Clifford Keith Wain Schellenberg (13 March 1929 – 28 October 2019) was a British businessman and Winter Olympian. He was known for his legal disputes related to his ownership of the Scottish island of Eigg. He also stood in the

1964 UK general election The 1964 United Kingdom general election was held on 15 October 1964, five years after the previous election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party, first led by Winston Churchill, had regained power. It resulted in the Conservatives, ...

and the

1966 UK general election The 1966 United Kingdom general election was held on 31 March 1966. The result was a landslide victory for the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson decided to call a snap election since his government, elected a m ...

Richmond (Yorks) Richmond (Yorks) is a constituency in North Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since May 2015 by Rishi Sunak, the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Conservative Party. Constituency ...

and in the

October 1974 UK general election The October 1974 United Kingdom general election took place on Thursday 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members of the British House of Commons. It was the second general election held that year, the first year that two general elections were held ...

in Moray and Nairn as a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate.

Personal life

Schellenberg was the son of Clifford Robertshaw Schellenberg (1898–1971), of Woodlands, The Grove,

Marton-in-Cleveland Marton (officially Marton-in-Cleveland) is an area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Until the 1950s, it was a small village next to the hamlet of Tollesby in Yorkshire's North Riding. The Marton parish originally stretched north to ...

, Yorkshire. His distant forebears hailed from Wurttemberg. He attended

Giggleswick School Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior an ...

. Schellenberg was a lifelong

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. He became vegetarian after witnessing a friend kill a water rat with a catapult. He had six children and was married four times; firstly, in 1957, to Jan Hagenbach, with whom he had two daughters; secondly, in 1964, to Margaret de Hauteville Hamilton, daughter of

Robert Hamilton-Udny, 11th Lord Belhaven and Stenton Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Edward Archibald Udny-Hamilton, 11th Lord Belhaven and Stenton, CIE, DL (8 April 1871 – 26 October 1950) was a Scottish representative peer and a soldier. On 15 November 1898, he married Kathleen Gonville Bromhead an ...

, by whom he had a son and two daughters; thirdly, to garden designer Susan "Suki" Minette Urquhart (1944–2014), daughter of Major-General Robert Urquhart, General officer commanding the 1st Airborne Division at the Battle of Arnhem during

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

in 1944; and was survived by his widow Jilly. Schellenberg lived at Davidstone House, near Keith, Aberdeenshire, and at Old Mayen on the River Deveron. He encouraged the

Scottish Wildlife Trust The Scottish Wildlife Trust is a Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, registered charity dedicated to conserving the Natural history of Scotland, wildlife and natural environment of Scotland. Description The Scottish Wildlife Trust has well ...

to create several nature reserves. He died in Richmond, North Yorkshire in October 2019 at the age of 90.

Winter Olympics and sporting endeavours

Schellenberg competed in the two-man and the four-man Bobsleigh events at the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from ...

. He also competed in the men's singles in the

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

at the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebr ...

. He also played on the Yorkshire rugby team.St Nicholas Gardens
/ref> In 1968 he competed in the London to Sydney Marathon in his vintage Bentley, retiring when his car toppled off the edge of the road which had subsided under the weight of the car.

Powerboat Racing

Keith Schellenberg’s love for motor racing and speed spilled over to offshore racing in 1963 when he entered a Bertram hull ‘Glass Moppie’ in the Cowes Torquay for the first time, he finished in second behind the more experienced Sonny Levi. Schellenberg continued racing throughout the sixties without further success on board ‘Blue Moppie’ and ‘Thunderstreak’, he entered the 1969 Round Britain with ‘Botany Bay Express’ however he was disqualified for having difficulty obtaining radio crystals. He had asked and been given permission for late arrival to find the crystals, but when he turned up for a certain scrutineering test he was disqualified out of hand without discussion by the Race Committee. Schellenberg competed in another Round Britain race in 1984 and came out of retirement for the 2008 Cowes Torquay Cowes at the age of 78. This proved to be a successful race finishing second in Class and 17th overall in a Cougar US-1 monohull ‘Yellow Drama’.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schellenberg, Keith 1929 births 2019 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople Bobsledders at the 1956 Winter Olympics Businesspeople from Yorkshire English people of German descent English rugby union players Lugers at the 1964 Winter Olympics Olympic bobsledders for Great Britain Olympic lugers for Great Britain People educated at Giggleswick School Rugby union players from Middlesbrough