84 THE JOCKEY CLUB 1750- 



he had the misfortune to lose his only son by an 

 accident out hunting, and a very touching epitaph 

 shows how keenly the poor father felt the blow. 

 Indeed, it is said to have shortened his life, though 

 he lived to the age of sixty-seven, which is only three 

 years short of the average span allotted by the 

 Psalmist. Sir Thomas was succeeded by a connection 

 of the family, Mr. Eichard Oliver, who, apparently, 

 had married one of the baronet's daughters, took the 

 baronet's family name, and is the Mr. Gascoigne 

 who won the St. Leger in 1811 with Soothsayer, by 

 Sorcerer, and in 1824 with Jerry, by Smolensko. Sir 

 Thomas had married the widow of Sir C. Turner, 

 another great light of the Northern Turf, and a 

 member also of the Jockey Club, so that there was 

 quite a plethora of horsiness in the family. Sir 

 Thomas and his ' frequent friend and pardner,' Mr. 

 Stapleton, won between them a vast number of great 

 races, including the St. Leger in 1778, 1779, and 

 1798, with Hollandaise, by Matchem ; with Tommy, 

 by Wildair, and with Symmetry, by Delpini ; and the 

 Oaks in 1803 with Theophania, by Delpini. And in 

 the pedigrees (v. Mambrino in the ' Stud Book,' for 

 example) we come upon mention of ' a Foreign Horse 

 of Sir T. Gascoigne's,' though that Sir Thomas must 

 have been a predecessor, probably the father, of 

 our immediate Sir Thomas. As for the Gascoigne- 

 Stapleton Magog, he has been termed ' unfortunate,' 

 because he is one of the earliest recorded instances 



