Sir John Lade, Steward of Bath Races

The Bath Races of 1780 were overseen by Sir John Lade as steward. Sir John, who was then 23 years old, was already established as a member of the Jockey Club.

Sir John Lade

He was born the posthumous child of the first Baronet, also named John. His mother was the sister of the brewer and MP Henry Thrale.

Through his close connection with the Thrales, Samuel Johnson was his godfather. One piece of advice he offered Lady Lade was "Endeavour, Madam, to procure him knowledge; for really ignorance to a rich man is like fat to a sick sheep, it only serves to call the rooks about him." 

As Lade grew up, Johnson became increasingly disillusioned about the young man's abilities, so much so that when asked for advice about Sir John and the possibility of marriage, he responded angrily.

"I would advise no man to marry, Sir, who is not likely to propagate understanding;" and left the room.

However, this did not stop Johnson from proposing "half in earnest" a marriage between Sir John and the novelist and long-term Bath resident Fanny Burney.

On his attaining the age of twenty-one, he gained control of the vast fortune his father had left him and which he proceeded to dispose of through a combination of extravagant spending and gambling. 

On the positive side, he did develop a reputation as a remarkable judge of horseflesh. Particularly notable, in retrospect, was his discovery of the horse Medley, a grey which was one of the first thoroughbreds to be imported into America. His racing colours were a familiar sight at races throughout England, including Bath.

Taplow Lodge near Clivedon
 at one the home of Sir John's stud

Left to indulge his passions, Sir John spent most of his time in the stables and at race meetings; Lade chose to wear riding clothes and carry a whip to most occasions and in most places. According to the dandy Thomas Raikes, his "ambition was to imitate the groom in dress and in language".

Sir John driving four in hand.

He was widely regarded as a very fine horseman, and his skill as a driver earned the nickname 'Jehu', 

He was one of the founding members of the 'Four-Horse Club' – also known as the 'Four in Hand Club'. He himself famously drove a team of six greys, except when he sat up with the Regent in place of the latter's coachman, driving six matched bays on the road from Brighton to London.

His fondness for the track and for driving, as well as for gambling, caused him to wager vast sums of money on horses as well as on inconsequential feats of skill. In 1795 he bet Lord Cholmondeley that he could carry him on his back, from opposite the Brighton Pavilion twice round the Old Steine that faced it. Lord Cholmondeley was a big man, and as news of the challenge spread, a crowd, including a number of ladies, assembled. As his Lordship was preparing to mount, Lade stopped him and ordered him to strip, saying: "I betted I would carry you, not your clothes; your clothes are more than two pounds overweight. So strip and do not keep the ladies waiting." Lord Cholmondeley proved himself a shy man by withdrawing and settling the bet.

In 1789 Sir John wagered 1000 gs with the notorious 4th Duke of Queensbury, known as Old Q, that he could beat him in a race where they were both mounted on mules. Sir John lost.

Lade racing the Duke of Bedford at Newmarket.

Letitia, who became Lady Lade, was a woman of obscure origins who, prior to being discovered by the royal circle, was probably working in the Drury Lane district and was almost certainly associated with the sex trade in some capacity. She befriended and was probably the mistress of the highwayman "Sixteen String Jack" Rann. After Rann, who was born near Bath, was hanged in 1774, she became the mistress of the Duke of York. Not only was Letty a beauty, but she was hugely admired for her seat on a horse and skills as a whip. So it was probably inevitable that Lade would be attracted by her, and they were married, after a long affair and in spite of his family's and polite society's disapproval, in 1787. 

Letitia Lade by Stubbs

Letitia Lade was a great favourite with the Regent and his set. The Regent commissioned the equestrian portrait of Letty by Stubbs to hang in his chambers. She was more than willing to join them in their wild excesses and once wagered on herself in a driving contest at Newmarket races and bet five hundred guineas on an eight-mile race against another woman. She was particularly noted for her casual use of profanity, and the phrase "swears like Letty Lade" entered common usage. 

It was to Sir John that the Prince turned in the greatest crisis of his racing career. Known as 'the Escape affair, ' the issue at stake was whether the Prince's regular jockey Samuel Chifney had deliberately and dishonestly ridden the Prince's horse Escape to lose to manipulate the odds in a subsequent race that he won. A letter from Sir John commanded Chifney to attend the Prince at his home in Carlton House. At this interview, the Prince informed him that Sir Charles Bunbury, the leading figure in the Jockey Club, had told him that "if he suffered Chifney to ride his horses, no gentleman would start against him". The  Prince said he had told Sir Charles that rather than abandon Chifney, he would leave racing. Shortly after this, the Prince and Chifney went to Sir John Lade's house, where the Prince declared that he believed Chifney to be an honest man and that he would grant him a pension of £200 a year.

Chifney in action

In addition to his interests in and wagering on the Turf, Sir John was an active member of the "Fancy", who supported prizefighting. In 1807 he was in the huge crowd who had gathered to see Belcher fight Cribb, where he stood alongside the Duke of Clarence, later William IV, the Duke of Beaufort, the Marquess of Tweedsdale, Sir John Shelley and Lord Byron, all of whom were happy to ignore the fact that boxing was at that time illegal.


Sir John's chosen lifestyle meant that even the vast Lade fortune was eventually exhausted, and he spent some time in a debtor's prison. Lade was rescued by the Prince Regent and received a pension as George's "driving tutor".

Lade's marriage, his debts, and his disdain for polite society caused him to be generally regarded as a disreputable figure. When Lord Thurlow, a friend of George III, met the Prince, Sir John, and Lord Barrymore, a notorious ruffian, in Brighton, the Prince asked Thurlow to come and dine with him. Thurlow replied, "I cannot do so until your Royal Highness keeps better company". 

On another occasion, when Thurlow had accepted an invitation, the Prince apologised for the party being larger than he had intended but added: "that Sir John was an old friend of his, and he could not avoid asking him to dinner." Thurlow answered, "I have no objection, Sir, to Sir John Lade in his proper place, which I take to be your Royal Highness's coach-box, and not your table."

Letitia died in 1825, and Lade lived quietly on his stud farm in Sussex until his death in 1838. Queen Victoria records in her diary that shortly after she came to the throne, she discovered that she was paying a pension to "a Sir John Lade, one of George IV.'s intimates".

Lady Lade