42 



ashgill; or, the life 



material bearing upon the splendid integrity which 

 thereafter marked the conspicuous career of her most 

 celebrated son. " Young Johnnie," after his schooldays, 

 began to work and ride in earnest. There were eleven 

 of a family all told, brother William, born in 1829, being 

 the eldest; the future Mrs. Abdale being the second, 

 and John, as already recorded, the third. Then there 

 was the future Mrs. Barrow; Philip and Eobert, who 

 died; the future Mrs. Ridley; George, destined to 

 become a clergyman; the two sisters, who afterwards 

 became Mrs. George Dawson and Mrs. Chaloner; the 

 youngest brother being Philip, now practising as a 

 solicitor at Sheffield. 



In the autumn of 1844, old John Osborne bought 

 Annette, by Priam, with Agnes, by Clarion, at her 

 feet. This deal, small in its way at the time, has had 

 a most important bearing upon the history of the 

 English thoroughbred, as Agnes — " Old Agnes," as she 

 was afterwards called — may justly be regarded as the 

 veritable tap root of the great " Agnes " family. 

 Annette's dam was by Don John, out of Moll in the 

 Wad, by Hambletonian. The price of Annette and her 

 foal, Agnes, was twenty guineas or thereabouts, the 

 seller and owner being Mr. Minor, a Shrewsbury 

 gentleman. Agnes was tried in the autumn with 

 Cranbrook, and found useful. She ran twice at 

 Newmarket in the Cesarewitch week, and twice in the 

 Houghton week as a two-year-old. " Old John " 

 fancied her very much for the Nursery in the Houghton 

 week, but she failed to realise expectations, her failure 

 to run up to the home trial being explained by her 

 being found amiss at the end of the week. Agnes's 

 career ended with her two-vear-old nmning. 



