Priscilla Hastings

Priscilla Victoria Hastings (née Bullock, 1920-2010) was a British racehorse owner and trainer. She was one of the first women elected to membership of the Jockey Club.

Hastings was born Priscilla Victoria Bullock on 28 February 1920. Her father was Sir Malcolm Bullock, 1st Baronet, subsequently a Conservative MP, and her mother was Lady Victoria Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. In 1947 she married Peter Hastings who was an assistant racehorse trainer at the time and began training at Kingsclere stables himself in 1953. Priscilla Hastings herself owned racehorses and was part-owner of Taxidermist, winner of the 1958 Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup.^[1]

In 1954 Peter Hastings inherited the estate of his uncle, Sir William Bass and changed his surname to Hastings-Bass as required by his uncle's will. Priscilla Hastings however kept her name unchanged. Hastings-Bass died in 1964 with his wife effectively training the horses during his final illness. She also assisted the next trainer at Kingsclere, Ian Balding, who married Hastings' daughter, Emma.^[1]

Hastings was a director of Newbury Racecourse and served as chairman of the racecourse, and was a director of The Tote between 1984 and 1990. In 1977 the Jockey Club admitted female members for the first time in its 225-year history and Hastings was one of the three initially admitted.^[1]

Priscilla Hastings died in August 2010 aged 90. She had four children;

• William Hastings-Bass, a racehorse trainer, who inherited the title of Earl of Huntingdon in 1990
• Emma Hastings-Bass, who married Ian Balding and is the mother of trainer Andrew Balding and TV presenter Clare Balding
• Simon Hastings-Bass
• John Hastings-Bass

References