Claude Raoul Champion de Crespigny was the third son of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny 4th Baronet. Having been educated at Eton, he served with the Brigade of Guards. In addition to being a fine horseman, he also displayed a talent for boxing, shooting and cricket.
Raoul rode his first winner on a horse named McKinnell in the Drag Hunt Cup at Hawthorn Hill. It was a highly popular victory because not only was he the Master of the Windsor Drag Hunt at the time, but also the youngest Guardsman who ever held that position.
His weight prohibited him from taking as many mounts as his brother Claude or his father, but in spite of that drawback, he rode plenty of winners. They included three consecutive renewals on the Grenadier Guards Challenge Cup at Hawthorn Hill’s Household Brigade meeting on Kozak (1905), Rumour (1906) and Longmoor Lass (1907).
His other wins at that fixture included back-to-back renewals of the Household Brigade Hunters’ Challenge Cup on Kozak (1906, 1907); the 1905 Household Brigade Hurdle on Cambo and the 1907 Household Brigade Chase on Alert III. He scored twice at the 1910 meeting, winning the Open Military Chase on Bush Rose and landing a fourth Grenadier Guards Challenge Cup on Kineton. He narrowly failed to make it five wins in that race when finishing second on Kineton, beaten three-quarters of a length, in 1912.
He also did well at Sandown Park’s Grand Military meeting, winning the Tally-Ho Chase in 1907 on Longmoor Lass. He rode two winners at the 1909 Grand Military meeting: Irish Wisdom in the United Services Chase and Varsity in the Maiden Chase.
He was considered unlucky not to have been awarded the much-coveted Grand Military Gold Cup in the stewards’ room in 1906 after Prince Talleyrand was beaten a head after being badly hampered by the winner Royal Blaze, the mount of Colonel Denny. Unfortunately, not only was his objection overruled but, by way of adding insult to injury, he also forfeited his £10 deposit.
Raoul inherited many family traits. A newspaper article from 1918 described how during World War One “with one mighty swing of his stick he broke the neck of a Hun, and the regiment went on.” He rose to the rank of Brigadier General.
Due to the death of his elder brothers Claude (committed suicide in 1910) and Norman (killed in World War One in 1914), Raoul became the 5th Baronet Champion de Crespigny following the death of his father in 1935.
Brigadier General Sir Claude Raoul Champion de Crespigny died in 1941 aged 63. In all there were eight baronets before the line became extinct with the death of the last baronet, Sir Vivian Tyrell Champion de Crespigny, in 1952.