Gentlemen Riders 



Valley, and as it looked like taking some time, " The Driver" 

 begged an equerry to get permission from the Duke for him 

 to leave early in order to fulfil his engagement at Sandown. 

 This request — unfortunately, as it turned out — being readily 

 accorded, he galloped off in hot haste down the Long Valley to 

 catch his train, " and this," writes his sorrowing brother " The 

 Gunner," " was the last I saw of poor little ' Driver.' " 



The racing over. Captain Browne, who was unfortunately 

 rather deaf, was crossing from the down to the up platform at 

 Esher Station, to catch the return London train, when, failing 

 to hear the shouts of a horrified porter, he was overtaken by 

 the Exeter express, which came upon him unobserved, and, 

 the buffer of the engine catching him full, he was hurled 

 against the wall of the platform and killed on the spot. 



Apart from those social qualities which made him popular 



wherever he went, it is not too much to say that in the zenith 



of his riding career there was no finer horseman to be found in 



the Service — and very few out of it, if it comes to that — than 



the subject of this memoir, he being quite able to take his own 



part in the best of company, when it came to the test, a fact 



evidently appreciated by that good judge, the late General 



Byrne, the subsequent owner of that celebrated horse Amphion, 



whose colours he donned whenever his services were available. 



A well-known sporting writer of that period, after a glowing 



tribute to "The Driver's "performance in the saddle, concludes 



his remarks as follows : " We may fairly say that there was 



not a more universally popular man in the Service and in 



society generally. Easy tempered, good plucked, and generous 



hearted, he was certainly the pet of the regiment whose motto 



is Ubique, and his loss will be felt in many a garrison town, 



many a ballroom, and nowhere more than in the shires." 



Always ready for a lark, and as full of tricks as a monkey, 



256 



