ropner was born in West Hartlepool in 1933, the son of Sir Robert Ropner... The family were descended from German immigrants who had established a successful shipping business in the northeast, although the long-standing joke was that the family cars were worth more than their ships...
...On his estate near Bedale, much of which comprised forestry, Ropner created his own cricket ground for use by players in the locality... Ropner met Willow, the daughter of the chairman of a firm of cloth manufacturers and merchants, on holiday in the south of France. She survives him along with their two children, Robert, who runs a glamping centre on 150 acres at Camp Hill (the bobsleigh track closed as a result of Covid); and Nicola, who lives in a cottage on the estate. Robert’s wife, Johanna, is lord lieutenant of North Yorkshire...
Bruce Ropner, sports enthusiast, was born on April 13, 1933. He died as a result of heart problems on April 15, 2022, aged 89
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bruce-ropner-obituary-7b29cl69c
Obit in the Times of 4 May 2022:
E X T R A C T
Bruce Ropner obituary
Fast-living British bobsleigh champion, friend of Lord Lucan and shipping heir who build his own cricket ground and racing car circuit
...On one occasion he alarmed the young Duke of Kent by driving him at 132 mph in a 1930s eight-litre Barnato Hassan Bentley down the Great North Road. “The wheels were hardly touching the ground,” the duke reported, according to Ropner’s diary. The Bentley was still in one piece five decades later when it was sold for £1 million.
As if Ropner’s life was not already sufficiently colourful, he bobsleighed with Lord Lucan, umpired the inaugural cricket match on his own ground with Dickie Bird and converted a disused airfield into a racing car circuit....
...Although Ropner took having fun more seriously than he took himself, he also had a serious side, finding time to work for his family shipping firm, run his estate in North Yorkshire and chair his local Conservative Party association. He also found time to marry Willow Hare, a debutante who had been presented to the Queen....
...Jeremy Ropner would tell his family in later life how bizarre it was to have had someone who became so infamous sitting right behind him in the sled. “No one disliked Lucan but he was regarded as a bit thick,” he said. When Lucan disappeared after allegedly killing his children’s nanny in 1974, there was little further discussion about him among the Ropners, who were not gamblers....
...Ropner became chairman of the British Bobsleigh Association and was awarded an OBE for services to youth.
Robert Bruce Beecroft Ropner was born in West Hartlepool in 1933, the son of Sir Robert Ropner... The family were descended from German immigrants who had established a successful shipping business in the northeast, although the long-standing joke was that the family cars were worth more than their ships...
...On his estate near Bedale, much of which comprised forestry, Ropner created his own cricket ground for use by players in the locality... Ropner met Willow, the daughter of the chairman of a firm of cloth manufacturers and merchants, on holiday in the south of France. She survives him along with their two children, Robert, who runs a glamping centre on 150 acres at Camp Hill (the bobsleigh track closed as a result of Covid); and Nicola, who lives in a cottage on the estate. Robert’s wife, Johanna, is lord lieutenant of North Yorkshire...
Bruce Ropner, sports enthusiast, was born on April 13, 1933. He died as a result of heart problems on April 15, 2022, aged 89
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bruce-ropner-obituary-7b29cl69c
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