Royal Ascot ^ 



on the decline ; the stakes had been getting fewer in 

 number, and the entries considerably less ; the race ground 

 had produced only ^^350 towards the fund, and there were 

 indications of the whole meeting ultimately going to ruin. 

 When, therefore public attention was called to the niatter 

 in 1836, and the Press look up the cry, a movement of 

 advance was indispensable, and improvements and additions, 

 both from the authorities and well-wishers of the meeting 

 were promulgated. The King himself took the matter in 

 hand, and the annual dinner to the Jockey Club was made 

 the occasion for a full discussion regarding the Ascot race 

 meeting. 



The dinner was held on June 8th, 1836, at St. James' 

 Palace, and amongst the company were the Dukes of 

 Portland, Rutland, Grafton, Argyll, and Beaufort ; the 

 Marquises of Hertford, Tavistock, Conyngham, Graham, 

 and Exeter ; the Earls of Lichfield, Errol, Wilton, Jersey, 

 Albemarle, Verulam, Chesterfield, and Uxbridge ; Lords 

 Wharncliffe, George Bentinck, Lowther, Orford, Frederick 

 FitzClarence, Villiers, Charles Manners, and J. Fitzroy ; the 

 Honourable Mr. Byng ; Sirs John Shelley, William Free- 

 mantle, and Andrew Barnard ; Generals Grosvenor and 

 Upton ; Colonels Peel and Anson ; Captain Crosby ; 

 Messrs. Thornhill, Sloane Stanley, and Charles Greville. 

 The latter, in his diarv, records that the Kinq; made 

 a speech about himself and the Queen, and the Turf 

 "He told us the Queen was an excellent w^oman, as we 

 all knew, and that of all the societies which he had 

 undertaken, which in his capacity were many and various, 

 we were the most truly British." 



Many and various, too, were the suggestions oft'ered 



72 



