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Major Hugh Cantlie FRICS
Late Scots Guards
by Major S J E Turner and Captain Simon Hubbard-Ford
formerly Scots Guards
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Hugh Cantlie was born in Shanghai on 2nd February 1932 and was educated at Marlborough and Sandhurst. He was commissioned in 1952 into the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards, serving in the British Army of the Rhine.
Hugh was to make his mark early on in his time with the Battalion. He made friends easily with his fellow officers, and also with the local civilian population. In early May 1954, following the Hubbelrath horse-show, the Battalion laid on a regimental ball, and Hugh invited some of his German guests. His Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Digby Raeburn, on hearing this, summoned Hugh to his office, telling him to ‘dis-invite’ them, and he had no option but to comply. Several days later the Commanding Officer was telephoned by Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, who had read about the incident in The Daily Telegraph. It was a short piece, mentioning that half of the horses in the horse-show were German and that six of the prizes had been presented by Germans.
Churchill was quick to pick-up on the wider ramifications of this unintended slight, although it was too late to re-invite the guests since the party had already taken place. On 5th May 1954, the Allies had formally ended their occupation of Germany. On 6th May, the Telegraph piece was published, coinciding with the day West Germany joined NATO and the formation of the new Bundeswehr army. A week later, the Soviets increased their grip on Eastern Europe by forming the Warsaw Pact. The timing of the report was not, of course, a coincidence; it was too good a story to miss.
In June 1955, Hugh took part in The Queen’s Birthday Parade in Düsseldorf, during which the 2nd Battalion trooped its Colour. The parade attracted considerable press attention that year, since the big parade on Horse Guards had been cancelled due to a national rail strike.
In 1958, Hugh served as ADC to Viscount Slim, Governor General of Australia. In April 1960, Hugh was with the 2nd Battalion in Libya on Exercise STARLIGHT, a major air-portable deployment to exercise and test the United Kingdom’s new Strategic Reserve concept.
Hugh loved driving and he would often act as the navigator on various car rallies in an Aston Martin owned and driven by Count Charles de Salis, whilst Hugh’s car at the time was a rather beaten-up old BMW.
Hugh’s last role was as liaison officer with the French Army at La Courtine. In 1963, having left the Army he married Lady Zinnia Melville. Hugh then spent three years in the wine trade working for the German wine company Henkell Trocken, selling their sparkling wine (sekt). During this period, he increased their wine sales from a mere 50 cases to 800 cases per annum. On one occasion, in a smart restaurant in Frankfurt, well known for its fish, Hugh ordered a red wine, to be told by the sommelier that no one drinks red wine with fish. Hugh mentioned that he worked for a prominent wine producer; red wine was soon being served!
He then qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and became involved with commercial developments for the property investment and development company, MEPC, and spent five years in Germany building major office blocks and shopping centres; he spoke both fluent German and French. At one party in his spacious flat, it seemed all who mattered in Munich had joined the immense fun, including Gina Lollobrigida and her partner. He led an interesting life in Munich, with many friends, including those from the displaced nobility with whom he shared a natural affinity; Munich was the favourite destination for those who had fled from Russian occupied Europe at the end of the war.
He left MEPC on his return to London, and became involved with the rescue of the old Billingsgate fish market on behalf of Save Britain’s Heritage. As a result, he was appointed the Surveyor for the Monument Trust, a charity set up by Simon Sainsbury to preserve old historic buildings beyond economic commercial repair. In this capacity he was involved in the preservation of several important historical buildings, including Belford Hall, a derelict Palladian villa in Northumberland. Hugh bought a flat at Belford Hall and lived there for some twenty-five years. His last fourteen years were spent in the Cotswolds.
He served on the Main Committee of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings for thirteen years and was on the Advisory Board at the College of Estate Management for the Postgraduate Programme in Conservation of the Historic Environment. Hugh also became a trustee for La Fondation Franco-Britannique de Sillery, an Anglo-French charity that assists individuals with disabilities and those facing social exclusion.
Hugh returned to China in 1989 for the first time since his childhood. During the visit, he visited his old family home in Nanking, where he remembered his father, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Cantlie, coming into the nursery where Hugh and his brothers Paul and Bruce (also both in the 2nd Battalion) were playing and told them they had five minutes to pack their favourite toys as they would be leaving on one of the last trains from Nanking before the Japanese army moved in. They then travelled on the Trans-Siberian railway, finally arriving back in Harwich as virtual refugees with only their suitcases.
Further visits to China took place and his last was in 2011 with his son Charles, having received an official invitation from the Chinese government to mark the centenary of the 1911 revolution, the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. The leader of the revolt was Dr Sun Yat-sen, a former medical student and friend to Hugh’s grandfather Dr Sir James Cantlie, who had previously saved Sun’s life on two occasions, the last was when Sun was kidnapped in London in 1896 by the Chinese legation. During his trip in 2011, Hugh met the future President of China, Xi Jinping.
In retirement, Hugh lectured on a variety of subjects covering the life of Sir John Vanbrugh, the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, the Lindisfarne Gospel and Holy Island, and the history of Durham Cathedral. These talks took him to many places, both at home and overseas. He also went to Australia to look at late Georgian architectural houses in Tasmania still being built in the late 1840s.
In the last twenty years of his life Hugh began to paint, specialising in houses, with over 120 drawings. Whilst painting he also became an author in his own right, firstly with Ancestral Castles of Scotland, with photographs by Sampson Lloyd. Hugh knew many of the owners, and the book went through several editions. His also wrote a motorway pub guide; the rule was no more than five minutes or a two-mile radius from any motorway junction. He not only visited every pub in the guide (some 200), but he also drew all the pubs that appeared in the book. The 12th edition of Near the Motorways is still available to buy (details on page 32 of this edition).
Hugh always said that the Army was like a large family and he became a member of the Scots Guards Association in the Borders with several visits to Ashington and surrounding areas and then latterly with the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxon branch.
Hugh was always a fount of knowledge, especially historical, and being among friends was a very important feature in his long life. One close friend was Mary, Countess of Strathmore, who he often visited; sadly they both died within a few months of each other. Another close friend, once met never forgotten, was Dieter von Masen.
Hugh was a great allrounder, from soldier to wine expert, combining good taste and many cultural achievements. He led a very full life, and will be much missed, especially by his son Charlie and family, and all those close to him. An engaging dear friend and a true gentleman, who was always interested in other people’s lives irrespective of their background. |
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