THE KARL OF WILTON. 125 



George Payiie, Greneral Peel, the Earl of Crlasgow, and Admiial 

 Rous. Thomas Egerton, Earl of Wilton, the some time " Admir- 

 able Crichton " of the sporting world, the best all-round sportsman 

 that England has seen since the death of (xeorge Osbaldeston, 

 was the last of the old school, idtimus Roinorioriirny and by his 

 recent death was severed the final link which bound the present 

 generation to that race of giants, of whom it may be safely pre- 

 dicated that we shall never see their like again. The subject of our 

 memoir was the second son of the first Marquis of Westminster, 

 by Eleanor I^ady Egerton, only surviving daughter of the first Earl 

 of Wilton. He was born at Millbank House, Westminster, on the 

 30th of December, 1799, was sent to school at Westminster, and 

 completed his studies at Christ Church, Oxford. Whilst he was 

 yet a boy at school, in 1814, he inherited the title and estates of 

 his maternal grandfather. Seven years later he took the name 

 of Egerton, in yAace of Gfrosvenor, and married Lady Mary 

 Margaret Stanley, the only surviving child of the marriage between 

 the twelfth Earl of Derby and Miss Farren the celebrated actress. 

 At a very early stage of his career. Lord Wilton showed that he 

 possessed, in no common degree, that hereditary love of racing 

 for which the house of Grrosvenor had so long been famous. Gifted 

 by nature with a figure which enabled him to ride lighter than 

 most of the gentlemen jockeys of that age, I^ord Wilton had ad- 

 vantages which few of his companions in arms could be said to 

 enjoy : he was what is technically called a natural horseman, and, 

 having enormous practice with his father's stud, soon developed into 

 the most accomplished and skilful gentleman jockey of his time. 

 In 1827 Lord Wilton established, at his seat near Manchester, the 

 Heaton Park Meeting, which was the chief arena of his exploits, 

 and numberless were the races which he won there and at Croxton 

 Park. " On the first institution of Heaton Park Eaces," says a 

 well-known deceased 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 mischief that 

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

 in future no person should be admitted without 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 custom- 

 ary acuteness, that whatever vehicle would carry was of necessity a 

 carriage, and, therefore, that their carts were admissable. This state 

 of things continued till 1835, when professionals were allowed to ride 

 with the gentlemen jockeys; tickets of admission were dispensed 

 with, and the meeting assumed larger proportions. Among those 

 horses on which Lord Wilton then most particularly distinguished 

 himself was Chancellor, with whom he beat Mr. Osbaldeston, on 

 Catharina, and several others for Mr. King's Cup. With Miss 



