Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington

{{Short description|British farmer, poet, and landowner (1930–2021)}}

Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington OBE (12 January 1930 – 9 January 2021), also known as Patrick of the Hills was a British farmer, poet, and landowner. He resided in Muncaster Castle, Ravenglass.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p23131.htm|title=Person Page|website=www.thepeerage.com}}{{Cite news|date=14 January 2021|url=https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/19005407.patrick-gordon-duff-pennington-muncaster-castle-sadly-died/|last=Major | first=Melissa | title=Trbutes paid to Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington of Muncaster Castle after his death aged 90|work=News and Star|access-date=18 January 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Ovens |first1=Eleanor |title=Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington, of Muncaster Castle has sadly died aged 90 |url=https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/19007111.patrick-gordon-duff-pennington-muncaster-castle-sadly-died-aged-90/ |access-date=18 January 2021 |work=The Westmorland Gazette |date=13 January 2021 |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://cumbriacrack.com/2021/01/13/muncaster-castles-patrick-gordon-duff-pennington-dies-aged-90/|title=Muncaster Castle's Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington dies aged 90|date=January 13, 2021}}{{Cite news|work=The Press and Journal | date=15 January 2021 | access-date=18 January 2021|url=https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/moray/2809816/obituary-farming-champion-from-moray-took-gorbachev-to-task-over-chernobyl-impact-in-uk/|title=Obituary: Farming champion from Moray took Gorbachev to task over Chernobyl impact in UK|first=Sean|last=McAngus}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/opinion/18620149.raider-patrick-gordon-duff-pennington---longest-name-scottish-agriculture/|title=Evergreens: Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington - the longest name in Scottish agriculture?|website=The Scottish Farmer|date=2 August 2020 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/19007111.patrick-gordon-duff-pennington-muncaster-castle-sadly-died-aged-90/|title=Tributes pour in for 'booming voice' of Muncaster Castle who died aged 90|website=The Mail|date=13 January 2021 }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/28/travel/it-s-all-in-the-family-at-muncaster.html|title=IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY AT MUNCASTER (Published 1985)|first=Donald|last=Goddard|work=The New York Times |date=July 28, 1985|via=NYTimes.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3335319/From-roses-to-rhododendrons.html|title=From roses to rhododendrons|website=The Telegraph|date=21 May 2005 }}

He served as Hill Farming Convenor of the National Farmers' Union of Scotland (NFU), Chairman of the Deer Commission for Scotland, Convenor of the Scottish Landowners Federation, County Chairman of the Cumbrian NFU, and an appointed member of the Lake District Special Planning Board. He was awarded the MBE and later the OBE for his services to agriculture.

Life

Patrick Gordon-Duff was born in January 1930 and grew up in Moray, Scotland.

He was educated at Eton and Oxford. After university, he joined the Cameron Highlanders. He carried the Regimental Colours at Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Parade.

He married Phyllida Pennington, of the Penningtons of Muncaster Castle, in 1955, and added her surname to his already double-barreled name.

He and his wife turned Muncaster Castle into a popular tourist attraction visited by over 90,000 people a year.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northwest/series1/muncaster-castle.shtml|title=BBC Inside Out - Muncaster Castle|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}{{Cite news|date=31 May 2011|access-date=18 January 2021|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-phyllida-gordon-duff-pennington-chatelaine-1674884|title=Obituary: Phyllida Gordon-Duff-Pennington, châtelaine|work=The Scotsman}}

After the Chernobyl disaster, he wrote to Mikhail Gorbachev to complain about the radioactive dust that had collected on the Cumbrian Fells. His letter was initially refused by the Russian Embassy as they did not believe his name was real on account of its length. Eventually the embassy did accept his letter and he became an active leader of the British-Soviet Friendship Society.

He published two books of poetry (Last Post and Reveille, 2014 and The Black Dog's Day, 2017) under the name "Patrick of the Hills", and an autobiography (Those Blue Remembered Hills, 2015).{{Cite web|url=http://www.hayloft.eu/last%20post.html|title=Last Post and Reveille}}

Gordon-Duff-Pennington died on 9 January 2021 at the age of 90. He was survived by four daughters, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His wife had predeceased him in 2011.

Selected publications

Last Post and Reveille (Hayloft Publishing, 2014: {{ISBN|9781904524960}})
Those Blue Remembered Hill (Hayloft Publishing, 2015: {{ISBN|978 1 910237 10 6}}){{Cite web|url=http://www.hayloft.eu/blue%20remembered%20hills.html|title=Those Blue Remembered Hills|publisher=Hayloft Publishing | access-date=18 January 2021}}
The Black Dog's Day (Hayloft Publishing, 2017: {{ISBN|9781910237267 }}){{Cite web|url=http://www.hayloft.eu/black%20dog's%20day.html|title=Black Dog's Day|publisher=Hayloft Publishing | access-date=18 January 2021}}

References

Category:1930 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:British poets

Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Deputy lieutenants of Cumbria

Category:Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers

Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford

Category:People educated at Eton College

Category:People from Ravenglass