ROMANTIC HISTORY OF NEWMARKET

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 208, 29 May 1926, Page 22

ROMANTIC HISTORY OF NEWMARKET

THE PLAYGROUND OF ROYALTY : PEER’S STRANGE BET

Newmarket, with its contrasts of soaring successes and frightful failures, its curious comedies and terrible tragedies, with its varied types of humanity that congregate there, has, for several centuries, had its own particular place in the social round of English life.

Epsom in the south and Doncaster in the north appeal to the general public with greater force than Newmarket. Ascot and Goodwood have their fashionable traditions to which no racecourse in England can presume to espire. Nevertheless, Newmarket as the headquarters of the Sport of Kings is beyond dispute the hub of the racing universe, and it is thither that all and sundry must needs proceed who have racing business to transact. There are students of antiquity who maintain that the connection between Newmarket and horses dates from a very remote period. This assertion is based on the fact that certain Iceman coins found in the vicinity bear upon them the effigy (of a horse. Many centuries were to pass, however, before anv reliable evidence appeared to demonstrate the relationship of Newmarket with racing. Horse fairs were held there some hundreds of years ago, and with such functions it is but logical to assume that races and matches were associated, for trial by speed has always been the chief method of determining the value of a horse. When James I mounted the throne Newmarket rose into great prominence. The King was not devoted keenly to racing, but he was particularly fond of the chase,' and he built a hunting lodge Mt Newmarket. From that time onwards Newmarket became an important centre in the social world and Royalty were wont to stay .there frequently. Charles I was imprisoned at Newmarket in June, 1647, after lie had fallen into the hands of Cromwell’s army. But the unfortunate King did not display any shame or sorrow, as it is on record that “he was very pleasant and cheerful and takes his recreation dailv at tennis, and delights much in the company of Cornet Joyce.” His son, the Merry Monarch, was delighted with the Heath and its, surroundings, and recognised at once ’’hat it was adapted admirably for the sport of racing, which hid by that date begun to exercise its fascination on the people of the country, highly and lowly placed alike. He went to the length of rebuilding the house in which his father had been incarcerated, and it is not difficult to visualise the gaiety and luxury, the pleasure and the dissipation which must have been associated with the new residence.

Nell Gwvnne oft-times made the journey to Newmarket, and it is impossible to imagine that this fair but frail female would have gone so far. afield were the inducements not alluring out 'of the ordinary. George Villiers, too. was yet another celebrity attracted regularly to Newmarket, • where, perhaps, the speed of the racehorses was I hardly as fast as the life in which he Indulged. Macaulay has left the following record of the days when Newmarket played so prominent a part in the lives of Royalty and their entourage. It presents a very different picture from that which has to be painted nowadays:—"lt was not uncommon for the whole Court and Cabinet to go down there. Jewellers and milliners, players and fiddlers, venal wits and venal beauties, followed in crowds. The streets were made impassable by coach-es-and-six. In the places of public resort, peers flirted with maids of honour, and officers of the Life Guards, all

plumes and gold lace, jostled protcssol3 in trencher caps and black gowns. For on such occasions, the neighbouring University of Cambridge always sent her highest functionaries with loyal addresses, and selected her ablest theologians to preach before the Sovereign and his splendid etinuc. Racing was only one of the many amusements of that festive season On fine mornings there was hunting. ror those who preferred hawking, choice falcons were brought from Holland On rainy days the cockpit was encircled.” William 111. was the next Sovereign to appreciate the possibilities of Newmarket. His name will be remembered alwavs in connection with a distinctly unpleasant episode on the heath He was indulging in his usual equestrian exercise one morning, but seemingly must have been more than ordinarily ill-humoured as the result of his gambling losses the previous night, for, without rhvme or reason, he struck with his whip in no restrained manner a gentleman who happened to be riding in front of him. This unprovoked assault and unkindly act did not tend to make the monarch a very popular personage at Newmarket .The Prince Regent too had views on racing which differed considerably from those held bv the turf authorities, and this resulted in the Prince turning his back on the Heath and transferring l.is affections to Brighton. Theodore Andrea Cook, in “Eclipse and O’Kelly,” points out that in 1753, the Jockey ” Club had already been for twelve months the • tenants of Mr. Errall, in a cofiee-room at Newmarket, and tlie first public mention of the new association, which is to be found in Mr John Pond’s "Sporting Kalendar,” evidently presupposes its familiarity to his readers, for he makes the simple announcement for 1752 of a "contribution free plate by horses the property of noblemen and gentlemen belonging to the Jockev Club.” In 1670 Lord Digby while at Newmarket staked £5O that within sixty minutes he would walk five miles “in puris naturalibus,” without even a pair ■ of shoes on his feet. Strange tq say, no objection to the escapade was taken by the local authorities, and Digby essayed to win t his bet, but failed to do so As he took 30 seconds longer than the hour. In these days, he would scarce have proceeded five yards without falling into the arms of a vigilant member of the constabulary who would nc. be long.in clothing him with a sheet or a blanket and taking him off to. the police station. Highway robberies were then of almost daily occurrence on the road between Newmarket and London. there was, however, one individual who could always pass along this thoroughfare without fear of molestation, and although history records that on one unique occasion he was robbed in error retributii i was made as soon as it was realised that a mistake had been made! This privileged person was the founder of Tattersails.

Few of the tens of thousands who travel yearly to Newmarket to see the racing have any idea at all of the exciting periods through which the little town has passed. Their tlwights are concentrated on the sport that is their immediate objective: perhaps they have neither time nor inclination to dwell on the incidents of the past. I Be that as it may, there is no gainsaying the fact that there are few places in England whch have a more fascinating and intriguing history than Newmarket. the headquarters of the Turf