A. Kingsley Macomber facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
King Macomber
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| Born | March 7, 1874 |
| Died | October 6, 1955 (aged 81) |
| Occupation | Adventurer, banker, land developer, rancher, racehorse owner/breeder, philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Myrtle Harkness |
| Parent(s) | Henry Kirke Macomber & Amelia C. Collerd |
Abraham Kingsley "King" Macomber (born March 7, 1874 – died October 6, 1955) was an American adventurer and businessman. He was also known for owning and breeding Thoroughbred racehorses. He was born in Morristown, New Jersey. His family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1883.
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An Adventurous Explorer
As a young man, Kingsley Macomber loved adventure. In 1894, he explored parts of Central Africa. He was invited by another American adventurer, Frederick Russell Burnham. With Burnham and seven other Americans, he spent six months exploring and mapping an area. This area is now known as Zimbabwe.
During this time, fighting broke out between the local Matabele people and the white settlers. Macomber escaped a dangerous situation. But then he was caught in the Siege of Bulawayo. A small group of British and American people defended themselves. They built a quick fort called a laager at Bulawayo. They held off attacks for two months until the British military rescued them.
Macomber soon left Africa and went to London, England. There, he was honored by the Royal Geographical Society. This is a famous group for explorers. He returned to the United States in December 1896.
Kingsley Macomber's time in Africa led to a lasting friendship with Frederick Burnham. Years later, in 1939, Burnham, Macomber, and John Eagle gave a large collection of natural history items to the state of Arizona. This collection included items from Africa and other parts of the world.
In 1899, in New York City, Kingsley Macomber married Myrtle Harkness. She was the daughter of a very wealthy man, Lamon V. Harkness. He was a major owner of Standard Oil. The couple lived in homes on both the East and West Coasts of the United States.
Macomber's Businesses
Around the late 1800s, Macomber started a business with a partner. They ran a coal mine in Gallup, New Mexico. They also looked for and mined other valuable minerals in the Cascade Range and Pacific Coast Ranges mountains.
In 1902, Macomber helped start the Los Angeles Trust Company. He was its first president. In 1905, this company joined with several other banks.
In 1905, Kingsley Macomber, Henry E. Huntington, and William R. Staats worked together. They developed a new neighborhood called Oak Knoll. It was located between Pasadena and San Marino, California.
In 1906, Macomber bought Rancho Cienega de los Paicines. This was a large cattle ranch in Paicines, California. He spent a lot of money building a new home and stables there. He wanted to bring thoroughbred horses to the ranch. He even had his own private railcar at nearby Tres Pinos. This allowed him and his wife to travel easily to horse-racing events across the country. After World War I, the Macombers made a large country house, called a chateau, in France their main home. In 1927, they sold the Paicines ranch.
A Passion for Horse Racing
Myrtle Harkness, Macomber's wife, loved horses. Before she married Kingsley, she spent a lot of time at her father's Walnut Hall Farm in Kentucky. Both Kingsley and Myrtle Macomber were very interested in horses. They became important people in the world of Thoroughbred horse racing around the globe.
In 1918, Kingsley Macomber's horse, War Cloud, finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby. Then, War Cloud won the Preakness Stakes. Another of Macomber's horses, Star Hawk, came in second in the Kentucky Derby in 1916. Other Macomber horses won many important American races. These included the Travers Stakes, Suburban Handicap, and Withers Stakes.
In 1911, almost all horse racing in the United States stopped. This was because of a law that banned parimutuel betting (betting on races). Because of this, Macomber and other American stable owners moved their racing operations to England and France. The ban on betting was lifted after two years, and racing returned to the U.S. But many owners kept large operations in Europe. By 1925, Macomber had over one hundred horses being trained in England. He also supported racing in California. In 1923, he helped start the Pacific Coast Jockey Club.
The "Macomber Family Collection about Race Horse Breeding" is kept at the University of California, Los Angeles library. It has photos and other items about the horse breeding and ranching interests of the Macomber family.
Life and Racing in France
In the early 1900s, Kingsley Macomber often visited Europe. Around 1919, he bought the Haras de Cheffreville horse breeding farm in France. A few years later, he bought two more properties from another American, William Kissam Vanderbilt. These included the Haras du Quesnay breeding farm in Normandy. He also bought a chateau at Carrières-sous-Poissy. This chateau had stables for Thoroughbreds and a training track. It also came with about 150 mares (female horses) and sires (male horses) for breeding. This included the famous horse Maintenon. The Carrières-sous-Poissy property was close to the Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse. It was also on the railway line from Paris to Deauville. This made it easy to transport horses to the Deauville Racecourse.
Macomber's Thoroughbreds won major races in France and England. In 1923, his horse Parth won the important Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse. His horse Gold Bridge won the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot two years in a row, in 1933 and 1934.
Macomber was a well-known person in Parisian high society. His obituary in Sports Illustrated called him the "undisputed head of American society in Europe." He was also the president of the American Hospital of Paris from 1926 to 1928.
Giving Back (Philanthropy)
Macomber loved military history. His father had fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War. While living in France, he promoted the important friendship between France and the United States. In 1931, he paid for a monument of Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse. It was placed at the Trocadero Palace in Paris. During the American Revolutionary War, De Grasse commanded the French fleet in 1781. His fleet blocked the British retreat from Yorktown. This helped the Americans win the war.
In 1934, Macomber gave another American Revolutionary War statue to the city of Newport, Rhode Island. This sculpture of French General Rochambeau is a copy of one in Paris. General Rochambeau left Newport with his army to join General George Washington. They then marched to Yorktown.
Macomber also supported the game of tennis. In the 1920s and 1930s, he sponsored the A. K. Macomber tournament at Monte Carlo.
A. Kingsley Macomber died on October 6, 1955, in Paris, France. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. He rests in his wife's father's family tomb.
