Norman Heathcote
| Norman Heathcote | |
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Norman Heathcote in 1900
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| Born | 21 June 1863 |
| Died | 16 July 1946 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Author, watercolourist, photographer |
| Known for | St Kilda (1900) |
John Norman Heathcote (21 June 1863 – 16 July 1946) was a British author, watercolourist and photographer, who wrote the book St Kilda, published in 1900, about the Scottish Hebridean archipelago of St Kilda.
Norman Heathcote was the second child and eldest son of John Moyer Heathcote (1834–1912) and Louisa Cecilia MacLeod (1838–1910) who married in 1860. His father (whose mother was the youngest daughter of Nicholas Ridley-Colborne, 1st Baron Colborne) was a barrister and distinguished amateur player of real tennis. His mother was the eldest child of Norman Macleod, 25th chief of Clan Macleod. As a child Norman lived in London, Brighton and at Conington Castle.
Heathcote was born in 1863 and attended Eton College and then Trinity College, Cambridge from 1882, where he took a BA degree in 1885. He became a Justice of the Peace in 1906 and was High Sheriff of Huntingdonshire in 1917/18. On his father's death in 1912, he inherited Conington Castle, Conington, Huntingdonshire with its estate of over 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) and lived there for many years. He also inherited the lordship of the manor of Steeple Gidding which he sold to a Mr Tower in 1915. In 1933 he owned a steam yacht called Ketch. He did not marry or have children. He died in 1946 and is buried in Conington churchyard.
In 1898 and again in 1899 Heathcote visited the archipelago with his sister, Evelyn. At that time St Kilda was owned by his uncle, Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod. He went on to write a book about the islands which was published in London by Longmans, Green in 1900 and reprinted in 1985. It included eighty of his own illustrations – photographs (taken with a handheld camera), sketches, paintings and a map. He was the first to record several bird species on the islands. The book deals with the people of St Kilda, their history and customs; the wildlife (particularly birds) and his and his sister's experiences boating and climbing with the St Kildans.
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