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Jacob the Thrush by Vernon St.John 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, 1967

Jacob the Thrush by Vernon St.John 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, 1967
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Jacob the Thrush was written by Vernon St.John as one in a series of nature notes for the Ringwood and Fordingbridge Journal in 1967.

Vernon had a passion for the natural world, no doubt begun as a small boy growing up at Lydiard Park, where the young lord was free to ramble and explore. Music was his other great love which perhaps explains his particular delight in bird song The Song Thrush is a favourite of his and in this article he partly attributes this fondness to an early experience:

'(It) happens to be that I once kept a tame thrush which answered to the name Jacob. He flourished on a diet of oatmeal dumplings and provided the initial interest that led me to study the thrush family in the wild.

Vernon St.John was forced to leave his ancestral home at Lydiard Park following the death of his mother, Viscountess Bolingbroke, in 1940, in straightened circumstances. He made his new permanent home at Fordingbridge in Hampshire where he continued his hobbies, becoming a well respected amateur entomologist.


Year:
1967
Creators:
Vernon Henry, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke (1896-1974)
Type:
Research Report Article
Taken from:
Report No. 31
Reference:
Report 31 (1998) p. 16
Copyright:
Friends of Lydiard Park
Credit:
Salisbury Journal Newspapers Ltd
Last updated on:
Friday 3rd December 2021

Items of Interest

Grave - St.John; Vernon, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, 1974
Grave - St.John; Vernon, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, 1974

The stone memorial tablet to Vernon Henry St.John...

Photograph of Vernon St. John as a child  c1903
Photograph of Vernon St. John as a child c1903

Vernon Henry St.John (later 6th Viscount Bolingbro...

Christmas Cards on nature theme, drawn by Lord Bolingbroke, 1960's
Christmas Cards on nature theme, drawn by Lord Bolingbroke, 1960's

A lovely selection of hand drawn Christmas Cards o...