Thomas George Bowes-Lyon, 12th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was born on September 8, 1822, the eldest surviving son of Thomas Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, who was the son of Thomas Bowes-Lyon, 11th Earl of Strathmore.
His father having died in 1834 before inheriting the baronetcy from his own father, Thomas George Bowes-Lyon succeeded his grandfather, the 11th Earl, to the earldom following the latter’s death in 1846.
Also in 1846, he bought a somewhat moody horse named The Switcher from Lord Howth, for whom he had finished third in that year’s Grand National as a five-year-old. In November, within a few weeks of his purchase, The Switcher gave Lord Strathmore his biggest success in the saddle when winning the 1846 Worcester Grand Annual Steeplechase, beating Captain Barnett’s horse Marengo, with that year’s Grand National winner Pioneer back in third. Lord Strathmore was cheered enthusiastically as he returned to unsaddle.
He rode another of his horses, Red Lancer, in the 1847 Grand National but failed to finish. He rode The Switcher the following year and was going as well as any when cannoned into early on the second circuit by one of the outsiders, Sparta. That impact resulted not only in Lord Strathmore’s riding boot almost being torn from his leg, but also upset The Switcher so thoroughly that he lost all interest from thereon and was eventually pulled up.
Lord Strathmore married the Honourable Charlotte Maria Barrington, daughter of the 6th Viscount Barrington, in April 1850. The marriage was childless, Charlotte dying in November 1854, aged just 27. In 1852 he was elected a Scottish representative peer, a post he held until July 1865.
As well as being a keen amateur rider, Lord Strathmore also a fine amateur cricketer and played first-class cricket for Marylebone Cricket Club from 1844 to 1857.
His riding career at an end, he turned his attention to flat racing. His horse Saccharometer started a heavily-backed 10-1 joint-fourth favourite for the 1863 Derby, only to run disappointingly and finish unplaced.
Lord Strathmore died on September 13, 1865, aged 42. He was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother Claude Bowes-Lyon, who became the 12th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne.