Neville Franklin Crump was born in Beckenham, Kent in 1910.
He could ride almost as soon as he could walk, and this set the seal for the rest of his life. Educated at Marlborough and Oxford, he hunted and developed his passion for steeplechasing. Commissioned into the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars in 1932, he became a first-class equitation officer between 1935 and 36.
He left the Army shortly afterwards to start racehorse training from Sonny Hall at Russley Park and was granted a trainer’s licence in 1937, from a small yard at Upavon on Salisbury Plain. By the end of his first season, he had saddled 16 winners.
The war saw him back in uniform and fighting in the Middle East and finally a posting to Yorkshire. As soon as he could he started training again, this time in Middleham where he remained for the rest of his career. He triumphed in the 1948 Grand National with Sheila’s Cottage the first of his three Grand National successes ‘after that I never looked back….”
Loyalty was the essence of Neville Crump’s life; loyalty to his family, his wife Sylvia and daughter Sarah, his staff and horses and his country. His head lad for 18 years said of him ‘He was a great bloke to work for, very fair. His bark was worse than his bite. All his employees worked with him for a long time.
Neville Crump died on 16 January 1996 aged 86. He had been living in a nursing home for some time suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
