Richard Waddington, born January 21, 1910, died November 2, 1999
Richard Waddington, who revolutionised the way that Scottish grouse moors were run commercially in the post-war era, gave his name to the Waddington Lure for salmon fishing, and who had a total of nine books on outdoor gaming subjects published, has died at his retirement home in Findhorn, Moray, at the age of 89.
War veteran Mr Waddington was a member of an Anglo-Chilean diplomatic family, his grandfather having served as that South American country's ambassador in Britain, while his father had a similar post in Belgium, where he met Richard's mother who was studying music at the Brussels Conservatoire.
Richard was educated at Malborough School and had intended going to Trinity College in Oxford until his stepfather, James Marshall, who owned a 14,000 acre estate now under the control of the National Trust at Coniston Water in the Lake District, persuaded him to go to Aberdeen University, the only institution at that time offering a science degree in forestry.
Richard married Elspeth Grant of Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, whom he met as a student, and on graduation went to London, where he worked as a freelance journalist in the immediate pre-war era. There was a strong military tradition in Richard's mother's family - her uncle David, the first Earl Beatty, having served as Admiral of the Fleet, while two of Richard's uncles on his mother's side, were Generals.
During the war, Richard was seconded to the Intelligence Corps and saw service in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy (where he was wounded twice). After a further spell of active service Richard was commissioned as a Major in the Scots Guards, before being de-mobbed.
Recovering from his exertions, he rented a farmhouse at Advie, on Speyside, where he met Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, who at the time was fishing on the productive Tulchan beat of the Spey. Through that connection he was introduced to Hilda, Duchess of Richmond and Gordon, and subsequently rented a property on her estate, something that worked in his favour when he negotiated a 30-year lease of Blairfindy Lodge and its surrounding grouse moor from the Commissioners of the Crown Estate in 1947.
Before long he was able to rent two neighbouring grouse moor properties on the same Glenlivet Estate from the Crown, Strathavon and Kylenadrochit. He was able to start off with a favourable rental of #500 a year, because the Crown Factor warned him that there were very few grouse as the moors had been largely untended from 1939-1945.
Indeed, during the first three years Waddington and his keepers killed 2000 foxes. As the moor was restored to its pre-war glory, he organised it in a way whereby enthusiasts were able to hire a quality shoot for a week, rather than being there as guests of the Laird, the common practice at the time.
Among those shooting there were American industrial giants Henry Ford and Nelson Rockefeller, as well as members of the Dupont chemical family, who were all treated to five-star-quality food and drink in the lodges as part of the deal.
His volume Grouse Shooting - Moor Management, which was published in the late 1950s, became the standard reference book on the subject. Another book, Salmon Fishing - A New Philosophy, became extremely influential, and Mr Waddington, whose prowess as an angler was renowned on the Spey, invented the Waddington Lure, a triple-hooked device with long heron feathers, still in regular use in salmon rivers worldwide.
Mr Waddington leaves a daughter, Frances, by his first wife, who died in the 1960s, and only last year saw his first great-grandson born.
Bill Mowat
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