A gentleman, a hobo and a true eccentric Anthony Chaytor
Landowner/aviator b June 8, 1934 d September 23, 2018
Anthony Chaytor, who has died aged 85, was the very definition of an eccentric. He once dared friends to shoot at a balloon tied to the back of his plane as he flew overhead. He bought a 12-metre boat in England to sail to the Mediterranean but never did.
His sendoff at Spring Creek, near Blenheim, last weekend paid tribute to the ‘‘intriguing’’ Marlborough landowner, who wasn’t so much a farmer as a ‘‘dedicated steward of the land’’.
Anthony David Clervaux Chaytor was buried with matching socks and no shoes, as a nod to his habit of wearing mismatched socks and shoes. His coffin was flown over his 700-hectare property in Marshlands, north of Blenheim, before landing on his own private airstrip.
His wife Dot said Chaytor was two people: ‘‘the gentleman and the hobo’’.
‘‘He was so unique, so eccentric, and such a gentleman. He was a wonderful, lovely man and it was a privilege to be his partner.’’
She said Chaytor had so many friends it was ‘‘almost unbelievable’’. ‘‘He wasn’t selective at all when it came to friends. He had the upper crust and the bottom dwellers, and everyone in between.’’
Friend Dick Bristed said his earliest memory of Chaytor was when Dick was 21 and in the south of England with his parents.
‘‘My parents suddenly said, ‘There’s Anthony Chaytor.’ And we said, ‘Hello Anthony, what are you doing here?’
‘‘He said, ‘Oh, I just bought that boat there,’ and there was about a 40-foot boat there, ‘and I’m going to fix it up and sail it to the Mediterranean’. I think the boat is probably still there. That was Anthony.’’
Bristed said Chaytor loved collecting classic cars, bikes, boats and aeroplanes, and dabbled in odd experiments between them.
‘‘He used to take the engine fuel from airplanes and put it in his motorcycles, then go flying across the field,’’ Bristed said.
Long-time friend Rod Heard said his friendship with Chaytor started during their time at Christ’s College, in Christchurch.
It was at college, in 1951, that a 17-year-old Chaytor first became interested in aviation and decided to join the Air Training Corps, Heard said.
He was following in the military footsteps of his father and uncles, one of whom was Major General Sir Edward Chaytor, often dubbed Marlborough’s most famous soldier.
Edward Chaytor was the only New Zealander to command an Anzac force at divisional level, and later went on to establish the Army Air Corps, marking the beginnings of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Heard said that, in joining the Air Training Corps, Chaytor ended up with an air force greatcoat and cap, which he used to go incognito and skip class. ‘‘He used to make a point of stuffing his pockets with rolls of cotton wool. This was all to enable him to disguise himself.’’
Chaytor was ‘‘full of intrigue’’ and ‘‘exceedingly bright’’. ‘‘As a study mate, there was never a dull moment,’’ Heard said.
Niece Fiona Macdonald recalled how Chaytor came to her house when she was younger with a swath of Persian rugs, following a trip to Persia.
‘‘He proceeded to roll himself up in these rugs and roll himself down our front lawn,’’ Macdonald said. ‘‘It was the sort of thing he did.’’
Dick Bristed’s brother Bill recalled the time Chaytor tied a balloon to a long string on the end of his plane, and asked his friends to shoot it. ‘‘It was not very far [from the plane] . . . not everyone shot the balloon. Chaytor got a few shots near himself, along his plane. He was quite lucky then.’’
Starborough Hunt chairman Peter Vavasour recalled Chaytor as a ‘‘complete expert’’ on Russian history and as a ‘‘wonderful aviator’’.
‘‘The aviation story that I can recall was from Christmas Day about 30, 40 years ago, [Chaytor] said, ‘I’d like to come and see you’.’’
He offered to pick Chaytor up, but he refused and said he was going to fly across to the Vavasour household, despite the strong wind.
‘‘Time progressed, and sure enough his home-built plane appeared over the palm trees,’’ Vavasour said.
‘‘He circled . . . around from the south and came in towards the palm trees and hit a down draft, and he dropped altitude quite rapidly towards the powerlines.’’
Chaytor flew around a second time and missed the powerlines by a ‘‘minute fraction’’, Vavasour said. ‘‘My father was on the lawn and he said, ‘Everyone go inside, he’s going to crash!’ My father went inside, but we were fascinated.
‘‘He did another circuit and this particular time he did drop altitude and clipped the powerlines, with quite a devastating impact. He hit the ground.
‘‘The propeller flew a million miles in one direction. The wing on one side shattered. The wheels came spinning off and, there he was, in this cocoon with a Biggles hat on and his parachute tied out behind him.’’
Vavasour said he ran over to the wreckage and told Chaytor he thought he should hop out of the plane, as it might explode.
‘‘And he said, ‘Yes, and while I’m getting out, can you get me a glass of brandy, please?’ ’’
He said Chaytor was ‘‘most supportive’’ of the Starborough Hunt over the years, as he allowed it access to his lands.
Hunt member Mary Ellis said Chaytor was a ‘‘very kind’’ man and a ‘‘strong supporter’’ of everything equestrian.
Marshlands Pony Club life member Claire Soper agreed, saying his continuous support had given many riders ‘‘so much fun and joy’’.
‘‘Anthony was approached about 10 years ago to allow us to build a small cross-country course in the access paddock and, as usual, he was all for it, allowing children and adults to enjoy horses,’’ Soper said.
For his funeral procession, pony club riders escorted his coffin across the paddocks towards St Luke’s Anglican Church. – By Chloe Ranford