Michael Ansell

Colonel Sir Mike Ansell CBE DSO
Ansell in March 1951.
Personal information
Full name	Michael Picton Ansell
Nationality	British
Discipline	Show jumping
Born	(1905-03-26)26 March 1905 Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland
Died	17 February 1994(1994-02-17) (aged 88) Brighton, England

Colonel Sir Michael Picton Ansell, CBE, DSO (26 March 1905 – 17 February 1994) was a soldier, showjumper, polo player, and horse show administrator.

Ansell was born on 26 March 1905 at the Curragh, County Kildare.^[1] His father Lt Col George Ansell was killed in September 1914, during the First World War, leading the 5th Dragoon Guards in a cavalry charge against German positions, for which he was subsequently mentioned in dispatches.^{[2] [3]} After attending St Michael's Westgate-in-Sea and Wellington College he went to Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

In August 1924 he was commissioned into the 5th/6th Dragoons, a regiment formed two years earlier by the amalgamation of the 5th Dragoon Guards and 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons (his father having served in both regiments). He served throughout the 1930s a cavalry officer, show jumping rider,^[1] and international polo player.

In France in March 1940, during World War II, he was given command of a yeomanry regiment, the 1st Lothians and Border Horse, becoming the British Army's youngest commanding officer at the time.^[1] He won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), but was shortly afterwards wounded in the hand and eyes by "friendly fire", blinding him permanently, and then became a prisoner of war (POW).^[1] All four fingers on his injured left hand were later amputated.^[4] He was repatriated from a German POW camp in 1943.^[1]

From 1957 to 1962 he was Colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.^[5]

An invitation to take up the position of chairman of the British Showjumping Association led to him being credited with revitalising the sport.^[1] He restarted the Royal International Horse Show and initiated the Horse of the Year Show.^[1] He was Chairman of the British Horse Society^[6] and Chaired the British Showjumping Association from 1945 until 1964.^[4] He was the first president of the British Equestrian Federation.^[6]

In 1967, when his address was given as "Pillhead House, Bideford", he was High Sheriff of Devon. He was President of St Dunstan's, a charity for blind servicemen, from 1977 to 1986.^[1]

Picton was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1951 New Year Honours^[7] and a Knight Bachelor (Kt) in the 1968 New Year Honours.^[8][1]

He appeared on the television programme This Is Your Life on 28 March 1960,^{[citation needed]} and as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 14 July 1973.^[9]

His autobiography, Soldier On, was published in 1973. It had a foreword by the Duke of Edinburgh.^[10] His final book, Leopard: the story of my horse, featured a foreword by Prince Charles.^[11]

In 1977, he was a recipient of the Silver Olympic Order.^[12]

He died on 17 February 1994 in Brighton, England, aged 88.^[1]

• —— (1951). Show Jumping: Obstacles and Courses. Collins.
• —— (1954). Jumping. Naldrett Press.
• —— (1973). Soldier On. Peter Davies. ISBN 978-0432005866.
• —— (1974). Riding High. Peter Davies. ISBN 978-0432005873.
• —— (1980). Leopard: the story of my horse. Quartilles International Limited. ISBN 978-0903021173.

• White City - The Man Behind The Horse Show 1955 British Pathe newsreel, showing Ansell at work at the International Horse Show
• Background on Butlins Show