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Lieutenant Colonel Noel Carding MBE
Late Royal Army Veterinary Corps and The Blues and Royals
by Lieutenant General Sir Barney White-Spunner KCB CBE
formerly The Blues and Royals
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It’s good to see a fairly normal coffin in this lovely church. Noel always joked that he would be so misshapen by the time he came to be taken that they would have to manufacture a bespoke one. Few men have cheated the Fates more than Noel. Every season he would announce solemnly that if he one more fall it would be his last and that he was going to take things easy. Every opening meet he would return wreathed in smiles saying how well his young horse, either Kelso Brig or Mistral, had negotiated the more fearsome of the Friday country’s fences and every day the mess staff at Knightsbridge carefully laid out more Bute to add to his cereal.
You’ve heard from Amy about Noel’s early life. After studying veterinary science at the Dick, the vet school of Edinburgh University, which he would always maintain was the finest in the land, Noel was commissioned into the Royal Army Veterinary Corps in July 1967. He led a distinguished veterinary career both with the RAVC and the King’s Troop and then joined the Household Cavalry as our Regimental Veterinary Officer in May 1978.
Hunting, however, always played a key part in his life and was his abiding interest and I think he would agree that he chose his regimental postings partly – maybe even largely – for the hunting opportunities they afforded. His service with the RAVC led him to settle in Leicestershire which turned into a one of those blissful meeting of interests and Barsby remained his much-loved home for the rest of his life. Noel always hunted with The Quorn every Monday and Friday - and by always I mean always - until he finally had to hang up his boots. Woe betide any unsuspecting adjutant who arranged any regimental activity on those days in the season. He was lucky to hunt with The Quorn in one of their purple patches with the charming and talented Michael Farrin hunting hounds for 30 seasons. Michael started hunting hounds in 1968 just as Noel was commissioned. Noel regarded anyone who didn’t hunt with The Quorn as being a bit odd; he regarded the other Shire packs rather as he regarded the French, although he had lasting admiration for Jim Webster and he was, he told me, broadminded enough once to have had a day with The Cottesmore because he equally admired Brian Fanshawe. His view on life was dictated by his hunting. If you asked him for directions he would say something like ‘Well go left after where we change horses past Joan’s gorse and then right where we marked that fox two seasons ago’. Should one point out that perhaps you had not been out on that particular day you would be met with a look that reflected some pity but mostly blank incomprehension. I can see him now riding back to the box in the near dark, that distinct bent profile, immaculate in red coat and top hat – he never seemed to get muddy unlike the rest of us - walking on a loose rein down one of those wide verged, dark hedged lanes, chattering happily and saying as he dismounted ‘Wasn’t that fantastic. That’s what I pay my subscription for’. And so very good to see both David Mills, who ran the Household Cavalry lines at Melton for so many years, and Corporal Ash Tilley, who looked after Noel’s many horses – Butlers Town, Aztec and the rest - so beautifully, here with us today.
Noel was exactly what you expected of an old-fashioned regimental vet. Friend to all, a strong father to the farriers who were as protective of him as he was of them, a charming companion whose pleasures revolved around horses, dogs – especially terriers of slightly dubious behaviour, fishing – which he took up while at Knightsbridge when he discovered that Lillywhites were selling off their tackle department, and who was understandably supportive of many of us who had the pleasure of running Winter Training Troop at Melton with Corporal Daisy Mills. It was Noel who was the inspiration for the Household Cavalry Race then at Baggrave and latterly at Waltham. And he was also an extremely competent vet.
Travel didn’t interest him much. Driving him back through Belgium after he had been visiting the black horses in Germany he remarked to me that he didn’t really think Belgium deserved to be a country as it was only an away day fixture for other peoples’ armies. Always cheerful, fun to be with and totally unflustered – the only time I remember him being really agitated was when it was rumoured that the State Opening of parliament might be on a Monday in November – he was a man of great resource, compassion and experience. Ireland was, of course, an exception and one part of Noel’s career for which he merits special mention is how he continued to head the buying commissions every year despite the worst of the Troubles.
All this was evidenced by his superb performance after the Hyde Park Bombing in July 1982. I don’t need to recall the details of that horrible day but it was Noel’s quick reaction and skill that saved all the wounded horses. Noel was one of the first on the scene. He had been in the mess at the time and thought the explosion was a car back firing until the lady on reception came in and told him that a bomb had exploded. He raced down, used a firearm borrowed from a security guard on one of the embassies to ‘despatch’ (Noel’s word, not mine) those horses who would not survive and used the shirt of someone else to staunch the blood loss from Sefton. Noel treated Sefton in situ as they didn’t have the time to get him to the stables. I think he was always a bit irritated that Sefton became the hero of the hour – Sefton was in my troop and was a bad-tempered animal who bit – but he came to personify for the nation – if horses can personify – the bravery of both soldiers and horses and Noel’s role in saving so many. None of the horribly injured horses he treated died. He was awarded the MBE in 1983 for his outstanding work and promoted to lieutenant colonel the same year.
Noel chose to remain with the Household Cavalry until leaving the army in 1989 – he had been our RVO for 21 years. He then took to another life-long interest which was national hunt racing. For many years he was, as you have already heard, a race-course veterinary officer and also a director of Cartmel.
This is a very fitting farewell to him – here near Barsby Back Lane where we have all changed horses so many times, Noel possibly rather more than most, in his beloved Friday country, surrounded by friends from The Quorn, the racing world, the RAVC and the Household Cavalry. Noel was one of those fortunate men who knew exactly how he wanted to live his life – and did so. Farewell and good hunting Noel - and remind St Peter to lay in enough Bute for eternity.
Address at Noel Carding’s funeral in Ashby Folville on 2nd August 2024
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