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 and his wife Louisa Bagot (1853–1942), daughter of William Bagot, 3rd Baron Bagot. His father's family traced its fortunes to William Bass, who founded the famous Bass brewery company. He was educated at Harrow School and started at Trinity College, Cambridge, but appears to have decided to join the army instead. He was commissioned a second lieutenant 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 So ...

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 coun ...

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

. 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 14t ...

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 Bur ...

. 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, was on the National Hunt Committee and joint Master of the Royal Hunt. He enjoyed his first success in the Cesarewitch Handicap 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. He was a Steward of the Pony Turf Club and was involved in the foundation of Northolt 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 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The ...

area by donating a peal of five bells to

All Saints Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania * All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Henley Brook, Western Aus ...

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 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