Douglas Bunn, the man behind the All England Jumping Course in Hickstead, Great Britain, died in his sleep on June 16 after a short illness. He was 81.
Mr. Bunn was born on Feb. 29, 1928, and went straight from the cradle to horseback. He became an avid show jumper, and after he began work as a barrister, he was known for wearing his breeches beneath his formal wear and heading straight to the barn when a courtroom session ended.
In 1960, he opened the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, and a year later he introduced the now infamous British Jumping Derby. Controversy arose when many of the riders refused to contest the 10’6″ derby bank.
Mr. Bunn also pioneered the concept of team ’chasing, which led to the Hickstead Eventing Grand Prix, the only contest in which top-level show jumpers and eventers compete together.
Michael Clayton, past editor of Horse & Hound and a personal friend, said in an obituary: “Douglas Bunn was undoubtedly the greatest innovator in British show jumping in the post-war years. He succeeded in creating his personal vision virtually on his doorstep at Hickstead—and he made the horse world come to him in his native Sussex.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Bunn also welcomed the Royal International Horse Show to Hickstead in 1992 after it was forced to leave the British Exhibition Center in Birmingham.
He was the vice president of the British Show Jumping Association at the time of his death, having been chairman in 1969 and from 1993 to 1996. He was also president from 2001 to 2005.
Hunting was always an important part of his riding life—it earned him the informal title Master of Hickstead—and he was jt-MFH of the Mid Surrey Farmers Drag Hounds from 1976 to 2000, when he became vice chairman.
Mr. Bunn was married three times and had nine children, Claudia, Lavinia, Theresa, Edward, Lizzie, John, Chloe, Daisy and Charlie. The latter six children are active with the day-to-day running of the show grounds. His third wife, Lorna Kirk, died in 1995.
Memorial donations may be made to the St. Peter and St. James Hospice, North Common Road, North Chailey Lewes, East Sussex BN8 4ED
