Henry Frederic Thynne; Sixth Marquess of Bath

Henry Frederic Thynne, 87, the Marquess of Bath, who was the first British aristocrat to turn his stately home into a tourist attraction. Lord Bath became the sixth marquess in 1946 when his father died. The title was created in 1789. Reeling from taxes after inheriting the estate, Bath opened Longleat to the public in 1949. The house, built by his ancestor, Sir John Thynne, in 1580, became the first stately English home to be regularly open to tourists. Visitors were able to see state rooms, ornate ceilings, historic furniture, paintings, embroidery and a collection of 33,000 books, among them several Shakespeare first folios and what may have been the first cookbook. The estate’s park was designed by Britain’s premier 18th-Century landscape designer, Lancelot (Capability) Brown. Lord Bath expanded it in 1966, opening Europe’s first safari park. A wide range of African animals roamed the 6,500-acre estate, where Lord Bath and his family lived in a small cottage on the grounds. On Tuesday at Longleat, 90 miles west of London.