| Owner: 1) Thomas Fairfax 2) George Villliers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
The Helmsley Turk was from the stud of Lord Fairfax, Helmsley, and became the property of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who married Fairfax's daughter Mary in 1657, thus regaining the Helmsley estate (which had been owned by Villiers' father, the 1st Duke Of Buckingham until his assassination in 1628) which had been given to Fairfax by Oliver Cromwell for Fairfax's service as a parliamentary general and as "a salve for a bad wound" he suffered when besieging Helmsley Castle in 1644 in the English Civil War. Fairfax died in 1671.
The Helmsley Turk was probably foaled in around 1665, most likely from indigenous stock rather than being imported, and could have been grey.
The Helmsley Turk's principal contribution to the breed was his son Bustler, who got the famous Bustler mares of Families 8, 35, 37 and 44, and three important sons, Blunderbuss, [Old] Merlin and [Darcy's] Woodcock.
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