Gentlemen Riders 



nobleman of world-wide fame who figures as the subject of 

 this chapter. 



The Honourable Thomas Grosvenor, second son of Robert, 

 Earl Grosvenor and Marquis of Westminster, was born at 

 Millbank House, Westminster, on December 30th, 1799, 

 succeeding to the title of Earl of Wilton in 1814. 



Like many a good sportsman before and since, he received 

 his earlier education at Westminster, thence going to Christ- 

 church ; where he soon made a name for himself, not only as 

 a horseman, but as a man of superior attainments such as is 

 seldom met with. It is not too much to say, indeed, that had 

 Lord Wilton been born a poor man, and obliged to work for 

 his living, his skill as a surgeon and musician was such that 

 it was quite in his power to have gained both fame and fortune 

 in either capacity had he willed it. 



A better description of the " wicked earl " than the following 

 oft-quoted lines from " the Chaunt of Achilles," written and 

 published in 1838, and generally attributed to the late Mr. 

 Bernal Osborne, could not well be : — 



" Next upon switch-tailed bay with wandering eye 

 Attenuated Wilton canters by ; 

 His character how difficult to know ! 

 A compound of psalm tunes and Tally-ho ; 

 A forward rider, half inclined to preach, 

 Though less disposed to practise than to teach ; 

 An amorous lover with a saintly twist. 

 And now a jockey, now an organist," 



In 1827, by which time Lord Wilton was at the zenith 

 of his fame as a flat-race rider, he inaugurated a race meeting 

 at Heaton Park, his seat near Manchester, where for the ten 

 years it flourished he rode continuously, most of his mounts 

 being the cream of the powerful Whitewall Stable, amongst 

 them being Touchstone, who, when at his best, no jockey but 

 himself could hold. 



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