Larch Loyd - Telegraph The estate, which included a significant art collection, had passed to the family through Harriet Loyd, the daughter of the 1st Lord Overstone, a banker and politician. Harriet married Robert Lindsay, 1st Lord Wantage, who won a VC in the Crimean War; she had no children. Loyd qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1952. He pulled down the big house, which was unmanageable, and was among the first to realise that traditional farm buildings would have a limited role in agriculture in the future. After a long battle with the planning authorities, he converted his redundant barns for business use. A man of strong Christian faith, he was the epitome of a benevolent landlord and was much loved. He established a trust in the villages of Lockinge and Ardington to provide affordable housing long before the need for such initiatives became widely recognised. Hunting and horse racing were twin passions. In 1945, Loyd joined the committee of the Old Berkshire Hunt and was appointed chairman in 1951. He steered the hunt through some turbulent times in the 1950s and retired from the committee in 1996, after 51 years" service. Loyd established the Lockinge Stud on the estate . Notable winners were Coup, which won the Galtres Stakes at York and the Mornington Stakes at Ascot, and Gallic, which won the Errol Stakes at Ascot in the 1960s. As a young man, Loyd had ridden at point-to-points and under National Hunt rules. He was a director of Newbury racecourse, and in 1952, with the help of its staff, he created at his own expense the point-to-point course at Lockinge. The Lockinge Stakes, a Group 1 Race first run at Newbury in 1958, continues to this day. Loyd was a trustee of the Wallace Collection between 1973 and 1990, High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1961, and served for many years as a JP. Larch Loyd married (dissolved), in 1957, Joanna Smith-Bingham, who survives him with their two sons and one daughter. Larch Loyd, born June 1 1923, died on July 14 2013