Gentlemen Riders 



COLONEL HARFORD 



About the year 1870 there was no regiment in the Service 

 which could boast of a better supply of amateur horsemen, 

 every one of them far above the average, than the Scots 

 Guards : Colonel G. W. Knox, familiarly known as " Curly," 

 Lord Charles Innes Ker, Viscount Melgund (Mr. Roily), now 

 the Earl of Minto, and last — but not least — Colonel Harford, 

 being every one of them names to conjure with in races over 

 a country and on the flat, military or otherwise. 



The only son of Mr. Frederic Paul Harford, D.L., of 

 Down Place, Windsor, the subject of our memoir was born in 

 1841, and in 1893, soon after joining the Scots Guards, with a 

 view to perfecting himself in the art of race-riding, placed him- 

 self in the hands of old Ben Land, at that time training at Ascot, 

 and so apt a pupil did he become, that in a very brief space 

 of time, *' Lummy " Harford, as he is familiarly known to his 

 friends, was riding with great success at the various meetings 

 round London, such as Croydon, Bromley, and Kingsbury. 



Colonel Harford made his first appearance in a Grand 

 National field in 1867, when Cortolvin won, on which occasion 

 he rode Captain Brabazon's King Arthur (10 St. 3 lbs.), who, 

 though starting favourite at 5 to i, was done with soon after 

 entering the country the second time. 



In 1869 (The Colonel's year), he steered Harcourt for Mr. 

 Eaton. The horse, however, was not so good as his rider, 

 and finished absolutely last. 



In view of the fact that two brother Guardsmen, Captain H. 

 Coventry and Colonel G. W. Knox respectively, had previously 

 figured to advantage on our old friend Alcibiade, who was 



190 



