97 OBITUARIES
JOHN THORNBORROW
keen rugby player, captained the swimming team, played piano and trumpet and was an enthusiastic member of the Combined Cadet Force. After leaving school, he spent a year on a farm in Milnthorpe and in 1951 joined the Border Regiment for his National Service, during which he was posted to Cyprus and the Suez Canal Zone.
O
ne of Britain’s most distinguished livestock
auctioneers, John Thornborrow, of Maidenhill, Penrith, died on the 8th November aged 83. Known for his charisma, directness and the sense of theatre he brought to the rostrum, he won the respect of pedigree livestock breeders around the world and also played a key role in securing the survival of many rare breeds of farm animal.
Among the more unusual lots which came his way during his 46-year career were bison, penguins, miniature Zebu cattle and miniature donkeys. John was the fourth generation of an auctioneering family. His great-grandfather, Thomas, a yeoman farmer from Dufton, began selling stock in Penrith in 1867 and his grandfather, John, was a brilliant and adventurous auctioneer who founded Thornborrow and Co, having earlier set up sales of pedigree Shorthorns at the town mart - a family association with the breed which lasted for more than 70 years.
John was born in Penrith in 1932 to Gwyneth and Tom Jefferson Thornborrow (Jeff) and had three sisters, Anne, Susan and Ruth. His early schooling was in Penrith and when he was 11, he went to St Bees School, where he ran the Young Farmers’ Club, was a
While he was stationed at Barnard Castle before going overseas, John, aged 19, was thrown into the deep end when he was asked to sell Shorthorn heifers at a dispersal sale. His father Jeff was a prominent Shorthorn auctioneer and the farmer, Willie Dent, of Kaber, wanted John at the auction because he would be the third generation of Thornborrows to sell for the third generation of Dents.
John joined the family business in 1952 and worked his way up from office boy, following a correspondence course at night to gain his Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors qualification in 1957 and becoming a partner in the firm two years later. He had met his future wife June Irving when he was 17 and they married in 1955 at St Andrew’s Church, Penrith, and went on to have three daughters: Joanna, Bridget, and Catherine.
In 1968, when he was 36, John became the youngest president of Penrith Chamber of Trade and was also a member of Penrith Round Table. Following his father’s retirement, he decided to move the business to a more central location, setting up John Thornborrow and Co in Leamington Spa in 1969. He travelled home at weekends and in 1971 the family moved to Leamington, June joining the business and remaining its linchpin until John’s retirement. During the 1970s and 1980s
John was a pioneer in the development of Continental beef breeds in the UK and of British Canadian Holsteins, travelling to Canada to research the latter. He also organised the first show and sale for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) at the NAC and continued to run the event annually.
Many other memorable achievements included the inaugural Milk Bonus sale at the Dairy Show in Olympia in 1967, for which 120 Friesian heifers were taken up in the lift; the first UK British Canadian Holstein sale in the mid-1970s; the first UK auction of farmed red deer in 1981; and the first UK Angora goat sale in 1986.
By the time the company merged with Midland Marts in 1989, it was the official auctioneer for more than 20 breed societies and organisations and conducted pedigree sales at farms and marts across the UK.
John left the merged company in 1992, returning to Penrith in 1993 where he ran his own office - and later worked in Carlisle - as an associate of Harrison & Hetherington. After retiring in 1998, John enjoyed having more time to spend with his family, including his grandchildren - Joanna’s children Alice and Nico, Bridget’s daughter Florence, and Catherine’s daughters Martha and Lottie. He was a voracious reader and loved music.
Bridget said her father was a courteous, generous man, who got on with everybody he met and made them feel comfortable. “The biggest thing he gave to me and my sisters was an absolute belief in ourselves. He used to say ‘If you want to do it enough and you work hard enough, you can do whatever you want’.”
Mary Ingham
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