Celebration and thanksgiving for 8th Baron Bolton

The service was held near his beloved home, the Bolton Estate in Wensleydale, at Holy Trinity Church, Wensley. Lord Bolton leaves three sons, eight grandchildren and his second wife Valerie. 

He was renowned as a humanitarian and determined custodian and environmentalist, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds in his lifetime for charity and setting up British Direct Aid, which delivered vital aid to Bosnia during the war in the former Yugoslavia, and later to Rwanda.

His eldest son Tom told the congregation: “Dad was fearless and tough, physically and mentally and an adventurer at heart. He was always up early, even in his last few days, he was up and dressed in good time.

“He was very determined and if he wanted to do something nothing would deter him. He cared passionately about the estate and always strived for the highest standards of stewardship. He achieved this with distinction, leaving the estate in better condition environmentally, socially and economically than when he inherited it.”

In his youth he was a daredevil amateur jump jockey and accident-prone amateur pilot, but he became an energetic champion of the family estate in North Yorkshire, winning the largest ever repair grant paid by English Heritage towards the restoration of the medieval family seat, Bolton Castle, as well as a Site of Special Scientific Interest award for work to increase the wildlife value of the estate.

He was a keen huntsman, once swimming across the River Ure after a fox and contracting hypothermia. In 1977 he married Philippa.

Tom added: “In so doing he was blessed with the greatest good fortune, she was the rock at his side and with modesty and quiet determination they achieved so much together.” Philippa died from cancer in 2016. The couple had three sons, Thomas, Benjamin and Nicholas.

During the war in the Balkans the couple started collecting aid and he took it over in a horse box.

There the 8th Baron found warehouses full of supplies but not nearly enough people transporting it to where it was needed so he bought six army Bedford trucks and painted them white, recruiting volunteers to deliver the aid.

At one point they helped rescue 200 Bosnian Muslims, mostly women and children, who had walked 14 miles to escape, with five dying on the way from hyperthermia and others killed by snipers. “That was the beginning of his charity British Direct Aid which grew to a fleet of 51 trucks over a couple of years and they succeeded in getting aid to many people in need, often in desperately harsh conditions,” added Tom.

During the service a tribute was read by his Bosnian translator Ismilda Mallinder, who said without Harry she would not be here today.

“You were a hero to us all, a driving force, the world has lost a very special soul,” she added.

Harry Orde-Powlett became 8th Baron Bolton in 2001 following the death of his father and dedicated much of his time to improving and preserving the estate.

One of his most ambitious efforts to raise money for charity was a solo challenge, abseiling down three of London’s tallest buildings, The Shard, Gherkin and Walkie Talkie, raising £50,000. He married Valerie in 2019.

His son Tom, who has four children, becomes 9th Baron Bolton.