1773 THE LOEDS 53 



The first Earl's membership of the Jockey Club is 

 handsomely proved (to mention no other evidence) by 

 his winning a Jockey Club Plate in 1773 with the 

 celebrated Conductor (son of Matchem, and one of the 

 1 cracks ' of the ' Stud Book ' as well as of the Turf) ; 

 and, whether he raced alone or in partnership with 

 Lord Clermont, he was great both at post and pad- 

 dock (especially as owner of Miss Osmer [dam of the 

 Duke of Cumberland's Blunderer and Sir H. Fether- 

 stone's Tortoise] and of the Shepherd's Crab mare, 

 that was the dam of Charon, Leonidas, Premier, 

 Velocity, Jerker, and Bacchanal). The Earl's family 

 supplied not only the Turf with horses but the Church 

 with bishops (notably a Bishop of Drcmore and sub- 

 sequently of Meath). 



Of Lords Gower there are two on the list ; both 

 the first Earl (the original owner of the famous Gower 

 stallion, a son of the Godolphin Arabian, and inferior 

 to few, if any, sires of his own or any other time), 

 and the second Earl, Granville, first Marquess of 

 Stafford, grandfather of the late Earl Granville. The 

 first Earl of Gower won the very first Jockey Club 

 Plate in 1753 with Beau Clincher, and died in 1754. 

 The second (born 1721, died 1802), who sat in the 

 House of Commons as Viscount Trentham, and was 

 afterwards Lord Privy Seal, Lord Chamberlain, and 

 Lord President of the Council, and some time Master 

 of the Horse, came into possession of his father's (the 

 first Earl's) horses and ran Clio, by the Gower stal- 



