James Stanford
Organiser of the 2002 Countryside March who helped to revive the family map-making firm
JAMES STANFORD, who has died aged 79, organised the Liberty and Livelihood Countryside March in 2002 to protest against the proposed ban on fox hunting, and played a key role in helping to resurrect the family firm, Stanfords the mapmakers.
James Stanford was born in Winchester on April 12 1937, and his early childhood was spent near Kingsclere and later in the Woodford Valley north of Salisbury.
His father, Lt Col John Keith “J K” Stanford MC, was a keen ornithologist and sporting shot and a prolific author of books on country topics. James displayed an intrepid nature as a child, once riding his sister’s pony from Kingsclere to Durnford School (a distance of some 40 miles) so that she could ride him in the term time. When he arrived after four days he was greeted like a hero.
After Rugby, in 1954 Stanford went into the 17th/21st Lancers, serving for 10 years and rising to the rank of captain. Roles in business and the City followed and in 1991 he became director general of the Leonard Cheshire Foundation. He was appointed OBE in 1999 for services to the disabled.
The family business had been started up by James’s great- grandfather, Edward Stanford, in 1853 and was sold by his father in 1947. It was the first port of call for maps for adventurers and travellers including Florence Nightingale, Captain Scott and Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Michael Palin launched his television series Around the World in 80 Days from Stanfords.
But by 2001 the business had shrunk to its shop in Long Acre – and directors appealed to members of the Stanford family with a rights issue. James Stanford led the charge, enthusing other members of the family, and subsequently served on the board and as chairman (2009-11).
He was a passionate supporter of the business at a time when digital maps were threatening the traditional products sold by Stanfords. Whenever he visited the shop he would speak to the staff, remembering each of them by name. Stanfords is still the world’s largest map retailer.
Stanford loved fox hunting and was a bold and occasionally reckless rider in need of a big, brave horse (one of which was christened “Business” so Stanford could be said to be “out on Business” if anyone rang). He hunted with varied packs as the family moved from Derbyshire to Northamptonshire, Dorset and Wiltshire.
He was not particularly interested in the politics of fox hunting, but his passion for the sport, and a sense of outrage, led him to agree to organise the 2002 Countryside March for the Countryside Alliance. Not only did he want his grandchildren to enjoy hunting, he felt that both his father, and father-in-law, killed at El Alamein, “did not do what they did to see such intolerant legislation introduced”.
He was following in his father’s footsteps: when proposals to restrict foxhunting were made in the 1940s, JK’s books made the case for the sport.
After being called off once because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak the march finally went ahead in 2002. The Labour Party had been elected to a second term in 2001, with a manifesto pledge of a free vote on fox hunting.
The Countryside March brought more than 400,000 people to London, the largest demonstration ever seen in the capital. Stanford’s energy and attention to detail allowed him to move mountains, working with a largely volunteer team coordinating hundreds of organisations. Nevertheless, the bill to ban hunting with dogs was passed in late 2004.
Between 2009 and 2014 Stanford was chairman of the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. He would appear at the Cranborne Chase Woodfair, two black labs at heel, leaning on his stick and chatting to friends. He also served as chairman of the governors at Milton Abbey School, Dorset, helping to take the school co-educational.
He married Carol Harbord in 1964. She survives him with a son and a daughter.