348 THE QUORN HUNT 



time it must be remembered that Lord Wilton never rode bad 

 horses ; he never professed to lead the field or hold a good place 

 on a raw four-year-old or a poor fencer. In his best stud-groom, 

 Thomas Godwin, he had a most valuable servant, for not only 

 did he turn out his horses in excellent condition, but he saw to 

 the schooling of as many as did not quite know their business. 

 Godwin was born in 1 786, and when he was past work, was 

 pensioned off at Heaton Park, where for some time, during the 

 era of the Heaton Park Races, he had cleared the course and 

 acted as starter. Lord Wilton sent for him to stay at Egerton 

 Lodge, and there the old man breathed his last. The Heaton 

 Park Meeting Lord W T ilton established in his own domain in 1827 ; 

 and he was himself a most capable jockey, equal to holding his 

 own against most of those so-called amateur riders of that day, 

 when rules were less stringent than it has since been found 

 necessary to make them. As an instance of Lord Wilton's 

 prowess in the saddle, it may be mentioned that between the 

 years 1843 and 1861 he won the Granby Handicap at Croxton 

 Park on seven occasions. 



On the death of Lord Yarborough the Earl of Wilton was 

 elected Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron. His first 

 yacht was the Zarifa, originally a slave schooner ; Lord Wilton, 

 after using her for some seasons, sold her to go to Russia, and 

 she was wrecked at Sebastopol. His next yacht bore the same 

 name as the first, and selling her to a Liverpool merchant, he 

 built the Zara on the lines of the America, and then, like many 

 another yachtsman, he abandoned sail power for steam, his last 

 ship being the steam yacht Palatine. The "Chaunt of Achilles" 

 noted the many-sidedness of this great sportsman, and makes 

 mention of the fact that he was among other things an organist. 

 The Chaunt was written about the year 1836, and whether Lord 

 Wilton was accustomed then, as he did in the late fifties and 

 early sixties, to play the anthem at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, 

 during the London season, I do not know. Under Lord Derby's 

 administration, Lord Wilton twice held the post of State Steward 

 to the Queen. Thomas Grosvenor, second Earl of Wilton, was 

 the second son of Robert, second Earl Grosvenor, and first 

 Marquis of Westminster, and of his wife Lady Eleanor, only 

 daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Wilton. Upon the death of 

 his maternal grandfather in 1814, the Hon. Thomas Grosvenor 

 succeeded to the title of Earl of Wilton, and he enjoyed the 

 possession of the estates for a period of sixty-eight years. In 



