Washington Singer
{{Short description|British race horse owner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Washington Singer
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1866
| birth_place = Yonkers, New York
| death_date = 1934
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| occupation = Racehorse owner
Philanthropist
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| spouse = Ellen Mary Longsdon
| children = Grant Allen Singer
| parents = Isaac Singer
Isabella Eugenie Boyer
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}}
Washington Merritt Grant Singer (1866–1934) was an American-born British heir, philanthropist and prominent racehorse owner.
Biography
=Early life=
Born in Yonkers, New York he was the third child of Isabella Eugenie Boyer and sewing machine magnate, Isaac Singer. The family moved to England when Washington Singer was still a child. He was raised at Oldway Mansion at Paignton on the Devon coast.
=Equine interests=
After he received his inheritance upon his father's death, he originally planned to run a ranch in the American West, but after spending time hunting in Devonshire with his brother, Mortimer Singer, he decided to stay in England and become a racehorse owner.
Singer was joint-master of the South Devon Hunt between 1897 and 1901, and then sole master until 1907.{{cite book|last=Tozer|first=Edward JF|title=The South Devon Hunt|year=1916|url=https://archive.org/details/southdevonhunthi00toze/page/n11/mode/2up}}
A Thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast, he won the 1905 St. Leger Stakes with the colt Challacombe, trained by Alec Taylor, Jr. and the 1932 2,000 Guineas with Orwell. The Washington Singer Stakes race at Newbury Racecourse is named in his honour.
He was elected to the Jockey Club in July 1921.
=Philanthropy=
He became a benefactor of a number of causes and was a substantial donor to the University College of the Southwest of England, which later became the University of Exeter. One of the university's buildings, which is home to the Department of Psychology, is named in his honour.Schmidt, L.R., Schwenkmezger, P., Weinman, J., Maes, S. (eds.). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Mdz2AYftC-kC&pg=PR11&dq=%22department+of+psychology+washington+Singer+laboratories%22+%22university+of+exeter%22 Theoretical and Applied Aspects of Health Psychology]. Harwood Academic Publishers. 1996. p. XI. {{ISBN|3-7186-5053-3}}.
Personal life
Singer lived at Steartfield House, Paignton (now the Palace Hotel).{{Cite web|url=http://torbaycivicsociety.co.uk/projects/blue/blueextra.asp?db=3&plaque=singer|title=Blue Plaque Scheme: Washington M.G. Singer|last=|first=|date=|website=Torbay Civic Society|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012071308/http://torbaycivicsociety.co.uk/projects/blue/blueextra.asp?db=3&plaque=singer|archive-date=12 October 2006|access-date=}} He married his first wife, Blanche Wills-Hale, in 1887.{{Cite journal |date=25 October 1905 |title=Small Talk of the Week |journal=The Sketch |volume=LII |issue=665 |pages=39–42}} On 21 July 1915 he married Ellen Mary Longsdon, widow of Alfred Allen Longsdon, who had been drowned at Le Havre while driving his ambulance earlier that year. On 25 July 1927 they adopted Mary's youngest son, Grant Allen (Longsdon), in the name of Grant Allen Singer (1915–1942).
He was Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1924.
Norman Court
In 1903, Singer purchased Norman Court, West Tytherley, Hampshire,{{cite web|title=West Dean|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/235|access-date=13 November 2020|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council}} an 18th-century country house with a {{convert|20000|acre|km2|adj=on}} estate that included the Hampshire parishes of Buckholt and Frenchmoor, and in Wiltshire the village of West Dean and parts of Farley and Pitton. The estate was inherited by his son Grant, who was killed in action during World War II at the 1942 Second Battle of El Alamein while serving with the Royal Armoured Corps, 10th Royal Hussars.
Sold by his widow in 1952, Norman Court was the home of the private Norman Court Preparatory School from 1955 until 2012.{{Cite web|url=https://independentschoolsinhampshire.co.uk/norman-court/|title=Norman Court School, West Tytherley|last=|first=|date=|website=Independent Schools in Hampshire|language=en-US|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-08}} In 2021 Norman Court reopened as a training and educational centre.Norman Court training and Education Centre.{{Cite web|url=https://www.normancourtedcentre.com/|title=Norman Court: Training and Education Centre|last=|first=|date=|website=Norman Court|language=en-GB|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-08-12}}
From 2013-2019 it has housed Montessori school.{{Cite web|url=https://www.norman-court.org/|title=Norman Court: Montessori Nursery|last=|first=|date=|website=Norman Court|language=en-GB|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-08}} The building was recorded as Grade II* listed in 1986.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1173046|desc=Norman Court House|access-date=8 November 2019}}
He died in his sleep in February 1934, in Torquay, Devon.{{Cite web |date=February 12, 1934 |title=W.M.G. Singer Dies; Race-horse Owner |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/02/12/94492348.html?zoom=15.43 |access-date=April 4, 2022 |website=The New York Times |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20081120163257/http://www.westtytherley.com/overview.htm West Tytherley village website on Washington Singer's Norman Court Estate], archived in 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Washington}}
Category:English philanthropists
Category:British racehorse owners and breeders
Category:People from Yonkers, New York