Sir Anthony Milbank, Bt
Yorkshire conservationist who defended the moorland ecosystem against ramblers
SIR ANTHONY MILBANK 5th Bt, who has died aged 76, was a lifelong conservationist who cofounded the Moorland Association, served as its first chairman, and spent 35 years establishing the Barningham estate in North Yorkshire as a beacon of environmental stewardship.
He took over Barningham from his father in 1978, and in 1986, together with Earl Peel and Martin Gillibrand, founded the organisation that would become the Moorland Association. It quickly found itself defending the interests of moorland owners against the Ramblers’ Association, which was determined to gain the right to roam over all common land, and then all open land in England and Wales.
Milbank was opposed, on the grounds that the delicate balance between humans and wildlife on England’s heather moorland, 20 per cent of which had been lost since the Second World War, could be upset by uncontrolled dogs, egg theft and wildfires. As a result he found himself vilified by people who did not understand the conservation issues as a selfish landowner interested only in preserving his grouse shooting.
The battle over “right to roam” was eventually lost, but the Moorland Association’s strong opposition highlighted the importance of management to the preservation of heather moorland and its wildlife as many endangered ground nesting birds thrive on land managed for grouse shooting. The Association now represents the owners of nearly all the one million acres of heather moorland in England and Wales.
Milbank joined the board of the Nature Conservancy Council in 1992, and later sat on the council of the RSPB – the only grouse moor owner to have done so. His aim was to build bridges between the RSPB and moor owners over the issue of controlling numbers of birds of prey, warning that “too many birds of prey, like all other predators, can seriously damage the management of a grouse moor. If this means that the owner has no further interest… the moorland becomes neglected. The heather becomes long and old, rushes and bracken invade and soon the ground nesting birds such as the grouse and waders desert.”
A compromise solution might be possible, he suggested, “perhaps based on some sort of quota system”. His talent for diplomacy led to his appointment for a second five-year term.
At Barningham Park, meanwhile, he put his ideas into practice with typical drive. While others were draining their land for agriculture, he dammed streams to create wetlands and ponds, and at a time when others were tearing out hedgerows, he planted miles of double hedges. He also preserved wildflower meadows and seeded more. The wildlife on the estate thrived as a result, and in addition to large numbers of waders, rarities such as ring ouzel, cuckoo, pied flycatcher, merlin, blackcap and several species of owl may frequently be seen there.
“I know I am an extremely fortunate person,” he said. “I was born into a very privileged position and I am steward of a large chunk of very beautiful countryside. I am aware of my good fortune. And of my responsibility.”
Anthony Frederick Milbank was born on August 16 1939. His father, Sir Mark, the fourth Baronet, was Comptroller to the Governor General of Canada and later Master of the Queen’s Household. The first Baronet, Sir Frederick Milbank, was a Liberal MP who in 1872 shot 364 brace of grouse in a single day, thought to be the second-highest total recorded by one person.
Milbank’s early life was spent in Ottawa, before the family settled in a grace and favour apartment in St James’s Palace.
Anthony was educated at Eton and Neuchatel University and saw National Service with the Coldstream Guards, after which he worked in the City. On one occasion as a young Guards officer on duty at St James’s Palace he persuaded Jayne Mansfield to come for lunch, having created the false impression that the Queen would be in attendance.
At Barningham, Milbank, who was rarely seen without several cocker spaniels at his heel, hosted teams of guns from all over the world. Away from the estate, he was a passionate skier and traveller. Taking part in a ski marathon in Klosters, he fell and broke three vertebrae in his neck. On another occasion, venturing alone from a camp in Kenya, he was charged by a buffalo and tossed into an acacia bush. Luckily the animal did not pursue its quarry further and Milbank scrambled, bleeding, back to camp.
While working in London, Milbank walked daily through St James’s Park. One evening in 1964, after a stag party at White’s, he and his friends descended on the Park for a duck drive. Milbank kept his shotgun in St James’s Palace, and after retrieving it he stood on the bridge while the beaters drove the lake from Horse Guards Parade. Milbank later had the sole casualty of this escapade, a mallard drake, stuffed and mounted.
Milbank had articles published in magazines including The Field. He served on the executive of the Country Land and Business Association, and founded and chaired the Northern Uplands Moorland Regeneration Project. He served as High Sheriff of Durham and Deputy Lieutenant for North Yorkshire.
Anthony Milbank married Belinda Gore in 1970; she survives him with their daughter and two sons, of whom the elder, Edward, born in 1973, succeeds in the baronetcy. Sir Anthony Milbank, 5th Bt, born August 16 1939, died July 3 2016