Devereux Milburn

Devereux Milburn

Devereux Milburn on September 5, 1927 edition.
Occupation Lawyer, Polo player
Born (1881-09-19)September 19, 1881
Buffalo, New York
Died August 15, 1942(1942-08-15) (aged 60)
Westbury, New York
Major racing wins
Westchester Cup (1909, 1911, 1913, 1921, 1924, 1927)
Honours
Cover of TIME Magazine (September 5, 1927)
Inducted into the National Polo Hall of Fame (1990)

Devereux Milburn (September 19, 1881 – August 15, 1942) was an American champion polo player in the early to mid twentieth century.[1] He was one of what was known as the Big Four in international polo, winning the Westchester Cup six times.[2] His given name has also been alternatively spelled "Devereaux" in some publications.

Family and early life

Milburn was born September 19, 1881 in Buffalo, New York.[1] He was the son of New York lawyer and politician John George Milburn and Mary Patty Stocking. His father was notably the chairman of the Pan-American Exposition in 1901 when President William McKinley was assassinated. McKinley later died of his injuries in Devereux Milburn's childhood home, but Milburn was not present during the incident. Milburn started at Oxford University in 1903 where he gained a rowing Blue. He was also on the university swimming team, and guided the Oxford University Polo team to victory in successive Varsity matches, winning by a margin of 14 goals on both occasions. Even swimming and playing polo against the same university on one day was no problem for him.[3]

Milburn (left) and C.F. Holmes in 1917 at Chatel-Chéhéry.

Career

Milburn served during World War I as a major in the field artillery in France.[1] He served as an Aide-de-camp for Major-General James H. McRae at Chatel-Chéhéry in 1917. He later practiced law at his father's firm Carter Ledyard & Milburn.

Milburn was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine on September 5, 1927 and was referenced in an article on the upcoming polo season in that edition.

Personal life

Milburn married Nancy Gordon Steele, the daughter of Charles Steele a partner in J. P. Morgan and Company, on November 1, 1913.[4] They had two daughters, Katharyn and Nancy, and two sons, Devereux Jr.[5] and John.[1] John was a combat pilot who died in an airplane crash four months after his father on December 2, 1942.[6]

He had a residence in Old Westbury, NY called Sunridge Hall that was built near his in-laws estate. Milburn also maintained a residence at 627 Magnolia St. in Aiken, SC in the gilded age Aiken Winter Colony. The Aiken Winter Colony was at the nexus of the start of polo in the United States and was a primary center for polo in the early 1900s.

Milburn died on August 15, 1942 at the age of 60 of a heart attack while playing golf at the Meadowbrook Polo Club in Westbury, Long Island.[1]

In popular culture

A visit by Milburn's son John and two air force colleagues to the family home on Long Island features in Paul Auster's true story collection, True Tales of American Life.[7] The story first featured on NPR's National Story Project on All Things Considered.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Devereux Milburn Dies Playing Golf". New York Times. August 16, 1942. Devereux Milburn, the greatest back to ever play polo, died of heart disease at 6 o'clock tonight on the ninth tee of the Meadow Brook Club here, where he had been playing golf. He would have been 61 years old next month.
  2. ↑ "Devereux Milburn". Westchester Cup. Retrieved 2011-03-30. In 1909 Devereux Milburn played in his first international match with Harry Payne Whitney, Lawrence Waterbury and Monte Waterbury on what would come to be known as the Big Four.
  3. ↑ E.D. Miller: Fifty Years of Sport. London: Hurst & Blackett 1923, p. 240.
  4. ↑ "Devereux Milburn weds Miss Steele: Polo player married to daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steele at Westbury". New York Times. November 2, 1913. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  5. ↑ "Devereux Milburn, 82, Sportsman and Lawyer". The New York Times. January 15, 2000. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "John Milburn dies in army plane crash". The New York Times. December 3, 1942. Second Lieut. John G. Milburn, 24, second son of the internationally famous polo player Devereux Milburn, was killed Tuesday night when the plane he was piloting crashed near Waterford, Virginia
  7. ↑ The Ten-Goal Player by Paul Ebeltoft, in Paul Auster (editor), True Tales of American Life, 2001, pp. 273-5
  8. ↑ "National Story Project with Paul Auster, June 2000". NPR Weekend All Things Considered. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
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