Mr. G. S. Thompson 



However true this might be, and no doubt is, in the 

 majority of cases, it certainly could not apply to the famous 

 gentleman rider named above, there being few jockeys of 

 his time, we take it, who would have cared to give much — if 

 any — weight away to Mr. George Thompson when in the 

 zenith of his fame. 



The son of the late Mr. H. S. Thompson of Fairfield, in 

 York, the subject of our memoir was born in 1833, and 

 received his education, first at Dr. Sharpe's Academy at 

 Doncaster, which had a great reputation at the time for 

 the number of scholars it produced, and afterwards at Eton, 

 where his favourite pursuits were football and boating. In 

 the latter amusement his light weight and steady hand and 

 eye made him a capital coxswain, and he still points with 

 pride to the silver rudders won by the crews under his 

 guidance. It was originally intended that, after Eton, Mr. 

 Thompson should join the Army ; but the idea was subse- 

 quently abandoned in favour of the life of a country gentle- 

 man, for which, from the nature of his pursuits, he was so 

 eminently fitted. 



Under ordinary circumstances we should now go on to 

 relate how about this period saw the commencement of the 

 riding career which has since become historical, but that in 

 so doing, we should certainly lose our reputation for accuracy 

 on which we pride ourselves, inasmuch that, as a matter of 

 fact, incredible though it may appear, Mr. Thompson rode and 

 won his first race when he was but seven years old ; and a 

 very pretty little story it makes; quite as interesting as Jack 

 and the Bean Stalk, or any other nursery favourite, with 

 the additional merit of being true. 



It appears that the day previous to a little private meeting 

 which used to be held on Rawcliffe Ings, a gentleman 



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