A Race on Lansdown in 1765

Wednesday, 2nd October  1765, was the first day of a three-day race meeting on Lansdown in Bath. For some reason, this meeting is not recorded in Heber's calendar. 

It featured a race for "a handsome silver tankard by any horse mare or gelding, not exceeding 14hh, carrying 9 stone allowing 7 pounds for every inch under, the best of 3 four mile heats." By comparison, the longest flat race run in the UK today is the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot, which has a race length of over 2 miles and 6 furlongs.

The race was won by Lord Staverdale's bay mare Blue Cap. Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, known as Lord Stavordale from 1756 to 1776, when he inherited the title of Earl of Ilchester on the death of his father, had his family seat at Melbury House, near Evershot, Dorset, some 50 miles from Bath. In 1765, he was 18 and likely still riding his own horses in races.

His Lordship would have paid 5 shillings, about £30 at today's values, to enter Blue Cap if he had subscribed to the race costs and prizes or half a guinea, about £60, if not. These prices only applied if he entered his horses by Friday, the 27th of September, at Mr Dover's alehouse, the Coach and Horses, in Bell Tree Lane, which ran between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane. He was open to accept entries for 2 to 6 each day. If he had not entered by the 27th, he would have had to enter "at the post" on race day at twice the price.

On receiving the horse's entry, Mr Dover would have had the horse officially measured to determine what weight it should carry at the Coach and Horses in "Bell Lane" between the hours of 2 and 6. The Coach and Horses was an alehouse on Bell Tree Lane, between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane.

The entrance money was used to provide a purse for the owner of the horse that came second, providing a win in at least one of the heats.

Before starting his Lordship would have had to have had his horse shod with racing plates by one of the blacksmiths who had paid the organisers a subscription for the privilege.

On arrival at the course, all visitors would have been courted by the many booth holders and liquor sellers who had paid a guinea to the organisers for the opportunity to sell their wares to the well-heeled racing crowd.

The main race was scheduled to start at 3 o’clock each day, but an hour before this, a drum or trumpet would alert runners to the need to weigh in to determine whether or not the rider needed to carry extra weight in pockets usually specially built into their waistcoat and design to ensure it was secure and evenly distributed. Each owner had to pay one shilling to the clerk of the course for the use of the official weights and scales.

Riders were at liberty to wear whatever they chose. Still, most would wear coloured silk or white holland [a plain woven or dull-finish linen] to help the spectators identify runners, waistcoats and drawers or breeches made of a light fabric designed to hug the body, and on their head, a little cap tied on; tight-fitting boots and spurs.

Thus equipped, the rider would mount and ride down to the appointed start. Books from the time advise on tactics. If the horse had more stamina than speed, they recommend trying to win from the front, forcing the pace as much as possible from the start to break the spirit of faster horses. If you had a fast horse, by contrast, they advise holding him behind and coming with a late rush. To conserve a horse's stamina, a ride might hold a horse back in one heat but had to be careful not to be "distanced, " meaning it would be disqualified. This was a rule brought in to discourage riders from giving horses an easy ride in one heat. The distance was a point approximately 240 yards from the finish.

The Complete Sportsman by Thomas Fairfax describes the riding style in vogue at this time.

'The posture to be observed is, that you place yourself upon your twist [the part of the saddle the rider feels between their upper inner thighs], with your knees firm, and your stirrups just at such a length, that your feet, when they are thrust home in them, you can raise yourself a little in the saddle, for your legs, without that allowance, will not be firm when you come to run; the counter-poise of your body must be forward, to facilitate your horse's running, and your elbows must be close to your body; be sure, above all things, that you do not incommode your horse by swaggering this or that way, as some do, for since weight is a great matter in running, and that a troublesome rider is as bad as so much more weight, there is no need to say how necessary it is to take great care of your seat and hand; you must therefore beware of holding yourself by the bridle, or of jobbing your horse's mouth upon any occasion; you must take your right rein in the same hand, holding up horse, &c. as you find it necessary, and every now and then remove the bridle in his mouth. But these things are best learned by experience and practice.'

At the end of each heat, riders would be weighed in great scales and disqualified if they weighed less than when they weighed in at the start.

The horse and rider usually had half an hour between heats to recover and for the grooms to rub down the sweating horses until the drum or trumpet, again, sounded to announce the start of the next heat.

At the end of each heat, owners and spectators would gather at the betting post to exchange bets and set odds on the race's outcome. Vast amounts of money could be wagered and considerable emotion raised. It was common for spectators and owners to follow their chosen horse on horseback over the last part of the race, adding to the confusion and excitement.

On winning the race, Lord Stavordale could claim his prize but, on receiving it, was required to pay 5 shillings to the Clerk of the Course. Should anyone have disputed his victory, such a dispute would have been judged by those who had subscribed money to meet the costs of the meeting and who had not entered horses.

The General Stud Book

The General Stud Book is a breed registry for horses in Great Britain and Ireland. More specifically, it documents the breeding of Thoroughbreds and related foundation bloodstock such as the Arabian horse. Today, it is published every four years by Weatherby's.

John Cheny of Arundel in 1726 had announced his intention to publish annually for seven years a list of all races. The first volume appeared in 1727 with the title "An Historical list of all Horse-Matches Run, and of all Plates and Prizes Run for in England (of the value of Ten Pounds or upwards). 

In his preface, he tells us that he 'travelled the Kingdom over, contracting a correspondence in every part wit persons who, at the very time of the sport, are to take accounts for me where I do not appear.' He included in his books a large number of pedigrees directly and to identify individual horses competing in races. In 1739, he was commanded by the King's Master of the Horse, Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, to publish revised rules for the running of King's Plates. In 1741, he conceived a plan for taking the pedigrees out of his Calendars and putting them in a separate stud book, but he had not done this by the time he died in 1750.

Reginald Heber, in his Racing Calendar for 1756, explored the idea of a stud book and even created a template to guide its compilation.

Despite the obvious merits of this suggestion, no further progress was made until 1786, when the turf historian William Pick published his 'Authentic Historical Racing Calendar,' which gave records of races run in Yorkshire from 1709 to 1785 and contained pedigrees and performances for the leading stallions.

James Weatherby had served the Jockey Club as 'Keeper of the Match-book at Newmarket' since 1770 and the proprietor of the only racing calendar then in publication. In 1791, he promoted the publication of The General Stud Book, a definitive record of the pedigrees of approximately 400 horses, which were seen as the foundation for all thoroughbred stock worldwide.

Weatherby published 'Introduction to a General Stud Book' in the same year. For pre-1750 pedigrees, he relied heavily on publications by Cheny, Heber, and Pick, old sales catalogues, and his own private enquiries.

The 'Introduction to a General Stud Book' was filled with errors and was not at all complete, but it was popular and led in 1793 to the first volume of the General Stud Book, which had many more pedigrees and was more accurate. Volume one was revised many times, the most important being in 1803, 1808, 1827, 1859 and 1891.

Since then, the General Stud Book has been owned and maintained by the business James Weatherby and his brother created.

Racing Women

In 1748, the Bath Journal of August 8:

‘Advertisement, the following ASSES were entered to run on the Town-Common Thursday last; the Names they were enter’d by were Merry Pintle, Spanking, Roger, Morecock, Turpin, Mouse, Perrdy, Spider, Picksey, Pug, Jan Parsons, Roger &c. They were rode by Boys, and the Plate was won by Jackey Skares’ Ass Merry Pintle - There were Six Thousand Persons on the course, and some of Distinction who came many miles to see the Sport - a Smock and Hat were run for at the same Time by Girls.’

There are a couple of things of interest here; firstly, how popular ass racing was and how well-known many of the asses were. The second is that it is an early Bath reference to the popular Georgian sport of smock racing. It probably also tells you something about contemporary attitudes toward working-class women: the Asses were the main attraction and are named.

Another advert for a similar event featuring asses and girls provides further information. The Smock race would consist of three heats; the winner would get the smock, the second would get the hat, and the third would get half a crown, which gives some idea of the considerable value of the clothing. Women who wished to compete were required to report to the Common House by 3 p.m. on the day. The asses won a guinea for first, 5 shillings for second and half a crown for third. 

Smocks, or shifts, were the basic all-purpose undergarments for Georgian women worn beneath stays and gowns during the day and often also in bed at night. The smocks offered as prizes were usually made of high-quality linen and often trimmed with lace and ribbons. The prize smock was often displayed hanging from a nearby flag pole or tree branch. 

Rowlandson 1811

Smock races were popular entertainment throughout the Georgian period partly because they served the almost insatiable demand for gambling opportunities but also, and perhaps primarily, because they allowed opportunities for the male spectators to see young women wearing loose clothing, which often became disarranged and flushed from physical exertion. This is amply illustrated in the above Rowlandson print.

From all the reports and the many prints, competition among the often desperately poor women was fierce. There do not seem to have been any actual rules, and the women freely tripped and barged their rivals, often knocking them into the dust. The more violent the race became, the more audiences would roar their approval and the more acclaim the eventual victor would receive.

Smock races took place in various locations around Bath throughout the eighteenth century, including the Parades and Lansdown and were a feature of many fairs.

Bath races in 1728

According to Cheny's "Historical List of all horse-matches run etc", for 1728, racing took place on the 25th of September.

On the 25th, four horses competed for a 50 guinea purse. The race was only open to horses who had never won a King's Plate. King's plates were prizes given by the Monarch and run for under strict rules designed to encourage breeding bigger, stronger animals with real stamina. All the horses were carrying 12 stone in weight.

The race was run over 3 heats, probably a mile each, with all heats being won by the Earl of Essex's horse Smiling Ball.

William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex, KG PC, was a courtier and diplomat.

The next racing at Bath took place on the 1st of October for a purse of 20 guineas with horses carrying 11 stone. The first heat was won by Mr. Longton's grey horse, but in the second, he was bested by Mr. Kerby's black horse, Collier, but took the third heat to win the purse.

The next day, they raced Galloway ponies handicapped on height over the same course for a 10 guinea purse. The race was won by Mr. Practor's grey mare, Northern Nancy.