Michael Ansell

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Colonel Sir
Mike Ansell
CBE DSO
Ansell in March 1951.
Personal information
Full nameMichael Picton Ansell
NationalityBritish
DisciplineShow jumping
Born(1905-03-26)26 March 1905
Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland
Died17 February 1994(1994-02-17) (aged 88)
Brighton, England

Colonel Sir Michael Picton Ansell, CBE, DSO (26 March 1905 – 17 February 1994) was a soldier, showjumper, polo player, and horse show administrator.

Early life[edit]

Ansell was born on 26 March 1905 at the Curragh, County Kildare.[1] His father Lt Col George Ansell was killed in September 1914, during the First World War, leading the 5th Dragoon Guards in a cavalry charge against German positions, for which he was subsequently mentioned in dispatches.[2] [3] After attending St Michael's Westgate-in-Sea and Wellington College he went to Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Military career[edit]

In August 1924 he was commissioned into the 5th/6th Dragoons, a regiment formed two years earlier by the amalgamation of the 5th Dragoon Guards and 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons (his father having served in both regiments). He served throughout the 1930s a cavalry officer, show jumping rider,[1] and international polo player.

In France in March 1940, during World War II, he was given command of a yeomanry regiment, the 1st Lothians and Border Horse, becoming the British Army's youngest commanding officer at the time.[1] He won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), but was shortly afterwards wounded in the hand and eyes by "friendly fire", blinding him permanently, and then became a prisoner of war (POW).[1] All four fingers on his injured left hand were later amputated.[4] He was repatriated from a German POW camp in 1943.[1]

From 1957 to 1962 he was Colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.[5]

Showjumping[edit]

An invitation to take up the position of chairman of the British Showjumping Association led to him being credited with revitalising the sport.[1] He restarted the Royal International Horse Show and initiated the Horse of the Year Show.[1] He was Chairman of the British Horse Society[6] and Chaired the British Showjumping Association from 1945 until 1964.[4] He was the first president of the British Equestrian Federation.[6]

Honours/Affiliations[edit]

In 1967, when his address was given as "Pillhead House, Bideford", he was High Sheriff of Devon. He was President of St Dunstan's, a charity for blind servicemen, from 1977 to 1986.[1]

Picton was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1951 New Year Honours[7] and a Knight Bachelor (Kt) in the 1968 New Year Honours.[8][1]

He appeared on the television programme This Is Your Life on 28 March 1960,[citation needed] and as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 14 July 1973.[9]

His autobiography, Soldier On, was published in 1973. It had a foreword by the Duke of Edinburgh.[10] His final book, Leopard: the story of my horse, featured a foreword by Prince Charles.[11]

In 1977, he was a recipient of the Silver Olympic Order.[12]

Death[edit]

He died on 17 February 1994 in Brighton, England, aged 88.[1]

Bibliography[edit]

  • —— (1951). Show Jumping: Obstacles and Courses. Collins.
  • —— (1954). Jumping. Naldrett Press.
  • —— (1973). Soldier On. Peter Davies. ISBN 978-0432005866.
  • —— (1974). Riding High. Peter Davies. ISBN 978-0432005873.
  • —— (1980). Leopard: the story of my horse. Quartilles International Limited. ISBN 978-0903021173.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cecil, Blacker (2 March 1994). "Obituary: Sir Michael Ansell". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Page 8358 | Supplement 28942, 16 October 1914 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Life story: George Kirkpatrick Ansell | Lives of the First World War". livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b Olstrom, Clifford E. (2011). Undaunted by Blindness (eBook) (2nd ed.). Perkins School for the Blind. pp. unpaginated. ISBN 9780982272190.
  5. ^ "5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ a b "Laureates". British Horse Society. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  7. ^ British Empire :"No. 39104". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1950. p. 10.
  8. ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 44484". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1967. p. 1.
  9. ^ "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Colonel Sir Michael Ansell". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  10. ^ Ansell, Mike (1973). Soldier On. Peter Davies. ISBN 978-0432005866.
  11. ^ Ansell, Michael (20 July 2014). "Leopard the story of my horse". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Michael Ansell". Olympedia. Retrieved 3 December 2021.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Ansell&oldid=1217874571"