Born on March 24, 1898, Major Cecil Naylor Brownhill, son of Thomas Brownhill of Denby Dale, Yorks, was a keen amateur rider and one of the few jockeys to survive breaking his neck and to continue to ride.
It was in 1930 that the accident occurred while riding in a steeplechase in the Midlands, but so rapid was his recovery that he was out hunting the same month and took another fall - after which he declared he felt much better.
Major Brownhill had been unplaced on his horse Drintyre in the Grand National but they did win the 1928 Royal Artillery Gold Cup, the 1930 Grand Military Gold Cup and, in the same year, the Scottish Grand National, beating Melleray's Belle, who was second in the 1930 Liverpool Grand National, by a length.
In February 1938, under an arrangement with the British War Office for the exchange of officers for a stated period, the Major went to Pretoria, South Africa, to spend a year at the Military College there as lecturer on tactics.
On Thursday, March 24, 1938, his fortieth birthday, he threw a party for his friends in Johannesburg.
Returning home, his car crashed into a tree along the Johannesburg-Pretoria road.
Major C. Brownhill died instantly. His ashes were scattered over Sandown Park.
A brother officer later said "The Mess is deeply grieved at the news of Major Brownhill's death. He was one of the most popular officers we had."
A memorial service was held the following Thursday at noon at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks.
