Obituary - The 13th Earl of Haddington, landowner with keen interest in crop circles and the paranormal

Died: July 5, 2016

THE 13th Earl of Haddington, who has died aged 74, was a landowner and custodian of Mellerstain, the stately house in the Borders. He succeeded to the title - one of the most distinguished in Scotland - in 1986 and went on to become a respected farmer and patron and supporter of many organisations and good causes.

The title of Earl of Haddington was originally created in 1627 by Charles I for Thomas Hamilton, a distinguished lawyer who invested in land including Tyninghame House in East Lothian. On the death of the last of the Baillie family, the Hamiltons also inherited Mellerstain through marriage and, in 1858, the title of the Earl of Haddington was inherited by the then-owner of the house.

John George Baillie-Hamilton was the son of the 12th Earl and Sarah Cook from Montreal and, after Ampleforth College, spent two years at Tours University in France, and attended Trinity College, Dublin and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

He was a champion slalom skier in his youth and a noted photographer. He founded and built up a thriving photographic studio in London concentrating on adventurous projects such as Formula 1 and locations in South America and the Middle East.

When he inherited the estate and the title in 1986, Lord Haddington had to pay crippling estate duty taxes of £2.5million and assume the enormous responsibility of running two stately homes. He reluctantly decided to sell Tyninghame House to secure the future of Mellerstain in a charitable trust.

He took a keen and sympathetic interest in crop circles and was a past patron of the Centre for Crop Circle Studies. His fascination with crop circles was complemented by his interest in the paranormal.

In 1990 there was a crop circle at Whitsome in Berwickshire and Lord Haddington addressed a meeting in Smailholm suggesting that it was significant that the circle was on a burial ground of Cistercian monks. “I firmly believe something or someone is trying to get a message to us,” he said at the conclusion of the meeting.

But it was Lord Haddington’s success in enhancing and improving the Mellerstain estate and the gardens that will, perhaps, be his legacy. The snow drops are an annual feature and his replanting of the woodland has been a considerable success.

He left the formal garden as it was designed with substantial replanting of rose beds but he also collected shrubs and trees. There is a large monkey puzzle tree and the devil’s walking stick (Aralia spinosa).

Under Lord Haddington’s supervision the garden commands spectacular views over the lawn that sweeps down to broadleaf woodland and the lake. The journalist Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd wrote of Mellerstain: “It is a precious, and singularly loveable, jewel for posterity.”

Lord Haddington was an enthusiastic bee-keeper and used to transport the hives up to the Lammermuir hills very year so that the bees could enjoy the heather. Lord Haddington was also a life-long ballooning enthusiast.

In 2009 he and Lady Haddington hosted a charity event in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind. They planted a hornbeam tree and volunteers recall them happily shovelling compost into the hole dug by the Mellerstain gardener Gordon Low.

Jane, Countess of Haddington, told The Herald that her husband was always happiest in the countryside and especially the Borders.

“He had a great love of the outdoors, nature and wildlife,” she said. “He loved walking on the moors at Mellerstain and birdlife in particular. He was also a very knowledgeable and respected farmer – recently he concentrated more on arable farming.”

Lady Jane recalls her husband’s enthusiasm for numerous local projects and Scottish associations – including the Royal Company of Archers. He was also president of the Kelso and District Branch of the British Heart Foundation, vice president of the Border Union Agricultural Society, honorary president of the East Lothian Angling Association, patron of the Dunbar branch of the Royal National Lifeboats Institution, chairman of Earlston Community Council and patron of Kelso Rugby Club.

“He was a lover of animals – especially horses – he studied blood lines,” Lady Jane recalled. “John founded Save Our Songbirds to preserve small birds and was a keen sportsman, a good shot and angler and fished both locally and in the Highlands. He was a man of many diverse interests: humane and always stimulating.”

Lord Haddington’s first marriage (in 1975) to Prudence Elizabeth Hayles was dissolved in 1981. In 1984 he married Jane Heyworth. She and their son and two daughters survive him: George Edmund Baldred, styled Lord Binning, inherits the title.

ALASDAIR STEVEN