THE JOCKEY CLUB IN THE DAYS OF CHARLES JAMES FOX. 261 



before both its proceedings and its records become crystallised by the developments 

 at which we are now arriving. It will be remembered that on the day of Queen 

 Anne's death, Her Majesty's horse Star had beaten Merlin, whose owner, then Lord 

 Chamberlain, was created the first Duke of Ancaster by George I. In 1723 this 

 nobleman was succeeded by his son Peregrine, owner of the Ancaster Gentleman, the 

 Ancaster Driver, and other famous horses. The third Duke, who came into the title 

 in 1742, was an original member of the Jockey Club, and became Master of the 

 Horse to George III. His second wife was Mary Panton, of a very famous racing 

 family. His record is preserved in the Stud Book by the name of the Ancaster 

 Starling ; and his interest in breeding is sufficiently evidenced by his owner- 

 ship of the Ancaster Egyptian and the Ancaster Bay Arabian. His son, who 

 volunteered for the fighting in the American colonies, only survived his inheritance 

 for a year, and with him the title became extinct. It is, however, interesting to note 

 that in February, 1902, the claims of the Earl of Ancaster (Baron Willoughby de 

 Eresby) to the office of Lord Great Chamberlain, held by the first Duke, were heard 

 before the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords. The third Duke of 

 Ancaster was succeeded, as Master of the Horse, by the Duke of Northumberland, 

 who, as Sir Hugh Smithson, married Lady Elizabeth Seymour, a daughter of the 

 sixth Duke of Somerset and Lady Elizabeth Percy. The many " Northumberland " 

 Arabians imported by the Duke's agent Mr. Phillips, have been already mentioned, 

 and are a strong evidence of his fitness for membership of a Club which did so much 

 to encourage horse-breeding. He won a Jockey Club Plate in 1764 with Caesario by 

 Matchem, and with Narcissus in the next year. The Duke of Ancaster's brother-in- 

 law, the " polite Tommy Panton " of Newmarket, was, as we have seen, the son of the 

 Keeper of the King's Running Horses who succeeded the famous Tregonwell 

 Frampton in that responsible office, and lived till he was eighty-two. This son 

 enjoyed an even greater longevity, for racing seems to have been a healthy pursuit 

 in those days, though the fact that his sister was a Duchess, and Mistress of the 

 Robes, may no doubt have contributed to the comforts, and even increased the 

 proverbial politeness, of her brother. Mr. Thomas Panton knew his business too, 

 for he won the Derby of 1 786 with Noble by Highflyer, and it was from the Panton 

 Arabian that Hollandaise was descended (through Virago) who won the St. Leger of 

 1778, the first year in which the famous race at Doncaster definitely received 

 that name. 



Scarcely less famous than Tommy Panton was the Hon. Richard Vernon, owner 



