MATTHEW DAWSON.

Otago Witness, Issue 956, 16 May 1889, Page 25

MATTHEW DAWSON.

(Sporting Life.)

I With the exception of the late John ScqMj in past times and of John Porfcar at the present day, there has been no member'of the training profession who has attained such eminence and .distinction, ror achieved so ample a measure of success in his art, as the ; subject of this paper, the chief of the famous establishment known at Newmarket — and perhaps half the world over-^as HeathjHouße» . Mr Matthew Dawson is ,one of four brothers,' j the sons of Mr George Dawson, of Gullane». a small place in Haddingtonshjre, N.Bj, : on I the Frith of Forth. The house inhabited by the elder Dawson, himself a trainer, in which these four brothers, all destined to jbecome ■ famous in the similar walks of life* firstsavr the light was still standing not many years ago, if it is not now, and was prettily situated at the foot of the hill under the old .lighthouse, within view of the Bass Rock and the woods of Dirleton sweeping down to the very beach, and opposite, across the Forth, the hills, of Fife. This establishment,, with its stables and grounds, was the leading training quarters for Scottish sportsmen in the days when Mr Ramsay and his horses — Inheritor, Lanercost, The Doctor, &c. — were among the), most} notable names in the Land, o' Cakes, The four brothers — Thomas; Joseph, John, , and Matthew—each in course of time estabi lished himself on his, own , account as a trainer — Tom, the elder, first at^Belleisle, and afterwards, and until his death a few yeais bac^ at Tupgill, Middleham, and the others j at different places, but ultimately converging ;to Newmarket. Each of the brothers, itoo, in turn has been identified with some of the most famous and distinguished horses o£ [ modern times— Thomas, first with Lanercost;, ; The Hadji, Ellerdale, and Ellington;: Joseph , with! Prince Charlie; and John, with Galopin t not to mention many more which cpnsidera- - tions of space, however, forbidi Confining ourselves, then, to the dojings. of the most accomplished and successful of the fraternal ■ quartette, brother Mat, we find that about 50 ' years ago he was serving as, head stable' lad to his father t who then trained for Lord, Kelburne, afterwards the well-known and ' somewhat eccentric Earl of Glasgow, whby amorig the many trainers he subsequently employed, tried both our subject's' brothers, Thomas and Joseph, but never, so far as we are aware, retained Matthew himself. As