GEORGE BULLOUGH WORLD TOUR  1892-1895
( Article 1 of 28 )   INTRODUCTION    
Written from first-hand research and and illustrated from his personal archive 

by George W. Randall co-founder in July 1996 and former 

Vice Chairman Kinloch Castle Friends' Association.

Copyright September 2013 © George W. Randall Archive 

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INTRODUCTION   ARTICLE

.

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George Bullough (1870 – 1939, later Sir George, Baronet) was three days short of his twenty-first

birthday when his father John died on the 25^th of February 1891 at the age of fifty-two.

Nineteen months later in September 1892 twenty-two year old George 

embarked on a thirty five month long world tour with his friend  Robert Mitchell 

returning to Britain in August 1895 to be soon followed by what was termed a 

“six-month supplementary cruise” arriving back at The Rhyddings, 

Bullough’s home in Accrington, Lancashire, England, in April 1896.

A twenty volume photographic record of their travels is located in the library at 

Kinloch Castle, Isle of Rum, Scotland, Bullough's Highland hunting lodge built 1897-1900.

Regrettably each picture has only the briefest title, sometimes no title and no date.

Fortunately Mr. Bullough agreed to have published a series of reports of their travels 

Part of the introductory article from
The Accrington Division Gazette
published 2 May 1896.

in The Accrington Division Gazette, the local newspaper and
 location of the family business and source of his wealth,  
Howard and Bullough, Ltd., Globe Works, 
manufacturers of a complete range of cotton spinning machinery to the world’s cotton industry. 

I am indebted to Accrington Library who supplied 

photo-copies of the twenty-eight articles, 

"Mr. Bullough's Three Years' Tour" 

published in The Accrington Division Gazette between 

2 May and 12 December 1896 and the late broadcaster, 
Magnus Magnusson, K.B.E, at the time Chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage, (the agency responsible for the island of Rum and Kinloch Castle), who gave me permission (1996) 

to archive and photographically record 

the contents of Kinloch Castle including the 600 plus 

half-plate images of George Bullough’s World Tour.

Commencing with this Introductory Article, (left), published 
in May 1896, and the twenty seven subsequent Gazette reports, (the last, Pretoria, Johannesburg, the Discovery of Diamond City, published on the 12^th of December 1896), I have added at the end of each numbered Explanatory Notes sourced from my archive of contemporary publications, including the 9^th and 11^th editions of Encyclopædia Britannica, 

I have also drawn extensively from numerous sites on Google, 
a resource  I hereby acknowledge and recommend to those readers who wish to research further.

The world Robert Mitchell recalls in these articles and the accompanying photographs taken in the 1880 / 1890's  

give us today a unique insight into that world, and human attitudes over one hundred and 

thirty years ago at  the height of the British Empire and Queen Victoria's reign. 

My additional notes at the end of each chapter, written from contemporary publications, are intended to help the reader see and understand this late 19th century world as twenty-three year old George Bullough would know it by giving brief historical background and understanding to the articles and hopefully encourage further reading and research. 

 THE TWENTY WORLD TOUR PHOTOGRAPH ALBUMS  14½ x 10¾ inches.

I   Ceylon / India * II   Ceylon / India * III   India * IV   India * V   India * VI   India / Burma * VII   Australia

VIII   Cape Town * IX   South Africa * X    South Africa / Madeira / Hobart    XI * Tasmania / New Zealand

XII   New Zealand * XIII   Natives Africa / New Zealand * XIV   Japan * XV   Numea / Batavia / Singapore

XVI   China * XVII   China / Japan * XVIII   New Zealand / New Caledonia * XIX   Honolulu / California

XX   Salt Lake City                 (Note: there are two albums marked XIV and no XVIII.)

George Bullough (left) and his travelling companion

Robert Mitchell standing by a fine specimen of ficus elastica,

the Indian rubber tree in the 

Royal Botanic Gardens,

Peradeniya, Ceylon,

since independence in 1972, 

Sri Lanka.

This is one of only three of the 600+ album photographs in which they appear together.

(Greatly enlarged from original below.)

George Bullough and Robert Mitchell by a stand of ficus elastica
in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon.
Album 1  *  Image 18  *  Original photograph measures 10½ x 8½ inches.
(George W. Randall  Research Archive)

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(NOTE: The Buddha has since been stolen!)

SEE NOTES AT END FOR FURTHER IMAGES AND HISTORY OF THE IVORY EAGLE.

DEDICATED RESEARCH BLOG:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3149945780622106744/6873241512882600280

DEDICATED IVORY EAGLE RESEARCH BLOG:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3149945780622106744/6873241512882600280

>+<

NOTE: THE BUDDHA HAS SINCE BEEN 

WRENCHED FROM THE SHINTO SHRINE AND 

STOLEN.

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SCANNED FROM ORIGINAL PUBLISHED ARTICLE.

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COAT OF ARMS OF SIR GEORGE BULLOUGH.

PART TWO COVERS:

DEPARTURE FROM LIVERPOOL STREET RAILWAY STATION, LONDON 
TO GRAVESEND,
EMBARKATION ONTO THE P & O LINER SS OCEANA AT GRAVESEND, 
FELLOW PASSENGERS AND LIFE ON-BOARD
THROUGH BAY OF BISCAY TO GIBRALTAR.

George W. Randall Research and Photographic Archive

Reviewed by author 15 September 2026.

THE  GRAND  NATIONAL  1892  -  CANAL  TURN
 by Godfrey  Douglas  Giles  (1857 - 1941

Researched, written and illustrated by George W. Randall. 

The picture is displayed in the former Manager's Flat at Kinloch Castle, 

originally Sir George Bullough's private quarters. 

The Grand National Course at Aintree, near Liverpool, comprises two circuits,

 over thirty jumps covering a distance of 4 miles 856 yards. 

The first race took place in 1836 when four horses ran, two finished, the winner being ‘The Duke’ ridden by Captain Martin Beecher and owned by Mr. Sirdefield,

 landlord of The George Inn, at nearby Great Crosby.

Godfrey Douglas Giles’ painting depicts the 1892 National, in which twenty-five horses ran. The winner, in 9 minutes 48.2 seconds was ‘Father O’Flynn’, 

ridden by Captain E. Roddy Owen and owned by Colonel Gordon Wilson, 

a dashing young officer in the Household Cavalry who had attracted the attention of 

Queen Victoria when he ran out to stop an attempt on her Majesty’s life.

This painting is displayed in the Manager’s Quarters at  Kinloch Castle.

 It was recorded by Auctioneers and Valuers Phillips of Scotland in their 

1996 Inventory of Contents as follows: 

“Coloured print ‘Steeplechase’ in an ebonised frame. Value £50.”

Captain Owen was in his mid-thirties when he rode seven-year-old 

‘Father O’Flynn’ to victory in the 1892 Grand National. (Photograph above).

Roddy Owen had come close to victory in 1891, when, riding ‘Cloister,’

he finished second in a “thrilling race” to ‘Come Away’ 

ridden by Mr. H. Beasley, an objection by Owen for jostling being overruled.

‘Cloister’ was a high-class horse 
and with this performance became favourite for the 1892 National.

It was therefore a big disappointment to Owen not to be the mount chosen by 
Arthur Yates, ‘Cloister’s’ trainer.

Despite this, 1892 was to be Captain Owens’ year, as he raced ‘Father O’Flynn’ 

home, carrying 12 stone* 7-lbs.,  (One Stone equals 14-lbs. ), 

to win easily from ‘Cloister,’ ridden by Mr. J. C. Dormer, 

followed by A. Nightingall on ‘Ilex’ and G. Williamson on ‘Ardcarn.’

‘Father O’Flynn’ was born in 1885 by ‘Retreat’ by the renowned ‘Hermit.’ 

He was only a small horse, standing barely 15.3 hands. 

Initially owned by Lord Cholmondeley,

 he had proved of little worth on the flat and was sold after his only win,

 a Two-Year-Old Selling Race at Aintree.

 But ‘Father O’Flynn’ was to have his day. 

He went on not only to win the 1893 

Grand National, but to do it in record time, 9 minutes 32.4 seconds 

from a field of fifteen runners.

THE ARTIST - GODFREY DOUGLAS GILES.

Godfrey Douglas Giles was born in Karachi on the 9^th of November 1857, 

at the time under the rule of the British East India Company, and today, Pakistan. 

His father was a captain in the British Royal Navy based at Karachi. 

As a boy Godfrey attended Cheltenham College, a boarding school founded in 1841 

“to educate the sons of gentlemen”, its curriculum based on “classical, military 

and sporting traditions.” 

In 1875, after attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in order to 

“launch his military career”, he was posted, aged barely eighteen, to India where 

he saw action in the Second Afghan War with the 1^st Sind Horse and 19^th Native 

Infantry, seeing action in the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880. He painted a scene 

from the one day engagement which was exhibited in 1893. 

He later served in Egypt – the General Gordon Relief Expedition - and South Africa, 

retiring as a Major in 1884.

Giles studied painting at the Paris studio of Carolus Duran, born in Lille, France, 

in 1837. Working in oils, watercolour and pastels he painted hunting and racing 

scenes in addition to battle panoramas. 

His racing pictures are noted for depicting “the inelegant full-stretch gallop” 

of the horses. Giles supplied illustrations to Black and White, Vanity Fair and Badminton Library, 

and in the Boer War (1899-1902) he served as war correspondent and illustrator for 

The Graphic and Daily Graphic.

His work was exhibited at Royal Academy and the Paris Salon in 1885.

After years of living in London and Newmarket, in retirement he settled in Scotland 

and died in Edinburgh in February 1941 aged eighty-three. 

Reviewed 30 June 2025.