34 The Life of Fred Archer 
Bloomer, the mare that he had sold to Mr. Cartwright in 
Prestbur}'. 
To Cheltenham Spa after Waterloo came the Duke of 
Wellington and many of his officers, and one of these. Colonel 
(afterwards General) Thomas Charretie, was married in Chelten- 
ham parish church a year after the battle. From that time 
onwards this famous sportsman made Cheltenham his head- 
quarters, and was continually at Prestbury and at the King's 
Arms. He had been an old patron of Oliver's at St. Albans, 
and Black Tom often rode for him at Prestbury and elsewhere. 
On the racecourse the Colonel had his affair of honour with 
Mr. Sanguinetti, and there too his famous horse Napoleon lost 
him his celebrated bet. 
Hither, too, came Jack Mytton with his Longwaist and other 
horses to win the Cheltenham Grand Annual and many other 
races. Mr. Osbaldestone came also, and Major Ormsby Gore 
with Hesperus. At Prestbury, Lottery made such a name that 
subsequent winners of the Cheltenham Grand Annual were 
penalised in the Grand National. 
In later times, on Cleeve Hill, above the village, bonfires 
were lighted to celebrate each of George Stevens's five victories 
in the Grand National, and on the hill between Prestbury and 
Southam a stone marks the place of his tragic death. Close 
to his grave in the cemetery is the place where once a grand- 
stand stood instead of a chapel, and where young William 
Archer, Fred's brother, " a kind and generous-hearted lad," 
was kUled at Cheltenham Races. Lindsay Gordon puts into 
the mouth of George Stevens the first verses of the steeplechase 
riders' classic, " How we Beat the Favourite." 
In Prestbury village, almost under the shadow of the old 
church, stands the King's Arms, the beautiful old hostelry 
where William Archer's wife was born and where her children 
were brought up. Its rough old white walls, black oak 
beams and polished floors are defiant of time, and for more 
than four centuries it has stood, almost foursquare, in the very 
