AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 53 



* Your correspondent further stated : ' Mr. 

 Plummer let the mare to Mr. Heseltine, and her 

 unlooked-for success caused one of those worthy 

 gentlemen (the Messrs. John and Francis Plummer) 

 to take heart disease, which was subsequently the 

 cause of his death. This information is ' backed 

 up ' by other two old stagers who knew Mr. 

 Plummer, his mare, and Messrs. Heseltine personally.' 

 Now, to prove that this is merely romance, let 

 me state the facts. Mr. John Plummer was 

 killed by a fall from his horse in 1846. Alice 

 Hawthorn was foaled in 1838, and therefore the heart 

 disease fable will hardly hold water in this case. On 

 the death of Mr. John Plummer in 1846, Alice 

 Hawthorn and two or three other animals belonging 

 to him were sent up to TattersalTs and did not evoke a 

 bid. ' Alice ' and the others then became the joint 

 property of the late Alderman Benjamin Plummer, of 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Mr. Francis Plummer. The 

 former died in 1889 and the latter in 1891. These facts 

 still further explode the ' heart disease ' romance. 

 Alice Hawthorn, after the Tattersalls' failure, was 

 jointly retained by the late Mr. Anthony Nichol, of 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne (owner of Warlock, The Wizard, 

 and Newminster), and Alderman Benjamin Plummer, 

 though she was still under Mr. Francis Plummer's 

 fostering care at his place at Layerthorpe Grove, York." 



Mr. W. R. Plummer, M.P., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, 

 son of the late Alderman Plummer, and nephew 

 of the late Messrs. Francis and John Plummer, 

 doubts the statement that Alice Hawthorn was 

 leased to the Heseltines for her racing career; 

 his opinion is that they only trained her. Mr. 

 W. R. Plummer, who is naturally proud of his 



