British Army officer and animal breeder (1913–2011)
Robert Lifford Valentine ffrench Blake (3 March 1913 – 11 March 2011) was a lieutenant-colonel in the British Army, cattle and horse breeder, and author.
During the Second World War, he served with the 17th/21st LancersinIndia and North Africa.[2] However, after he was shot in the neck and arms by a sniper in November 1942, he was sent back to England to heal.[2] He then worked at RAC Tactical School in Oxford and studied at the Staff College, Camberley.[2] At the age of thirty-two, he was appointed assistant adjutant and quartermaster general (AA&QMG) to the 6th Armoured Division.[2] He was then posted to the newly established Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he served as Chief Instructor of Old College and co-wrote the Military Syllabus for an 18-month course.[2][3] Meanwhile, he became a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 1945.[1] However, in 1949, he retired from the British Army as Lieutenant-Colonel.[1][2]
Later, he moved to a farm in Cornwall, where he raised Ayrshire cattle.[2] After being introduced to dressage by Polish cavalryman Captain Stefan Skupinski, he bred horses to sell them for eventing, showjumping and dressage.[2] He also wrote several books, including: one about dressage, another one about the Crimean War, and a memoir. He taught children how to shoot woodcock, snipe or pheasant.[2] He also became a professional painting restorer, copying Old Master.[2]
In 2010, he asked his publisher to give him the royalties he was overdue from the sales of his 1972 book Dressage for Beginners in the United States.[4]
He married Grania Bryde Curran. They had two sons: Neil St. John ffrench Blake (born 1940) and Anthony O'Brien ffrench Blake (born 1942).[1] They resided at Midgham Park Farm in Woolhampton, Berkshire.[1] He spent his last years in a nursing home in Nether Wallop, Hampshire.[4]
