A RACING PEER.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19466, 13 November 1928, Page 14

A RACING PEER.

LATE EARL OF DURHAM j LONG CAREER ON THE TURF S (PEOil OUB OWN CORRESPONDED.) 1 LONDON, October 2. 2 The turf is all the poorer for the losi 2 of the Earl of Durham, who had bee] \ ill for five months and unconscious fo 2 three days before he passed away a I' his Newmarket home, Harraton House 4 Exning. 3 Lord Durham was one of the famou } | Lambton family, in all of whose rein 3 runs sporting blood. 3 John George Lambton, the thin 5 Earl, was a twin brother of the Hon s F. W. Lambton, and one of a famil: > of thirteen, of whom ten survive. H< t was born on June 19th, 1855, and was ' twenty-four years of age when he sue ' cceded to the earldom. His associationi > with the turf dated back from 1881 i when, following the sporting tradition! ; of the House of Lambton, he register J ed the colours "purple, straw sleeves,' adopted by his father and grandfathei > before him. The turf owes him a debt of gratitude for his work and example | as a racing owner, and as a ptewarc : of the Jockey Club, in the interests o: clean snort; lie was also a keen ridei '• to hounds and an excellent shot, a deei ; , stalker, and big-game hunter. | The New Peer. | The earldom of Durham and tlw ; other titles fall to the late peer's twii: : brother, the Hon. Frederick Willian: i Lambton, who was born a few minutes after the Earl. Formerly in. the Coldstream Guards, the new peer sat as I Liberal M.P. for South Durham from I 1880 to 1885. and on the Home Rule split became n Unionist. He contested soveral constituencies in the North oi England without success, until in 190 C he was returned for South-East Durham, which he represented until the first election of 1910. when lie was defeated. He married in 1879, Miss Beatrix Bulteel, and his elder spn. Captain • John Fred prick Lambton, will now be known as Viscount Lambton. He has two I young sons. Another brother of the late peer is Admiral of the Fleet Sir Hed- ! worth Meux, who assumed the name of Menx in 1911. The birth of the Lambton twin brothers within a few seconds oi each other was one of the romances of the peerage. By the briefest interval of time one brother became Viscount Lambton and heir to an earldom and great estates The younger twin's succession follows in his seventy-fourth I year. A blue ribbon tied round the waist of the first arrival was, it is said, the guarantee that the right heir would come into his own. A Strong Character According to "The Times": As member, and particularly as steward, of the Jockey Club, Lord Durham showed complete indifference to public I opinion or criticism. Not everyone { agreed with him but ever.vone respect- ; ed the unswerving determination with which he said and did whatever he , thought right. In his historic speech ! at the. Gimcrack Club dinner in 1887, i he appealed to the stewards of the Jockey Club to enforce by every possible means a new rule depriving of his license any jockey who owned or had any interest in a racehorse, or directly or indirectly engaged in betting transactions. He spolje frankly of certain horses which had shown ra-and-out running during that season, and appealed to every. man who was fond of real sport to assist in cleansing the Augean stables Mr "Jimmy" Lowther, who was then one of the stewards, confirmed Lord Durham in many particulars, and said that the new rule was drawn up on the principle of curing theft by catching the receivers. The speech caused a great sensation, and led to a libel action against him by a well-known racing owner (Sir George Chetwynd)', in which 20,000 damages were claimed, but only one farthing was awarded, each side to pay its own costs. The speech also brought Lord Durham a challenge to a duel; it showed. at any rate, what would be his i policy when he became a steward him- ! self. It must not be supposed that he I had any sympathy with the faddists. Among farmers he had a good deal of influence, for he had long been actively interested in agriculture. His greatest achievements , were in the breeding and exhibiting of a particularly good type of commercial cattle. The Lambton Castle stock have been prominent at the great winter shows of recent years, and only iast December a black crossbred steer bred and brought out by Lord Durham, took the supreme championship, and the King's Cnp, at the Smithfield Show. This success was foreshadowed by' many other notable triumphs in previous years at Islington, Edinburgh, and Birmingham. He had ; indeed, made a speciality in the blending of the Shorthorn and Aberdeen-Angus breeds, choosing the best strains of both breeds for the purpose, for the production of fat stock show exhibits; and he established a record of successes seldom equalled. As a great territorial landlord, the owner of over 30,000 acres. Lord Durham was active in the interests of his county He was a liberal supporter of the restoration of Durham Castle; and of county charities and institutions, and had served as a county alderman. A Question of Buttons. As a racehorse owner, Lord Durham was not especially successful as regards classic events until Beam carried off the Oaks in June, 1927. Of lesser successes he had his share, getting a double at the Stockton Meeting as recently as August, 1927, winning the Zetland Plate and Lambton Stakes, Lord Durham said trenchant things on many subjects other than racing. "Don't try to be fashionable," he told boys at a prize-giving. "What does it matter if your evening waistcoat has two buttons close together?" ■ Originally a Liberal, Lord Durham seceded from that Party in 1909. He was the owner of coal under 12,000 acres in County Durham, and when he gave evidence before the Coal Commission just after the war, he said that his income from royalties in 1918 was about £35,000. His popularity with northern miners and the people generally was proverbial. He had been Lord Lieutenant of County Durham since 1884, and in 1899 he was Mayor of Durham, setting an example that has Bines been followed by many other peers in their own districts. *' He was also President of the Territorial Association, and displayed great energy during the war in the cause of recruiting and national saving. In 1917 he explained his shabby appearance as due to the fact that he had not bought a new suit since the war started.