A GREAT REVIVAL 99 



I think Wells was the tallest and biggest man I ever 

 saw ride 8 st. 7 lb. He was an extraordinarily good 

 pedestrian, and would bet that he walked eleven miles 

 in two hours with four suits of sweaters on. . . . Wells 

 was a very strong man on a horse, and used to lap his 

 long legs round them at the finish. He always sat well 

 back in his saddle, kept fast hold of the horse's head, and 

 was a very resolute finisher. Take him altogether, he 

 was a good jockey. 



This description is correct. In 1859, Wells, 

 his brother - in - law Ashmall (they married 

 daughters of Tom Taylor, of Bretby), and John 

 Osborne, were involved in a frightful spill at 

 Chester, and were in hospital for some time. It 

 was the general opinion that after that accident 

 Wells was not quite the intrepid rider he had 

 been. Nevertheless, it was admitted that he 

 rode a marvellous finish on Musjid in the Derby 

 that same year. As one authority declared, 

 ** not one jockey out of fifty who cared a straw 

 for his life, would have dashed through the mob 

 of horses that shut him in as he did." Known 

 in the early years of his professional life as 

 " Tiny ** Wells, because of his diminutive stature, 

 he was in later life nicknamed " Brusher." 

 More careful with the money he earned than 

 jockeys generally are, he invested some of his 

 savings in a steel pen factory at Birmingham, and 

 he also made liberal provision for his parents. 



