Captain Geoffrey Stanley Phipps-Hornby (15 Dec 1856 – 9 November 1927) was a British Army officer and polo player.
He was born on 15 December 1856 in Little Green,Also known as Compton Park and, now, Littlegreen School. See Parks and Gardens: Compton Park (also known as Little Green and Little Green School), Chichester, West Sussex, England . Petersfield, Hampshire, to Captain (later Admiral of the Fleet Sir) Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby and his wife Emily Francis (née Coles), the sister of Captain Cowper Coles.Adams – Birley – Hornby: Capt. Geoffrey Stanley Phipps Hornby J.P.Genes United: 1911 Census for England and Wales He was the elder brother of Brig.-Gen. Edmund Phipps-Hornby, VC, and Admiral Robert Stewart Phipps-Hornby.
He was educated at EtonStapylton, H.E.C. (1900). Second Series of Eton School Lists, Comprising the Years Between 1853 and 1892. Eton: R. Ingalton Drake. p. 351 and commissioned into the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) as a Sub-LieutenantThe rank of Sub-Lieutenant was briefly used by the British Army in the 1870s between abolition of the ranks of Ensign and Cornet and the introduction of the rank of Second Lieutenant. in 1875.London Gazette (1875), 24244 (10 Sep), p. 4453 He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1878London Gazette (1878), 24625 (17 Sep), p. 5175 and fought in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, being awarded the Afghanistan Medal with the clasp for Ali Masjid. He served in the Mahsud Waziri Expedition of 1881 as Orderly Officer to Brig.-Gen. Gordon.Hart, Lt.-Gen. H.G. (1890) The New Annual Army List, Militia List, Yeomanry Cavalry List, and Indian Civil Service List. London: John Murray. p. 359 He was promoted to Captain in 1883Boyle, Col. Gerald Edmund (1905) The Rifle Brigade Century: An Alphabetical List of the Officers of the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) (Regular Battalions) from 1800 to 1905. London: William Clownes and Sons. p. 87 and was selected to attend the Staff College, Sandhurst (now the Staff College, Camberley), in 1889, passing out in 1890,Verner, Capt. Willoughby (1891) The Rifle Brigade Chronicle for 1890. London: R.H. Porter. p. 34 but retired from the Army in 1891.Boyle, Col. Gerald Edmund (1905) The Rifle Brigade Century: An Alphabetical List of the Officers of the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) (Regular Battalions) from 1800 to 1905. London: William Clownes and Sons. p. 87 He was appointed to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Rifle Reserve Regiment, (a short-lived volunteer Rifle regiment raised during the Boer War) in 1900 and reverted to the Reserve of Officers in 1901.Boyle, Col. Gerald Edmund (1905) The Rifle Brigade Century: An Alphabetical List of the Officers of the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) (Regular Battalions) from 1800 to 1905. London: William Clownes and Sons. p. 87
In 1884, he married Jessie Wilson Gunston, daughter of Thomas Bernard Gunston, partner in a firm of merchants and ship-owners,The Liverpool Commercial List for 1871–1872, Sixth and Seventh Years (1871). London: Estell and Company. See entry for Gunston, Sons and Co. with whom he had three children (two daughters and a son, Geoffrey Hardinge Phipps-Hornby).
On retiring from the Army, he became joint owner and manager of the Compton Stud, breeding thoroughbreds and hunters, at Sandley House, near Gillingham in Dorset.Racing Illustrated (1896), 3, No. 53 (1 Jul), p. 5 He later lived in Somerton Erleigh in SomersetWalford, Edward (1919). The County Families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, 59th Ed. London: Spottiswood, Ballantyne and Co. p. 680 and, in addition to horses, bred Guernsey cattleGuernsey Breeders' Journal (1921), XX, No. 7 (21 Oct), p. 408 and Dorking chickens.The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (1900), 11, p. clxvi
He was one of the earliest British players of the then-new game of polo, which had been introduced from India by returning Army officers in 1869–70,Laffaye, Horace A. (2012). Polo in Britain: A History. Jefferson: McFarland and Co. p. 8 taking up the game in 1875 and becoming a 4-goal handicap player.Laffaye, Horace A. (2015). The Polo Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed. Jefferson: McFarland and Co. p. 291 He won the Hurlingham Championship Cup with Sussex in 1883, and several other County and Army trophies. He was one of those instrumental in the formation of the Blackmore Vale Polo ClubLaffaye, Horace A. (2012). Polo in Britain: A History. Jefferson: McFarland and Co. p. 18 and was President of the County Polo Association in 1905-6.Laffaye, Horace A. (2015). The Polo Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed. Jefferson: McFarland and Co. p. 291 His son, Geoffrey, was an international polo player.
He died in 1927 and is buried in the family plot in St Mary's Church, Compton, West Sussex.
References