John Scott-Ellis, 9th Baron Howard de Walden

John Osmael Scott-Ellis, 9th Baron Howard de Walden, 5th Baron Seaford (27 November 1912 – 10 July 1999) was a British peer, landowner, and a Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder. He was the son of Margarita van Raalte and her husband, Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden and was educated at Eton College.

In 1931 he moved to Munich where he bought a car. On his first day behind the wheel, he claimed to have knocked over a pedestrian - Adolf Hitler.

He inherited Dean Castle in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland which, along with his father's collections of arms and armour, and his grandfather' collection of musical instruments, he gave to the people of Kilmarnock in 1975.

Marriage and family

He married Irene, Countess von Harrach in 1934.

They had four daughters:

• Hon Hazel Czernin, 10th Baroness Howard de Walden (b. 12 Aug 1935),
• Hon Susan Buchan ( b. 6 Oct 1937)
• Hon Jessica White (b. 6 Aug 1941)
• Hon Camilla Acloque (b. 1 Apr 1947).

Irene died in 1975 and, in 1978, Lord Howard remarried Gillian, Lady Mountgarret, 25 years his junior.

Plantation Stud

Lord Howard became involved in the sport of Thoroughbred racing immediately after World War II. In 1958 he bought Lord Derby's Plantation Stud at Exning, just outside Newmarket. A steward of the Jockey Club, Lord Howard had success in National Hunt hurdle racing with Champion Hurdle winner, Lanzarote. On the flat, he won the 1985 Epsom Derby with Slip Anchor. Among his other notable homebreds, Lord Howard met with considerable success both on the track and in the breeding shed with Kris who was the 1979 Champion European Miler and 1980 Champion European Older Miler and who went on to become the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1985.

References

Peerage of England
Preceded by Thomas Scott-Ellis	Baron Howard de Walden 1946–1999	Succeeded by Hazel Czernin
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Scott-Ellis	Baron Seaford 1946–1999	Succeeded by Colin Humphrey Felton Ellis