42 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



credited to Mr. Padwick was the one gained by 

 Virago ; but he had a half-share in Andover, who, 

 in Mr. Gully's name, won the Derby of 1 8 54. 



Mr. John Gully, an occasional visitor at 

 Michel Grove and Findon, was a remarkable man, 

 and a very prominent figure on the Turf. Born 

 at Bristol in 1783, he went to London when still 

 in his teens, became an inmate of the Debtors* 

 Prison, was ** bought out '* in order that he might 

 take part, as a principal, in a prize fight, became 

 successively the champion pugilist, a publican 

 in the neighbourhood of Lincoln's Inn Fields, 

 a bookmaker and commission agent, an owner 

 of racehorses, a big property owner, a colliery 

 proprietor, and Member of Parliament for Ponte- 

 fract, near to which borough — at Ackworth, 

 where he lies buried — he lived for a time. 



Mr. Gully's horses went to Danebury when 

 those of Lord George Bentinck were removed. 

 There the Days won him the Two Thousand 

 with The Ugly Buck, the Derby with Pyrrhus 

 the First, and the Oaks with Mendicant. The 

 two last-named animals were owned jointly by 

 Gully and Day. Mendicant, when a four-year- 

 old, was sold to Sir Joseph Hawley for ;^30oo 

 or thereabouts, and bred for him the Derby 

 winner Beadsman. As for Pyrrhus the First 

 he begat the brilliant Virago, but his other off- 

 spring were not of much account, and eventually 

 he was sold to go to France. 



