Beaufort Polo Club

Beaufort Polo Club in 2003
Entrance to the polo club in 2007

The Beaufort Polo Club is a polo club in Gloucestershire, England.[1][2][3][4]

History

The club was started by Captain Frank Henry in 1872, when he returned from the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and joined the Gloucestershire Royal Yeomanry.[1][2][3][4] Players included members of the Duke of Beaufort's Hunt, under the presidency of Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort.[1][2][3] It was located at Big Field in Norton, between Malmesbury and Hullavington on the Pinkney Estate.[1][2][3]

In 1929, Herbert C. Cox, a Canadian polo player, revived it at Down Farm, alongside the Westonbirt Arboretum near Tetbury.[2][3] It fell in abeyance in 1939.[3]

In 1977, Simon and Claire Tomlinson, of the Los Locos polo team, bought Down Farm.[1][2][3][4][5] They revived the club and it joined the Hurlingham Polo Association in 1989.[2][3] The Tomlinsons' sons, Mark and Luke Tomlinson, are polo players. Charles, Prince of Wales is a patron, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge has played polo at the club.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Official website, About". Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Horace A. Laffaye, The Evolution of Polo, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009, p. 23
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Horace A. Laffaye, Polo in Britain: A History, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2012, p. 19; 127
  4. ^ a b c BusinessWeek profile
  5. ^ Horace A. Laffaye, Profiles in Polo: The Players Who Changed the Game, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2007, p. 211
  6. ^ Ingrid Seward, William & Harry: A Portrait of Two Princes, Arcade Publishing, 2003, p. 260 [1]
  7. ^ Tim Graham and Peter Archer,William: Hrh Prince William of Wales, Atria Books, 2003, p. 198 [2]