Sir Nigel Kingscote. 
7 
in 1839, and Sir Nigel once told me that he had been taken by 
his parent to witness the Royal Show held at Bristol in 1842 — 
when, therefore, he was a boy of twelve. Colonel Kingscote 
himself was elected a member of the Society on April 5, 1854, 
on the nomination of Mr. Raymond Barker, then Chairman of 
the Finance Committee. He was elected a member of the 
Council on July 1, 1863, on the motion of the Hon. William 
Cavendish, M.P., seconded by Major-General Hood (afterwards 
Lords Chesham and Bridport). He joined the Finance 
Committee at the beginning of 1867, and when the late Lord 
Bridport became President in 1874-5, Sir Nigel succeeded him 
as Chairman of the Finance Committee, a position which he 
held until the end of 1905, except during the year (1877-8) of 
his own Presidency of the Society, when the Show of 1878 
was being held (for the second time) at Bristol, in his own 
district. 
Sir Nigel’s letter of August, 1905, to the then President, 
announcing his intention not to seek re-election at the end 
of that year as Chairman of the enlarged Finance Committee, 
is characteristic. He said that it was known to Mr. Cornwallis 
and others of his old colleagues that he had for some 
time been anxious to be relieved from the Chairmanship of 
the Committee, but was unwilling to retire whilst the Society 
was in trouble, lest it might be thought that he was shirking 
duty. But he thought that after thirty years of Chairman- 
ship, he might not unreasonably ask that at his time of life 
(he was then seventy-five) and at the beginning of a new era 
of management, he might be excused from further service as 
Chairman. He remained on the Council, however, until 
November in the following year, when he formally resigned 
the position of trustee, to which he had been appointed on 
July 1, 1874, and thus ceased to be a member of the governing 
body. At their meeting held on November 7, 1906, the 
Council passed, on the motion of Mr. Cornwallis, seconded 
by H.R.H. Prince Christian, the following resolution : — 
“ The Council desire to record on their minutes the great regret with 
which they learn that Sir Nigel Kingscote is compelled by ill-health to 
retire from the deliberations of the Council. Since his election to the 
Council in 1 8G3, he has served as President of the Society in 1877-8, 
as Chairman of the Finance Committee from 1875, and Chairman of the 
House Committee from the same date. He frequently acted as Steward 
at the Annual Shows, and has been a Trustee of the Society from 1874. 
In these and other offices, and on all occasions, his energy, tact, and 
earnestness have been of inestimable value to the Society, while his 
courtesy and kindness have endeared him in a special degree to all his 
colleagues.” 
In an unofficial capacity as Governor of the Society, Sir 
Nigel attended however several subsequent meetings of the 
