53 



CHAPTER III. 



HISTORY OF THE JOCKEY CLUB. 



Tradition — in this instance probably correct — assigns to the 

 year 1750 the origin of the Jockey Club, though there is no 

 absolutely trustworthy record by which the date of its founda- 

 tion can be ascertained. It seems, however, tolerably certain 

 that up to that year the general place of assembly for gentlemen 

 during the Newmarket meetings was at the Red Lion Inn. 

 Whether previously to that time racing affairs were ruled over 

 by a committee, or were entirely under Royal control, is a 

 matter of doubt, nor can w^e find any reason for the -move from 

 the Red Lion to the present site of the Jockey Club ; but it 

 may be surmised that the building of the Jockey Club room 

 was contemporary with, or immediately subsequent to, the for- 

 mation of that body. 



This room was built in 1752 on ground leased by William 

 Erratt, horse-dealer of Newmarket, to the Duke of Ancaster 

 and the Marquis of Hastings, in trust for fifty years. 



At a meeting of the Jockey Club, December 6, 1767, it was 

 resolved that persons desiring to be admitted to the coffee- 

 room wxre to be proposed by a member of the club and 

 balloted for. The Dining Club was held at the Red Lion 

 (the site of which is supposed to have been on the present 

 Station Road) till 1771, when the lease of the coffee-room was 

 surrendered by the surviving trustees, and the ground lease, 

 together with that of the ground on which the present ' New 

 Rooms' were afterwards built, was transferred for a term of 

 sixty years to R. Vernon, Esq., a member of the Jockey Club. 



