Anthony Preston

ANTHONY Preston, who played an active part in many aspects of life in Yorkshire, has died aged 85.

He was a man of great charm, courtesy and friendship whose interests were in farming, racing, hunting and politics.

He was a magistrate for 25 years and High Sheriff of North Yorkshire in 1984.

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For more than 40 years he played a prominent role with the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which runs the three-day Great Yorkshire Show at its Harrogate Showground.

His links with the region's annual agricultural showcase began when he became a horse steward, a role he held for more than 30 years during which time he was also chief horse steward and collecting ring steward. He was chairman of the show's horse committee in 1969 and was also a member of the foxhound committee.

For many years he was a council member of the society and in 1982 he became its president. In 1987 he was appointed honorary director of the Great Yorkshire Show, a post he held for six years.

Mr Preston was born in London but lived in Yorkshire all his life.

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His great grandfather was William Thomson, Archbishop of York from 1862 until 1890, while another noted ancestor was John Preston, Mayor of Leeds in 1692.

Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he was a wartime soldier who also

served in India for two years after the war.

He returned to farming, firstly at Riccall, near Selby, before moving back to the family home at Moreby Hall, near Stillingfleet in 1958, where he continued to farm, primarily as a stockman with cattle, sheep and pigs.

In retirement he developed a small herd of Beef Shorthorns, was a

member of the Shorthorn Society and also bred goats.

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For several years, he was a committee member and director of the

Brandsby Agricultural Trading Association, serving as chairman from

1997 until 2003.

Mr Preston was an enthusiastic racegoer and steward at a number of Yorkshire racecourses. He was a regular visitor to York, where he claimed to be the longest serving member having joined in 1947.

As a keen hunting man, he was a Joint Master of the York & Ainsty (South) Hunt from 1965 until 1977 during which time he gained great pleasure from helping to preserve the hounds as a pure Old English pack. He was also a Joint Master of the Middleton Hunt from 1982 until 1988.

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Another of his interests was in politics and for 10 years, from 1965 to 1975, he was chairman of the then Howden Conservative Association when Paul Bryan was the local MP.

He was a regular churchgoer in Stillingfleet at both St Helen's Church, where he was a churchwarden for nearly 50 years, and the Methodist Chapel.

Mr Preston is survived by his wife, son, daughter and two grandchildren.

A service of thanksgiving will be held at St Helen's Church, Escrick, on Thursday, April 22, at 2.30pm.