Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(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. 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

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and later the

for his services to agriculture.

Life

Patrick Gordon-Duff was born in January 1930 and grew up in

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, 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

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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. After the

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, he wrote to

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to complain about the radioactive dust that had collected on the Cumbrian Fells. His letter was initially refused by the

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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

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. 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). 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: ) *''Those Blue Remembered Hill'' (Hayloft Publishing, 2015: ) *''The Black Dog's Day'' (Hayloft Publishing, 2017: )

References

1930 births 2021 deaths British poets Members of the Order of the British Empire Officers of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Cumbria Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers Alumni of the University of Oxford People educated at Eton College People from Ravenglass {{UK-writer-stub