Zbc Earl of Milton i67 



of Grosvenor, and married Lady Mary Margaret Stanley, 

 the only surviving child of the marriage between the 

 twelfth Earl of Derby, of racing renown, and Miss 

 Farren, the celebrated actress. 



At a very early period of his career Lord Wilton 

 showed that he possessed in no common degree the 

 hereditary love of racing for which the house of Gros- 

 venor had so long been famous. Gifted by nature with 

 a figure which enabled him to ride lighter than most 

 gentlerhen jockeys who were his contemporaries, Lord 

 Wilton had advantages which few of his rivals enjoyed. 

 He was a ' natural horseman,' and having enormous 

 practice with his father's stud, soon developed into the 

 most accomplished and skilful gentleman rider of his 

 time. In 1827 he established at his seat near Man- 

 chester, the famous Heaton Park meeting, which was the 

 chief arena of his exploits, and he won numberless 

 races both there and at Croxton Park. ' On the first 

 institution of Heaton Park Races,' says a late well-known 

 sporting writer, ' the crowd of visitors was so great that 

 after three o'clock in the afternoon the gates of the park 

 were closed and every stratagem was adopted by the 

 million to obtain admission. In consequence of the mis- 

 chief that was thereby occasioned to the trees, an order was 

 issued that in future no person should be admitted with- 

 out a ticket, nor even then, unless coming on horseback 

 or in a carriage. The amended measure hardly 

 answered the expectations that were formed of it, as 

 the Manchester folks argued, with their customary acute- 

 ness, that whatever vehicle would carry was of necessity 

 a carriage^ and therefore that their carts were admissible. 

 This sta'te of things continued till 1835, when profes- 

 sionals were allowed to ride with the gentlemen jockeys ; 



