William Arthur Hamar Bass Vanity Fair 14 September 1905

Sir William Arthur Hamar Bass, 2nd Baronet (24 December 1879 – 28 February 1952) was a British racehorse owner and a significant contributor to the racing industry. He also provided support for the British film industry in its early days.

Biography

Bass was the son of

Hamar Alfred Bass Hamar Alfred Bass (30 July 1842 – 8 April 1898) was a British brewer, race horse breeder and a Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1878 to 1898. Early life Bass was born in Burton upon Trent, the second son of brewe ...

and his wife Louisa Bagot (1853–1942), daughter of

William Bagot, 3rd Baron Bagot William Bagot, 3rd Baron Bagot DL (27 March 1811 – 19 January 1887), styled The Honourable from birth until 1856, was a British courtier and Conservative politician. Background Born at Blithfield House, he was the eldest son of William Bagot, ...

. His father's family traced its fortunes to William Bass, who founded the famous Bass brewery company. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and started at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, but appears to have decided to join the army instead. He was commissioned a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the 3rd Battalion, the East Surrey Regiment on 14 April 1898. He transferred to the 10th (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars on 18 November 1899 and served in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

from 1900 to 1902, attached to a provisional regiment of hussars, during which he was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 3 October 1900. Following the end of the war, he returned from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

to England in the SS ''Maplemore'' in August 1902. In the First World War he served with the Reserve Regiments of Cavalry. He lived at Byrkley Lodge in the

Tatenhill Tatenhill is an ancient village and a civil parish located in a deep valley, between two hills, which gradually descend from the eastern border of Needwood Forest, west-southwest of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Buildings The san ...

area of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He succeeded to the

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

cy of Stafford in 1909 following the death of his uncle,

Baron Burton Baron Burton, of Burton-on-Trent and of Rangemore in the County of Stafford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1897 for the prominent brewer, philanthropist and Liberal politician Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burto ...

. Bass was first chairman of Provincial Cinematograph Theatres, which was founded in 1909 with the aim of opening a cinema in every town in the UK with a population of 250,000 or more. He also gave financial support to the London Film Company. However, Sir William (or Billy Bass as he was known) was most noted for his ownership of racehorses. He was a member and steward of the

Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, amo ...

, was on the National Hunt Committee and joint Master of the Royal Hunt. He enjoyed his first success in the

Cesarewitch Handicap The Cesarewitch Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newmarket over a distance of 2 miles and 2 furlongs (3,621 metres ...

in 1903 with Grey Tick, and also owned the horses

Rosedrop Rosedrop (1907–1930) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She won one minor race as a two-year-old in 1909 before emerging as a top-class performer in the following year. She won the Epsom Oaks, Atalanta Stakes and Great Yorksh ...

, Cyllene and

Sceptre A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia The ''Was'' and other ...

. He was a Steward of the Pony Turf Club and was involved in the foundation of

Northolt Northolt is a town in West London, England, spread across both sides of the A40 trunk road. It is west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the seven major towns that make up the London Borough of Ealing. It had a population of 30,304 at ...

Park Racecourse in 1929. In 1947, along with others, Bass continued the family tradition of acting as a benefactor to the

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...

area by donating a peal of five bells to All Saints Church to be installed as a war memorial.

Family

Sir William married Lady (Wilmot Ida) Noreen Hastings (1880–1949), second daughter of the 14th

Earl of Huntingdon Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The medieval title (1065 creation) was associated with the ruling house of Scotland (David I of Scotland, David of Scotland). The seventh and most rec ...

and a notable sportswoman,Lady Noreen Bass was most noted for snubbing Winston Churchill's mother Mrs George Cornwallis-West at the Newmarket races in 1909. See "Churchill Snubbed Because of Budget; Relatives and People of His Own Set Show Their Displeasure at His Diatribes. His Mother is also Cut Result Is That He Leans More and More to the Radicalism of Chancellor Lloyd-George." ''The New York Times'', Sunday 19 December 1909. Section: Special Cable News Section, Page C3, 1089 words

Retrieved 3 October 2007. in 1903, but died, aged 72, without having children, leading to the extinction of the baronetcy. He left his fortune to his wife's nephew, the trainer Peter Hastings-Bass, Peter Hastings (d. 1964) who changed his name to Hastings-Bass. Peter's eldest son William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass (b. 1948) is the present and 17th Earl of Huntingdon.

Notes

References

A brief biography of Bass from a horseracing site

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bass, Sir William, 2nd Baronet Bass, William Bass, William 10th Royal Hussars officers Bass, William British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Bass, William British cinema pioneers People educated at Harrow School People from Burton upon Trent Cinema pioneers