Gentlemen Riders 



of the Turf; as Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron of 

 England ; as within his own orbit an agreeable and accom- 

 plished man ; and finally, the most excellent all-round sports- 

 man that these islands have ever produced." 



Mr. CHARLES BEVILL 



In the early seventies there was no more regular attendant at 

 the meets of the Whaddon Chase Foxhounds and Baron 

 Rothschild's staghounds, not forgetting the Duke of Grafton's, 

 the Oakley, and the Hertfordshire, whenever within reach, 

 than the late Mr. Charles Bevill. Familiar though his presence 

 was to all, it is more than probable that few of the younger 

 followers of the hunts just mentioned were aware that the 

 white-whiskered gentleman, always admirably mounted, whose 

 invariable custom it was to give his horse a preliminary canter 

 at the meet before the hounds were laid on, or before moving 

 off to draw for a fox, as the case might be, and who, as many 

 of them had found from personal experience, wanted a good 

 deal of catching when hounds were running hard over the vale, 

 had in former years been one of the best steeplechase riders 

 of his day, and quite capable of holding his own in the very 

 best of company, the leading spirits in which were such 

 celebrities as Jim Mason, Tom Olliver, Captain Broadley, 

 and other good men and true. 



Though he had, of course, ridden in many other steeple- 

 chases of more or less importance, it was not until 1 847, when 

 Matthew won (the first Irish horse to do so), that we find Mr. 

 Bevill having a mount in the Grand National, on which 



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