TATTERSALL'S.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1441, 25 July 1865, Page 3

TATTERSALL'S.

From the Sporting Magazine of April we take the following original article of " Castor's" on the old and new Tatteraall's. The new establishment has but just been opened with great rfcfcii, and who is there, scarcely, that does not remember the old one ? " Messrs. Tattorsall have the honour to inform the public that, on and after Monday, the 10th of April, the weekly saloa by auction will tako placo in their new establishment, wear Albort-ffftto, Hyde Park, and the premises at Hyde Parkcorner will bo closed."

*< Wo borrow the above announcement the heading of the last catalogue we took or the desk at the Corner, and thus gather officially that the nincty-and-nine years, which or signing would seem to sound like an eternity have really run out. And what, moreover ranks the expiration of this term as yet mor< remarkable is, the little or no change whicl has occurred in the conduct of the busmesi since its first establishment. We have stil the llichard and Edmund Tattersall, the only two family names who ever dropped the hammer over a lot at the Corner, lhere 11 still the same dealing for horses on one side and the laying of wagers on the other; the same motley group of sporting characteri who have made this their head-quarters for the last century, with, it is grateful to add the same unabated confidence in those undei whose auspices, as a very birthright, the Higr Change of Horseflesh is administered. It may be as useful as interesting in the first instance to trace out, on the text work of that suggestive inscription, Established 1766, as written on the corner stone of the new building, the rise and progress of a firm so famous ai to convey in its very title to the uttermost ends of the earth its purpose and associations. The French exquisite has been taught to his Tat-ter-shall's as the A B C of his initiation into the mysteries of the Turf, or the glories of the chase; the more solid German rolls over the same Open Sesame! in deep heavy gutterals, flavouring the talismanic syllables with cloud-compelling incense from the well-bronzed bowl of his mighty pipe: while the Yankee speculator drawls over the good stroke of business the very echo convey! to his mind, as he washes it down with s brandy-snap, or some other such curiouslyfavoured a cocktail. Nay, we believe the wild lorseman of the prairie may have some notiot )f sending his nag to Tattersall's, after a par;icularly fast thing with the buffalo ; or the reclining at the door of his tent, calmly jalculate what the Pride of the Desert might nake if booked for a box on " Monday next. Fortune, too, favours us in the design to tell >ut the story of the new home of the high nettled; for the life of the first Mr. Tatterlall was written by a member of the Jockey 21ub, from whose memoir we may gathei nany a valuable fact; and, in the first place. is to the origin and opening of the concern in [766:—"Although there were occasional tales by auction of horses at the time when tfr. Tattersall commenced his business, yet here was no regular repository nor fixed sales at stated periods. This was an in:onvenience felt by the public, and paricularly by those who had studs of raceiorses. Mr. Tattersall, who was well tnown to the gentlemen of the Turf and ;o the horse-dealers, offered his services as an luctioneer, and solicited their patronage U?rd Grosvenor warmly espoused him, and juilt for him those extensive and commodious jremises at Hyde Park-corner, where he lied, and where the business was carried oe jy his son, who was for some years in part lership with him. His success was astonishngly rapid, and continued so till the last. He soon enlarged the premises, and built stands 'or carriages, which were sold by private :ontract ; as well as kennels for hounds and >ther dogs, which were sold by public auction ie converted part of his house into a tavern md coffee-house, and fitted up two of the nost elegant rooms in London, for the use of ;he Jockey Club, who held their meetings here for some years. He allotted another ipartment to the use of the bettors, or, as hey are sometimes called, the gamblers. II vas supported by a subscription of a guines )e r annum from each member, and was callec ike * • " Here the gentlemen of the turf assemblee :very to lay wagers on the events o: listant races ; and here they met to pay ane •eceive the money won and lost what ar< jailed country races, in contradistinction t< be races at Newmarket. His sales were noi •onfined to Hyde Park-corner ; he constantly ittended the Newmarket meetings, anc ;he races at York, where he had contiderable employment, and thereby kepi ip his connexions with the jockeys 11 lifferent parts of the kingdom, whe sent their horses to him from every quarqt. His house became at length a kmc >f exchange, and he was the medium by whict ;he lucrative traffic in race-horses anc lounds was carried on, not only in thu .ountry, but in Ireland, France, America ind the West India Islands." Of course, H oust not be assumed that the many rammcaions of this establishment were broached in ,he outset; but it is remarkable as creditable ,o the ability and industry of the founder hat all the great features of Tattersall t vere developed during his life-time, and n a period of less than thirty years or he died in February, 1795 The iccommodation for the Jockey Club wa! nost probably a subsequent part of the plan, is was certainly the betting-room; Mr. tichard Tattersall, indeed, in a conversatior ve recently had with him, putting the date o he subscription-room at somewhere aboul iVhisker's year, 1815, although from that we lave quoted, it was clearly earlier, and, is we have just stated, an idea earned to effect by Mr. Tattersall This rentleman had gradually introduced himlelf to the patrons of the Turf by the ,rivate purchase of studs upon specuation. and " his first adventure in this way vas in Scotland. Having heard that a Scotch iobleman'B stud was to be sold there, he ap>lied to a friend to go his halves in the purIhase, and he bought the greater part of them or a trifle. Upon bis return he sold a few ai fork for more money that the whole cost, )f the remainder he made several hundred >cunds at Newmarket and in London. Havng thus acquired a little capital, he soon inT ea»ed it by the same means, as weU as by tis business at Hyde Park-corner. But the late of his great rise must be marked it the period when he bought Highflyer, by ib ch, in every way, he cleared «W«o inwards This horse was bred by Lord 3olingbroke, who did many acts of singula! cindness to Mr. Tattersall. His lordship s af■airs were at this time exceedingly embarrassed md his health was declining very fast. As he va g unable to attend himself, Mr. Tattersal vent to Lichfield, to see Highflyer run for th ECing's Plate. He was then extremely out ol •ondition, but he won easily. Mr. Tattersal iturned bought him for £800, and imme liately a'dvertistd him as a stallion. Manj ette/racers have been beat, though he neve vas because he met with no competitors o 'plubritv and did not run more than eight imes He was, however, a fine, large, well ,red horse, and had many mares sent to hm he firstyear. Fortunately, some of the ear he ® ,red turned out well, which increased tb mmber of mares sent to him, as well as the for each He was unquestionably £ tna\ Stter and became the sire ol iSTta «»y itallion ot 1,1. or rjore ' Great as was the ,er s! P ariS from the service of Highflyer, it ,roflt arising irom int that ari9in j the saTe of Ws colts and fillies. Mr Tftttersall bought as many well-bred mares Tattersall ooug sometimes imposed 18 n b^at furnished with a lpon,but atiengtn nob i em an in the ltud ue sold everything, and left it to cingdom. He soiu ee j »t0 rigk their ;hose who had bough Hiirhflvtr. He money upon the progeny neighbour°"b,Tn—s iood of JNewmarKet, Ba which ible place offered called dißtant thir . idjoms the town of Ey,^ et It ig one 0 f een miles west of Ne ncr i an d, consisting he completest farms in 8 xce u en t grass it surrounded by Littleport Fen. consisting deßt itute ie occupied ; but as he ]og( . money $ " feS. BafTi. bourne tout,

* The Hammer and Highflyer!' which bo always gavft after dinner, paid for all j and he subsequently purchased another small estate in Lancashire, which had formerly been the property of one of his ancestors." Highflyer, let us say here was foaled in 1774, and purchased by Mr. Tatteriall in 1779, consequently some years after the establishment of the business at Hyde Park corner ; while the great success of the breeding stud is thus logically accounted for: —" With the large stud of mares ho had procured, and the celebrity of Highflyer, he found a ready sale for the produce. But the circumstance that contributed above all others to his almost engrossing the market was, that he never trained or tried a colt or Ally. There were many other gentlemen and noblemen who sometimes sold a part of their young stock, but they were always suspected to have been tried, and therefore inferior to those that were retained. Mr. Tattersall's was an open, unqualified sale, where persons might purchase all or any part without reservation, and where every person had an equal chance of procuring the best. The produce of several mares was often engaged for years to come, at the price of 150 guiness the colt, and seventy guineas the Ally, t« be delivered in the October next after the

time of foaling. They were generally in very good order, as his paddocks and lodges were peculiarly convenient for the purpose. If any remained unsold the first year, they were always brought to Newmarket the next, and sold by auction without reserve. At these sales it frequently happened that some were sold for fourteen or fifteen guineas, which were equal to those that had been sold the year before, by private contract, at five or six times the price. He often declared, when he put them up to auction, that if there were no bidders he would order them to be unhaltered and turned loose on the spot, and that they should become the property of those who first become possessed of them ! " How forcibly this reminds one of the manner of his grandson, the late Mr. Richard Tattersal!,' and the straightforward, energetic way in which he would discountenance any underhahd doings being attempted in his yard. The first of the Tattersalls made one other venture, which was by no means so successful as his auctions at the Corner or

his stud at High-flyer-hall, and this was the purchase of a newspaper "He had occasion to advertise the sale of horses daily ; and it was not difficult to prove to him that in this way he could gain some hundreds a-year by advertisements. The Morning Post was at that time in a very flourishing state, and he farmed all the shares of the different proprietors." But as he knew nothing whatever of the conduct of such a ticklish concern as a fashionable journal, rather prone to showing up the swells of those times, it is not surprising to find there was a deal more loss than profit attached to the Post, although " it was with great difficulty that his son prevailed upon him to part with it and the English Chronicle, which was then his property." In these and the other daily papers his death was thus announced On the 21st of February, 1795, in the seventy-first year of his age, died, at Hyde Park-corner, the celebrated Mr. Tattersall, of Highflyerhall, near Ely, who, by his judgment in horses, had acquired great affluence, which he employed in the most benevolent manner, rendering himself much respected by all classes of the community." He was succeeded by his son Edmund, who had for some years been in partnership ; but he only held the business for half the term which his father had it, as he died in January, 1810. Mr. Edmund, moreover, sold the breeding stud immediately on Its coming into his sole possession, and " had never any delight in racehorses, but preferred hunting and auctioneering to the Turf." The same might in turn have been well written of his son, the late Mr. Richard Tattersall, who had something like a positive prejudice against the business of raoing, while he was passionately fond of hunting, and as devoted to the duties of his own profession. Still he re-established the breeding stud at Dawley, near London, for which he purchased The Colonel and Glaucus, and where a yet better stallion, Sir Hercules, also stood for some seasons, with plenty of brood mares for the foreigners or other i bnyers to pick from. His partner and brother, the late Mr. Edmund Tattersall, indulged in a 'similar hobby at Willesden, with Harkaway and The Libel as lords of the harem; but the Dawley Farm was given up many years since, and the Willesden establishment #n the decease of Mr. Edmund Tattersall, in 1851. As we wrote of this gentleman at the time of his decease, " a more truly amiable or better man is seldom found, rejoicing in doing good by stealth, and persevering in a course of unostentatious but well-directed charity. He was also a good sportsman, and a regular man, and fearlws rider during the Lord Derby and • Jonathan' days in Surrey." The firm had for some time previous to this been known as R. and E. Tattersall and Son; but a nephew, the present Mr. Edmund Tattersall, succeeded his uncle and namesake, and on the decease of the senior partner, Mr. Richard Tattersall, in July, 1858, the conduct of the business was left to. his son Richard and his nephew Edmund, the present representatives of the house. It will thus be gathered that the late Mr. Richard Tattersall was at the head of the business for nearly fifty years, taking the leading place at twenty-five, and only resigning his active share of employment two or three seasons previous to his death, which occurred in the seventy-third year of his age. As every one knows, the second Richard Tattersall did all justice to the position which his father had created, while his mantle again has fallen upon shoulders, in his son, the present Mr. Richard Tattersall.

with a fit. A forcible entrance was made, when the unfortunate gentleman was found . with his throat cut in a frightful manner, and a razor smeared with blood, with which he had inflicted the injury, close by his side. Medical assistance was at once sent for, and everything that humanity or surgical skill could devise was done to save the officer's life, but he survived only two hours. From the medical evidence given at the inquest on the body, it appeared that the admiral's Bftnity had for some time been in a critical Btate owing to severe over study, but that he expressed ft horror of being even accidentally accessory to taking away his own life. A verdict of insanity was returned. The Road-hill Murder.—Another chapter has been added to the Road-hill tragedy, the proceedings in relation to which at Bow street Police office appeared among the "Latest Intelligence" in our last. Miss Constance Kent was brought a few days ago before the magistrates at Trowbridge, and an sxtraordinary scene took place. Miss Green ind the Reverend Mr. Wagner, of Brighton, were called. The former, at the commencement of her examination, hoped the bench ivould not, press her to divulge private matters which had be6n confided to her in the capacity of a mother acting confidentially to a laughter, and; the Reverend Mr. Wagner, (Vhen called, positively refused to make known .That had been confided to him in confession. The questions of the magistrates, however, ilicited these facts:—Miss Kent, three weeks icfo, confessed to Mr. Wagner that she had nurdered her brother. Miss Green having leard of this sent for her, and pointed out to ler the sin of which she had been guilty. Vfiss Kent then confessed that she took her jrother from his cot while sleeping, carried lira out of the house by the drawing-room vindow, and murdered him in the wateriloset. The deed was committed with a ■azor which she had stolen from her father's Iressing-case. She was in her night-dress, ind admitted that she afterwards stole one of ;he night-dresses from the dirty clothes jasket, as hinted at in the evidence. Further letails were of course prevented from being nade public by the resolution to which Miss Sreen and Mr. Wagner had arrived. The jench, however, committed the prisoner "or trial at the next Wiltshire Assizes, which will be held at Salisbury. The calm deneanour of the prisoner never once gave way luring the whole of the protracted investigaiion, though the greatest excitement prevailed n court. Constance Kent has, it is affirmed, lince her committal, and in the presence of Vlr. Rodway, the solicitor to the family, Lsserted to her father that she obtained poslession of the night-dress which was found in :he flue and was afterwards missing, and >urned it in her bedroom. When her father vent to see her at the gaol she was writing, )ut on his entrance she rose and met nun, tindly, but afterwards burst into tears. She vas sinking, but her father caught her in lis arms. She also stated that the wound in ;he side of the deceased child was inflicted jy her with her father's razor, and in thrustng the deadly weapon into the body she enleavoured to implant it in the heart. The nterview was of a most painful character, jut the prisoner was more composed than her ! ather. On parting she embraced him, and jersisted that the course she had adopted was lue to him and her God. It is asserted that Miss Kent will be tried in London instead of Wiltshire, the venue being changed under the Palmer Act on account of local prepossessions. It is rumoured that criminal proceedngs in respect of this crime are about o be instituted against some persons )ther than the prisoner. Mr. Woods, solicitor ;o the Rev. A. D. Wagner, writes to a conemporary as follows: —" It is quite true that Vliss Kent received a sum of money on her :oming of age in the early part of the present rear. A considerable portion of this sum, [ am informed by Mr. Wagner, she wished to ipply towards the charities of St. Mary a lospital, but he declined to receive it. On ;he evening of the day before Miss Kent left Brighton a sum of between £700 and £800 was found in one of the alms-boxes of St. Paul's Church, and Mr. Wagner has since iscertained that it was placed there (though vithout his knowledge) by Miss Kent. This noney is the London and County retained only until its jroper applitajjon shall have been determined >y Sir George Grey. ■