"The Cowboy Baronet" (1911)
"The cowboy Baronet" - Sir Genille Cave-Browne-Cave, 12th Baronet of Cave (1869-1929). My colorization of a 1911 Bain News Service photo in the Library of Congress archive. Sir Genille, who called himself "Harrison" when working as a cowboy in the U.S., was an adventurer (in the positive sense of the word). He returned to his home country after succeeding his father as the 12th Baronet of Cave in 1907.
The Esoteric Curiosa blog has re-published an article from 1909 on Sir Genille. Here are a few extracts from the article:
"It may seem odd that an English tenderfoot, a member of the English aristocracy at that, should go out to the Wild West and beat expert lariat throwers from Wyoming, Arizona, and Colorado, at their own game; yet, Sir Genille Cave-Browne-Cave did it, and his world’s record of 19 ½ seconds, made in 1907 for chasing, catching, roping, throwing and tying a steer, stands and probably will stand until a better cowboy is found.
But there is no mystery in Sir Genille to those who know him. He was born with the spirit of adventure in his blood. Had he lived in the Middle Ages he would have been one of the boldest of the Crusader Knights, as in fact was one of his ancestors. As it was, the roughest life of the British cavalry in Indian and African campaigns was too tame for him. Then he heard the call of the Wild American West. He led a life of reckless daring, among kindred spirits." --
"When the eleventh Baronet of Stretton Hall, Stretton-en-le-Field, Derbyshire died in 1907, it was said that his son had been killed in a duel in Arizona. A cousin of the young man, serving in the British navy, would have succeeded to the estate, but the Crown is slow to bestow titles. It was so in this case. Search was instituted on the plains and in the canyons of the far west. Cave-Browne-Cave was found on a ranch in Colorado. There was nothing in his appearance to indicate that he had ever seen a baronial hall. He had the manner and the apparel of a bronco buster. The red of the sundown land was in his face. The dust from the wake of the coyote was in his hair." --
"The homecoming of the wanderer to Stretton Hall, Stretton-en-le-Field, Derbyshire was an unhappy one. Stretton Hall estate is six miles out from the village of Ashby-de-la-Zouche, an old Norman settlement, and the big rambling house goes back to the early history of England. Sadly, the house had fallen into disuse. It had been neglected so long that a light could not have been seen through the window pane. The halls were empty. The hedges of the grounds were untrimmed. The grass about the doors was tangled so that a hare could not have made its way through it. The opening of a door or a gate created reverberating echoes. The effect was ghostly. The dust on the mirrors in the great carved frames was so thick that the prodigal could see no reflection of his face. All that was left of the estates were huge mortgages and an empty title. A romantic touch is added by the fact the secret passages exist, although now blocked up, connecting Stretton Hall with a water mill, a quarter of a mile away, on the river Mease." --
"Last August when the RMS Lucania was warped into her dock in New York a steerage passenger came ashore. He had traveled incognito. But some of the passengers said he had spent more money for beer for his fellow passengers than a first class cabin ticket would have cost. The steerage passenger wore a bangle bracelet on his wrist. He talked in the lingo of the ranch. When his identity became known it made no difference in his manner. He laughed when somebody called him m’lord. He said that his estate was scattered, and then he added, “I guess I am going home.”
He quickly tired of talking of his estates. He held up the wrist from which the bangle bracelet dangled. “It was put there by the sweetest little blossom that ever bloomed,” he said, with charming abandon. “She lives in Denver,” he continued. “She locked the bracelet there. I am going back west to her get. In two months we will be back in England.”
He had met “the blossom” at a cattle puncher’s contest at which prizes were offered. She admired his riding, and he heard of it. With true gallantry he sought the young woman’s brother and asked permission to meet the sister. To her he was just plain Mr. Cave. So far as she knew all that he possessed was the horse which he rode. The acquaintances ripened into the sort of affection which seems to be stronger under Western skies than it is elsewhere, for the reason, perhaps, that the people out there are more ardent in their manner than they are elsewhere. Not until after he had won his “blossom” did he tell her his history.
When the young Baronet sailed from New York for Liverpool he had $100 to his name and his favorite horse, “Blue Dog.” He showed his true nature when he sailed traveling in a fashion quite characteristic of him on board a cattle ship of the Atlantic Transport Company, actually serving as a cattleman, roughing it as he had done for many year in the past, and in order that he might look after his horse during the voyage.
The finale of the story is pitiful. On his return from England, while he was waiting to begin his journey to the west to claim his “western blossom,” he received a letter which had been sent to him in England and which had been forwarded to New York. The letter told of the death of his sweetheart, Miss May Harrington. While driving her automobile near Denver in company with her brother Robert, the machine slid at a sharp curve, struck a tree and overturned. Miss Harrington and her brother were killed. The young girl’s heart was pierced by an iron rod from the steering gear." --
"Thus, once a cowboy, always a cowboy, and while visiting Liverpool in 1908, the “Bronco Baronet”, met two of his cowboy chums, who were with Colonel Cummins’s Wild West Show at New Brighton, the Coney Island of Liverpool; who with Frank Small, the Tody Hamilton of England, persuaded him to put on once again the cowboy togs and ride a mustang in the arena.
“Just for a lark,” he did it, making his return appearance as a circus performer.
Sir Genille Cave-Browne-Cave, bart., whose exploits were heralded across the Continent over the course of 1907-08, has now become a showman in England. After the Wild West entertainment of Colonel Cummins’s went out of business at New Brighton last fall, Sir Genille engaged some of the cowboy talent, girl riders, Indians and ponies and organized a “wild” venture of his own. It opened at the Hippodrome in London last December and to say the least, it was a “hit” from the send-off. Currently, it is keeping the pace at the Imperial exhibition. After its run is over at the Imperial, Sir Genille expects to tour the provinces with his exhibition. Then, if all goes according to his expectations he will bring the venture to America. He hopes to attain such success as will enable him to restore Stretton Hall to its former glory and rescue his ancestral estates from creditors."
(theesotericcuriosa.blogspot.com/.../bronco-buster...)
I have not found any information about whether Sir Genille was able to restore Stretton Hall to its former glory. Probably he was not able to do it, because after use in WWII to billet soldiers and house Italian prisoners of war, Stretton Hall was demolished in 1945, Sir Genille himself chose a less adventurous lifestyle - he became the Rector at the Alls Saints Church in Londesborough, Yorkshire.
"The Cowboy Baronet" (1911)
"The cowboy Baronet" - Sir Genille Cave-Browne-Cave, 12th Baronet of Cave (1869-1929). My colorization of a 1911 Bain News Service photo in the Library of Congress archive. Sir Genille, who called himself "Harrison" when working as a cowboy in the U.S., was an adventurer (in the positive sense of the word). He returned to his home country after succeeding his father as the 12th Baronet of Cave in 1907.
The Esoteric Curiosa blog has re-published an article from 1909 on Sir Genille. Here are a few extracts from the article:
"It may seem odd that an English tenderfoot, a member of the English aristocracy at that, should go out to the Wild West and beat expert lariat throwers from Wyoming, Arizona, and Colorado, at their own game; yet, Sir Genille Cave-Browne-Cave did it, and his world’s record of 19 ½ seconds, made in 1907 for chasing, catching, roping, throwing and tying a steer, stands and probably will stand until a better cowboy is found.
But there is no mystery in Sir Genille to those who know him. He was born with the spirit of adventure in his blood. Had he lived in the Middle Ages he would have been one of the boldest of the Crusader Knights, as in fact was one of his ancestors. As it was, the roughest life of the British cavalry in Indian and African campaigns was too tame for him. Then he heard the call of the Wild American West. He led a life of reckless daring, among kindred spirits." --
"When the eleventh Baronet of Stretton Hall, Stretton-en-le-Field, Derbyshire died in 1907, it was said that his son had been killed in a duel in Arizona. A cousin of the young man, serving in the British navy, would have succeeded to the estate, but the Crown is slow to bestow titles. It was so in this case. Search was instituted on the plains and in the canyons of the far west. Cave-Browne-Cave was found on a ranch in Colorado. There was nothing in his appearance to indicate that he had ever seen a baronial hall. He had the manner and the apparel of a bronco buster. The red of the sundown land was in his face. The dust from the wake of the coyote was in his hair." --
"The homecoming of the wanderer to Stretton Hall, Stretton-en-le-Field, Derbyshire was an unhappy one. Stretton Hall estate is six miles out from the village of Ashby-de-la-Zouche, an old Norman settlement, and the big rambling house goes back to the early history of England. Sadly, the house had fallen into disuse. It had been neglected so long that a light could not have been seen through the window pane. The halls were empty. The hedges of the grounds were untrimmed. The grass about the doors was tangled so that a hare could not have made its way through it. The opening of a door or a gate created reverberating echoes. The effect was ghostly. The dust on the mirrors in the great carved frames was so thick that the prodigal could see no reflection of his face. All that was left of the estates were huge mortgages and an empty title. A romantic touch is added by the fact the secret passages exist, although now blocked up, connecting Stretton Hall with a water mill, a quarter of a mile away, on the river Mease." --
"Last August when the RMS Lucania was warped into her dock in New York a steerage passenger came ashore. He had traveled incognito. But some of the passengers said he had spent more money for beer for his fellow passengers than a first class cabin ticket would have cost. The steerage passenger wore a bangle bracelet on his wrist. He talked in the lingo of the ranch. When his identity became known it made no difference in his manner. He laughed when somebody called him m’lord. He said that his estate was scattered, and then he added, “I guess I am going home.”
He quickly tired of talking of his estates. He held up the wrist from which the bangle bracelet dangled. “It was put there by the sweetest little blossom that ever bloomed,” he said, with charming abandon. “She lives in Denver,” he continued. “She locked the bracelet there. I am going back west to her get. In two months we will be back in England.”
He had met “the blossom” at a cattle puncher’s contest at which prizes were offered. She admired his riding, and he heard of it. With true gallantry he sought the young woman’s brother and asked permission to meet the sister. To her he was just plain Mr. Cave. So far as she knew all that he possessed was the horse which he rode. The acquaintances ripened into the sort of affection which seems to be stronger under Western skies than it is elsewhere, for the reason, perhaps, that the people out there are more ardent in their manner than they are elsewhere. Not until after he had won his “blossom” did he tell her his history.
When the young Baronet sailed from New York for Liverpool he had $100 to his name and his favorite horse, “Blue Dog.” He showed his true nature when he sailed traveling in a fashion quite characteristic of him on board a cattle ship of the Atlantic Transport Company, actually serving as a cattleman, roughing it as he had done for many year in the past, and in order that he might look after his horse during the voyage.
The finale of the story is pitiful. On his return from England, while he was waiting to begin his journey to the west to claim his “western blossom,” he received a letter which had been sent to him in England and which had been forwarded to New York. The letter told of the death of his sweetheart, Miss May Harrington. While driving her automobile near Denver in company with her brother Robert, the machine slid at a sharp curve, struck a tree and overturned. Miss Harrington and her brother were killed. The young girl’s heart was pierced by an iron rod from the steering gear." --
"Thus, once a cowboy, always a cowboy, and while visiting Liverpool in 1908, the “Bronco Baronet”, met two of his cowboy chums, who were with Colonel Cummins’s Wild West Show at New Brighton, the Coney Island of Liverpool; who with Frank Small, the Tody Hamilton of England, persuaded him to put on once again the cowboy togs and ride a mustang in the arena.
“Just for a lark,” he did it, making his return appearance as a circus performer.
Sir Genille Cave-Browne-Cave, bart., whose exploits were heralded across the Continent over the course of 1907-08, has now become a showman in England. After the Wild West entertainment of Colonel Cummins’s went out of business at New Brighton last fall, Sir Genille engaged some of the cowboy talent, girl riders, Indians and ponies and organized a “wild” venture of his own. It opened at the Hippodrome in London last December and to say the least, it was a “hit” from the send-off. Currently, it is keeping the pace at the Imperial exhibition. After its run is over at the Imperial, Sir Genille expects to tour the provinces with his exhibition. Then, if all goes according to his expectations he will bring the venture to America. He hopes to attain such success as will enable him to restore Stretton Hall to its former glory and rescue his ancestral estates from creditors."
(theesotericcuriosa.blogspot.com/.../bronco-buster...)
I have not found any information about whether Sir Genille was able to restore Stretton Hall to its former glory. Probably he was not able to do it, because after use in WWII to billet soldiers and house Italian prisoners of war, Stretton Hall was demolished in 1945, Sir Genille himself chose a less adventurous lifestyle - he became the Rector at the Alls Saints Church in Londesborough, Yorkshire.