The Bathurst Family
The Royal Agricultural College held its lease from the Bathurst Family for over
100 years and one of the Bathursts has been on the Governing Body of the
University/College since its foundation in 1845.
Henry, 4th Earl Bathurst, was the founding President of the College and
chaired a meeting at the King’s Head Hotel, Cirencester, 1st July 1844, which
decided that, “all necessary steps for the establishment of the College may at
once be safely taken.”
Henry Bathurst then leased the old farmhouse of Port Farm with some
430 acres of land to the first Governors of the College and after the 1845
Christmas vacation the 1st Principal, John Scales, took up residence there.
This original 16th century farmhouse is now the University’s Corinium
Room, Bathurst Dining Room and Bathurst Lounge but until 1946 it was the
Principal’s house as shown on the postcard below.
Henry, 4th Earl Bathurst’s Coat of Arms
now in RAU Dining Room
In addition, Earl Bathurst, whose grandson, the Hon. Ben Bathurst, was
an RAC student, 1891-3, made a very generous offer towards the new
buildings all constructed around the quadrangle.
Postcard of Principal’s House, 1946,
renamed “Bathurst Wing” when the
College re-opened after WW2.
Another member of the Bathurst family who has rendered the College
great service was the 1893-6 student, Charles Bathurst, later to
become the first Viscount Bledisloe. At the RAC he was awarded the
Ducie Gold Medal and on leaving he successfully managed his own
estate, Lydney Park, Glos, as well as supporting public agricultural
bodies. He was Chairman of the RAC Governors, 1919-29, and was
crucial in rescuing the College after the First World War.
In 1930, Lord Bledisloe was appointed Governor-General of New
Zealand, a great farming country. He travelled widely in the
Commonwealth and helped promote his old College as well as obtaining
grants from his old employer, the Ministry of Agriculture.
Today at the RAU there is a Bledisloe Lodge, opened in 1950, an annual
Bledisloe Memorial Lecture and a Bledisloe Gold Medal awarded for
outstanding services to agriculture.
When the College re-opened in 1946 after the Second World War, the
old Principal’s House was renamed the Bathurst Wing to celebrate the
RAC’s relationship with the whole Bathurst Family.
Lord Bledisloe (Charles Bathurst),
Chairman of RAC Governors, 1919-29
The 8th Earl Bathurst, father to
the current Earl, was an RAC
Governor for over 50 years
post World War 2 and today the
present Earl Bathurst has been
appointed a Vice President of
the Royal Agricultural University.