Thomas Hitchcock Jr. (February 11, 1900 – April 18, 1944) was an American
polo
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...
player and aviator who was killed in an air crash during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He was inducted posthumously into the
Polo Hall of Fame.
Early years
Born in
Aiken,
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, Hitchcock learned the sport of polo from his parents, Louise and
Thomas Hitchcock Sr.
Thomas Hitchcock (23 November 1860 – 29 September 1941) was one of the leading American polo players during the latter part of the 19th century and a Hall of Fame horse trainer and owner known as the father of American steeplechase hor ...
His father was a
U.S. Racing Hall of Fame horse trainer who had been a 10-goal polo player and helped found the
Meadowbrook Polo Club
The Meadowbrook Polo Club (originally styled as the "Meadow Brook Club"), located in Old Westbury, New York, is the oldest continuously operating polo club in the United States, first established in 1881.Marie, Kim (August 27, 201The Power of The ...
on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, and who captained the American team in the inaugural 1886
International Polo Cup
The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...
. Hitchcock played in his first tournament at age 13 and was part of the Meadowbrook Polo Club team that won the 1916 U.S. national junior championship.
Hitchcock attended
St. Paul's School, where he played football, hockey and was a member of the crew team. After being elected president of the Sixth Form, Hitchcock chose to leave school and join the
Lafayette Flying Corps
The Lafayette Flying Corps is a name given to the American volunteer pilots who flew in the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) during World War I. It includes the pilots who flew with the bona fide Lafayette Escadrille squadron.
Numbers
The ...
in France during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He was shot down and captured by the Germans, but he escaped by jumping out of a train. He then hid in the woods during the daytime and walked more than one hundred miles over eight nights to the safety of Switzerland. After the war, Hitchcock studied at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Polo career
Hitchcock led the U.S. team to victory in the 1921
International Polo Cup
The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...
. From 1922 to 1940, Hitchcock carried a 10-goal handicap, which is the highest ranking in polo, from the
United States Polo Association
The United States Polo Association (USPA) is the national governing body for the sport of polo in the United States.
Introduction
Established in 1890, by David Grubbs the USPA provides resources to over 4,500 individual members and 250 polo club ...
. Playing with notable stars such as
Pete Bostwick
George Herbert "Pete" Bostwick (August 14, 1909 – January 13, 1982) was an American court tennis player, a steeplechase jockey and horse trainer, and an eight-goal polo player.
Biography
He was born in Bisby Lake, New York to Marie L. Stokes a ...
,
Jock Whitney
John Hay Whitney (August 17, 1904 – February 8, 1982) was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the ''New York Herald Tribune'', and president of the Museum of Modern Art. He was a member of the Whitney family.
Early life
Whit ...
and
Gerald Balding, he led teams to U.S. National Open Championships in 1923, 1927, 1935 and 1936.
Marriage and later life
On December 15, 1928, Hitchcock married Margaret Lederle "Peggy" Mellon (1901–1998), the younger daughter of businessman
William Larimer Mellon, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. They had four children together – daughters Louise Eustis Hitchcock and Margaret Mellon Hitchcock, and
twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
sons Thomas Hitchcock III and William Mellon Hitchcock.
For several years, Hitchcock was employed in New York by venture capitalist and socialite George Gordon Moore. He also coached a notable polo team (including
W. Averell Harriman), known as the San Carlos Cardinals, at Moore's Rancho San Carlos (now the Santa Lucia Preserve) in
Carmel, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and municipal corporation, incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its n ...
. In 1937, with fellow polo player
Robert Lehman
Robert Owen Lehman, Sr. (September 29, 1891 – August 9, 1969) was an American banker, longtime head of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, and a racehorse owner, art collector, and philanthropist.
Life and career
Lehman was born to a Jewish ...
, Hitchcock became a partner in the
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...
investment firm.
Serving as a
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
in the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Hitchcock was assigned as an assistant air attaché to the U.S. Embassy in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England. In that capacity, he was instrumental in the development of the
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...
fighter plane, particularly in replacing the original Allison engine with the Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin. Hitchcock was killed while piloting one such aircraft near
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, when he was unable to pull out of a dive while doing tests. His death was reported to his family by fellow St. Paul's alumnus
John G. Winant
John Gilbert Winant (February 23, 1889 – November 3, 1947) was an American diplomat and politics of the United States, politician with the Republican Party (United States), Republican party after a brief career as a teacher in Concord, New Ham ...
, then serving as
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
The United States ambassador to the United Kingdom (known formally as the ambassador of the United States to the Court of St James's) is the official representative of the president of the United States and the Federal government of the United S ...
.
Legacy
Author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
modeled two characters in his books on Hitchcock – Tom Buchanan in ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...
'' (1925) and the Tommy Barban character in ''
Tender Is the Night
''Tender Is the Night'' is the fourth and final novel completed by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in French Riviera during the twilight of the Jazz Age, the 1934 novel chronicles the rise and fall of Dick Diver, a promising young ps ...
'' (1934).
Following its formation, Hitchcock was inducted posthumously into the
Polo Hall of Fame in 1990. He had played on teams that won the
International Polo Cup
The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...
several times during the 1920s and 1930s (see
Big Four).
Three of Hitchcock's children – Margaret, Thomas and William – loaned the
Hitchcock Estate
The Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, New York is a historic mansion and surrounding grounds, associated with Timothy Leary and the psychedelic movement. It is often referred to in this context as just Millbrook; it is also sometimes called by its o ...
in Millbrook, New York, to
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
from 1963 to 1968, and it became a nexus of the
psychedelic movement
Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic dru ...
of that decade.
References
Further reading
*
Aldrich, Nelson W., Jr. ''Tommy Hitchcock: An American Hero'' (1985) Fleet Street Publishing Corp.
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchcock, Tommy Jr.
1900 births
1944 deaths
American polo players
French military personnel of World War I
United States Army Air Forces colonels
Harvard University alumni
Lafayette Escadrille
People from Aiken, South Carolina
Polo players at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Olympic polo players of the United States
Olympic silver medalists for the United States
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England
Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics
United States Army Air Forces personnel killed in World War II
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1944
Eustis family
Olympic medalists in polo