4S2 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



CHAPTER XI. 



MEMOIR OF THE LATE EARL OF DERBY, FOUNDER OF THE DERBY 

 AND OAKS AT EPSOM.— OBSERVATIONS ON THE TURF, ETC., 



This venerable and highly, nay universally, 

 respected and beloved Nobleman, who de- I 

 parted this life at his seat Knowsley Hall, 

 near Prescot, Lancashire, on Tuesday, Octo- 

 ber 21st, w^as not only one of tlie oldest sup- 

 porters but one of the brightest ornaments of 

 the British Turf. In early life he supported, 

 with that style which Nobility vvas wont to 

 do in olden times, a splendid stud of esteemed 

 Horses, and continued the same steady and, 

 ardent advocate of the sport to the close of 

 life, having been an owner and patron of the 

 national pastime for the unparalleled period of 

 nearly sixty years. 



Fate ordained the venerated Earl to enter 

 life on a sporting day, having been born on 

 the 1st of September 1752; and he succeeded 

 to the title of Ea»l of Derby, on the demise 

 of his ffrandsire the eleventh Earl, on tliC 24t\\ 

 of February 1776, consequently he was a Peer 

 of the Realm 58 years. His Lordship, who 

 was in youthful days a votary at the shrine of 

 Beauty, was twice bound in " the hallowed 

 chain" of matrimony ; his first consort being 

 Elizabeth, the only daughter of James the ! 

 si.\th Duke of Hamilton, by whom he had ' 

 jipoduce (if I may beg the use of the Stud 

 Book phrase) Lord Stanley (now the Earl of 



Derby, and father of the late Secretary of 

 Ireland), Lady Charlotte Hornby, and Lady 

 Ehzabeth Henrietta Cole. 



The annals of Weatherby announce our 

 revered Nobleman to have made his debut on 

 the race-course in 1776, the year in which he 

 attained his title ; and he was then, as he con- 

 tinued through life (the emblem of his family 

 motto — " sans changer"^, a considerable sup- 

 porter of the Manchester, Lancaster, and other 

 Meetings in that his own immediate neigh- 

 bourhood ; and many succeeding years re- 

 corded his name among the competitors at 

 Preston, York, Knutsford, Ormskirk, Notting- 

 ham, Chester, Liverpool, Warwick, Holywell, 

 Derby, &c. &c. : but the grand theatre of his 

 early sport was "The Emporium," New- 

 market. Soon after he came on the Turf lie 

 became a Member of the Jockey Club. 



With him originated the two most eminent 

 contests which our country boasts, both of 

 which were christened in honour of our vene- 

 rable Earl ; the Epsom Oaks and the Derby 

 Stakes. I know not who might be the other 

 sponsors to the urchins, but it is enough they 

 have grown up a goodly brace of twins, which 

 the patriarch lived, and lam sure was pleased 

 and proud, to see attain maturity. 



