Thoroughbred Breeding in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire in the Nineteenth Century* by M J HUGGINS

Home , Beeswing (horse), Middleham, Stud farm

Thoroughbred Breeding in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire in the Nineteenth Century* By M J HUGGINS

Abstract The article provides a case study of the operation of the thoroughbred horse breeding industry in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire during the nineteenth century as a first step towards its analysis at a national level. It analyses the changing theoretical underpinning of thoroughbred breeding practice and shows its relationship to changes in demand from the racing cormnunity. During the century the breeding industry changed from the predominantly part-time activity of famlers, racehorse trainers, innkeepers and gentry to an activity increasingly donfinated by larger stud farms and stud companies. Breeding could be carried on through the keeping of both stallions and brood mares, and changes and continuities are both identified in temas of the key places where stallions were based, of breeding costs in relation to stallions, mares, yearlings and foals, of general stud organization, of the roles of stud-grooms and stable grooms, and of the selling of stock through private treaty and auction means. Although conclusions are tentative, it would appear that only a minority of studs made a profit; although many others believed they had but failed to take sufficient account of depreciation in their accounting procedures. URING the course of the nineteenth and on major classic winners thereafter. 4 century thoroughbred horse- We know little about the industry, despite D breeding developed as an important its obvious economic importance as a rural industry. By 1873 a Select Committee source of both direct and indirect employ- of the House of Lords, examining the ment. The following case study explores general state of horse-breeding, could point the occupation's theoretical underpinning, to thoroughbred horses having increased the groups involved in the organization and significantly both in number and value, x ownership of stud farms and stud compan- In I876 the Racing Calendar estimated the ies, the keeping of stallions and brood combined value of yearlings, brood mares mares, the selling of stock, and the extent and stallions as over a million pounds. 2 By to which studs made a profit, in relation to 1892 there were nearly five thousand brood York and the East and North Ridings of mares alone in the British Isles, and nearly Yorkshire. The Yorkshire area was selected I4OO breeders involved in the industry? because over the nineteenth century it was Surprisingly historians have given this one of the key 'breeding counties'? The feature of regional English rural life little thoroughbred, the breed used for racing, attention. Writers on racing history have derives from interbreeding between ident- concentrated more on the key stallions and ified native British and Arab stock, and the foundation mares of the eighteenth century, volumes of the General Stud Book, first issued in I79I, reveal that almost all English 'tap-root mares' were based in Yorkshire, * I would like to thank the anonymous referees for their valuable comments on this article. generally around Bedale. Many early Arab 'BPP, I873, XIV, House of Lords Select Connnittee on the Condition of the United Kingdom with Regard to Horses, p x. 'See W Vamplew, The Tu~." A Social and Economic History of " L H Curzon, 'The horse as an instrumentof gambling', Contemporary Horseracing, 1976, ch z2; P Willett, The Classic Racehorse, I989, Review, 3o Aug t877, p 378. chs I-3. 3C M Prior, "/71e History of the Racing Calendar and Stud Book, See Amphion, 'For the season x876', Baily's Monthly Magazine, 28, 1926, p 33. Jan I876, pp 64 ft.

Ag Hist Rev, 42, II, pp II5-Iz5 115 116 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW stallions were also based in the area, whilst it was claimed that 'it is now a fact univer- York was the centre of much early racing. sally acknowledged amongst breeding men Indeed, by the early nineteenth century that the perfection and subsequent value of interest in thoroughbred breeding was an the offspring depend much more upon the expected attribute of Yorkshire gentle choice of dam'. ~ J H Walsh (Stonehenge) society. A young Quaker, Charles reflected views current in the I85Os by Fothergill, recorded in his diary in 18o5 arguing for the importance of confor- that he 'visited Hambletonian, Shuttle and mation, whilst recognizing some excellent Bagsman with the brood mares and foals at exceptions. I~ He accepted the mare's Middlethorp'. 6 Fothergill's regional pride importance, but believed that since the male led him to think the county 'the best kind was 'usually more carefully selected and of of country for breeding racers'. 7 Certainly purer blood' it exerted more influence on the county's temperate climate, plentiful offspring. I3 The earl of Suffolk, writing in rainfall, and soil and water constituents I886, having reviewed 'many theories ... sometimes created almost 'ideal conditions upheld by various authorities', also intro- for breeding thoroughbreds', s duced constitution, arguing that few breeders took sufficient notice of the health of horse and mare at the time of mating. '4 I The mare's role was re-stressed by the During the nineteenth century breeders Yorkshire sportswriter W .Allison, who had limited knowledge of and were incon- sistent in using the range of theoretical championed the theories of Bruce Lowe. principles governing breeding. Initially, Lowe identified 'chief winning families' from statistics showing how much had most relied on practical experience, been won in terms of the three key classic emphasizing the stallion's pedigree and races by the descendants of 'tap-root racing success. Then the York Herald and mares'. Further data revealed the extent to journals such as The Sporting Magazine began disseminating statistical details about which each mare had produced great sires -'chief sire families'. Allison argued that a stallion's offspring, including their win- breeding of 'winning' with 'sire' families nings and numbers of races entered and would achieve best results. '5 Mthough won. Such data made certain stallions based on false statistical premi.ses, it led fashionable. Breeders also followed individ- many to accept that 'the success of every ual theories: Richard Watt of Bishop breeding stud depends more on its mares Burton, for example, successfully used than on anything else'. '6 But views were inbreeding from Eclipse. Most focused on still mixed. Allison's contemporary key qualities like speed or stamina or a J Osborne, in his equally influential The limited combination of qualities. This led Horse Breeder's Handbook (1898), rejected to rapid progress in both key aspects of racing performance up to the I87OS. 9 Alongside this came increasing awareness " Anon, 'Thoughts upon breeding and rearing blood stock', New Sporting Mallazine, May 184o, p a92. Sir C Leicester, Bloodstock of the importance of the mare. I° By 184o, Breeding, I983 ed, p 3, makes it clear that at the dine of mating each parent contributed an equal number of cl~romosonles, ~P Romsey, ed, Diary of Charh,s Fothergill 08o5), 1985, entry for although dominant genes can vary. Clearly thereafter the mare 26 May I8o5. contributes enviromnentally to the foal. 7lbid, 2 Oct I8o5. '"Stonehenge tJ H Walsh], Tile Horse in the Stable and Field, I892 8 Willett, The Classic Racehorse, p 253. ed, pp 82-3. 9See the comments of modem geneticists quoted in WiUett, Tile ,3 Ibid, eh io: 'The principles of breeding applicable to the horse', Classic Racehorse, pp 256-7. p t39. to The standard work on the history of the turf mistakenly argues ,4 Earl of Suffolk, Racing and Steeldechasil~, 1886, p 1 t7. that nineteenth-century breeders 'did not realise that the female ,5 W Allison, Tile British Thorol(~hbred Horse, 19oi, passim; Vamplew, line could contribute as much to the development of the breed as Tile Tu~, pp 186- 7. could that of the stallion': Vamplew, The Tu~, p I86. '~ Country Life Illustrated, 2 Feb 1897, pp 216 ft.

J THOROUGHBRED BREEDING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I17 Lowe's ideas in favour of a return to categories. Breeders can be placed on a inbreeding to the three key early sires, continuum from private owner-breeders, Eclipse, Herod and Matchem/7 usually aspiring to produce a winner in the Breeders also responded to a series of great weight for age and classic events, to changes within racing itself. In the early fully commercial breeders. Somewhere nineteenth century the majority of provin- between the two, private owner-breeders cial races were run in heats. Runners were might sell their apparently poorer stock, or three- to six-year olds, racing over longer keep mares of their own, whilst leasing distances, with weight for age. Breeders their stallion's services to owners of other then bred more for middle distance and mares. stanfina demanding events like the high A majority of owner-breeders in status classics. By the I88os a majority of Yorkshire were wealthy, landowning, and races were either handicaps, where poorer of gentry background. Most kept a small horses could compete, or shorter sprint stud of fewer than six mares. While at the races by two- or three-year olds, which start of the nineteenth century this group, attracted nmch of the prize money. In and its attitudes and expectations, were consequence, most commercial breeders predominant among Yorkshire breeders, bred for the latter. Some breeders by the end nine-tenths of thoroughbreds developed 'forcing systems' to help achieve were bred for sale. ~° A late century example this. ,s Stamina was unimportant: more from the earl of P,.oseberry's York horses broke down, or became roarers. Gimcrack speech summarizes the owner- Only a minority, maMy breeder-owners, breeder philosophy. He chimed not to stay bred more patiently for the speculative in the tuff for gain. It was 'a most discour- success of classic middle-distance events. aging amusement'. His love lay 'in the Theoretical underpinning and demand breeding of a horse ... the brood mare and were linked but imperfectly. Changes in foal; in watching the development of the the relative demand for stamina or pre- foal, the growth of the horse, and the cocious speed over a shorter distance affec- exercise of the horse'. His 'secret ambition ted numbers of stock bred for such traits; [was] to become the owner of the horse but beliefs concerning the relative impor- of the century ... We are all striving to tance of sire and dam, pedigree, racing produce that'. = performance, inbreeding, health and con- Many others of his class, however, tried formation were somewhat n-fixed, and to purchase success on the tuff from com- unsystelnatic. '9 Thus, most breeders had mercial breeders. Such breeders can be cate- some opportunity of selling their stock, no gorized as part- or full-time. For the first matter which theory they upheld, although group, more conmlon in the first hal£- dominant theories made certain mares' or century, breeding was a sideline: inn- stallions' offspring 'fashionable,' and hence keepers, farmers, trainers, and landowners more expensive. were all involved. Innkeepers more usually kept stallions and sought subscriptions. Coaching or posting inns often had substan- II tial stabling, farmland and paddocks, excess In categorizing the groups involved in capacity, and large numbers of potential breeding, size of stud and motive are key customers passing through. Use fluctuated:

,Tj Osborne, The Horsebreeder's Handbook, 1898, p lxv. the George and Dragon Inn and the Black ,s Suffolk, Racing and Steeplechasing, pp 214-5. ") For a recognition of such differing views see Anon, 'Breeders and breeding', in A E T Watson, ed, The Raring W~rld and its :° Osborne, The Horsebreeder's Handbook, p lxv. Inhabitants, 1904, p 87. :' Quoted in ibid, p xciv. II8 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW Swan, Catterick are mentioned in 1813, yet century usually on a relatively small scale, by 184o the Angel Inn was a base; at based on the personal ownership or leasing Dringhouses near York the Cross Keys took of a successful stallion, and a few mares. over the Tuff Tavern's business/~ The major exception was Thomas Kirby, Farmers fell into two categories. The who had stables in York and at Mutton by first group kept a mare or two to sup- the I83OS.2s Kirby was an astute business- plement their income, sometimes very suc- man, with a knack of choosing the rigbt cessfully. A Shipton tenant farmer bred stallions. In 1847, Lanercost, leased from a Alice Hawthorn, winner of fifty-two races Cumberland owner, cleared £16oo for out of seventy-two all over England in the him, a top income for the period. 29 Kirby period 1841-5. Things had changed by also kept a dozen mares, and would change 1899, when it was noted that 'seldom in his stallion once subscriptions showed any snug farmhouses great horses are bred. sign of flagging. Formerly, especially in Yorkshire, it was a The connnercial breeders so far common thing to find a couple of brood described all largely came from the lower mares'Y The chief causes were lack of ranks of society. In contrast, the single, economies of scale, increased recognition largest group of commercial breeders pos- of the value of brood mares, and changes sessed a higher social standing, most being in farm size and structure stemming from from an untitled gentry background. They the improvements due to 'high farming', expected both their racing and their breed- particularly in Holderness. Other farmers ing activities to show a profit, employing bred on a larger scale, and established a stud-groom for the more practical aspects. several well-positioned stud farms, some of Most had moved on from breeding for which displayed large elements of conti- their own racing pleasure. Lord nuity. Thus, the Middlethorpe stud farn~ Fitzwilliam's wealthy steward and land near York was run by Mr Hornsey at the agent, Mr Allen, set up one of the best beginning of the century. Sometime later known mid-century studs at P,.ockingham the former innkeeper George Smallwood House, Malton on that basis,s° took it over, 2. and the family were still Occasionally they ran larger studs. K M running it in I88O.~5 Jacques of Easby Abbey, near Richmond, A third group of breeders were trainers, had thirty brood mares in 1854. He had particularly those based round the main excess accormnodation so he hired stallions training areas, which often had spare pad- to serve his mares, and advertised for sub- dock or stable capacity."-~ The Blink Bonny scriptions as well. Birdcatcher, hired from stud, Malton, was set up with the proceeds the Curragh in 1853, cleared upwards of of trainer W I Ansons' classic wins, and £IOOO besides serving Jacques' lnares) ~ inherited by his ex-trainer son, MilesY The first Sir Tatton Sykes of Sledmere, a Full-time horse dealers were also wealthy East Riding landowner, had up to involved in breeding although up to mid- three hundred brood mares in his haphaz- ardly run paddocks. 3~ ~ York Herald, Jan-May x84o. The use of inns as coaching and breeding establishments is covered in T Bradley, The Old Coadaing Days in Yor~hire, Leeds, I889 p t29 and passim. :s York Herald, -'3 July 1831. ~3Anon, 'The romance of breeding', Yorkshire Chat, 29july 1899. :~The Druid, The Post and the Paddock, 1856, pp 2ol-2. A whole ~*Sporting Magazine, May I838, p I4. chapter was devoted to Kirby and his horse-trading life. *~PI'(O, Hio7/I356 and 3254, P,G ~o/4746, Census enumerators' 3oj Kent, Tke Racit[~ Life of Lord George Cavendish Bentinck MP, returns for Middlethorpe, York, I84 I, I85I and i871; Weatherby's t892, p I36. Rating Calendar, i88o. 3'Sporth~g Review, Jan I846, pp46ff; The Easbl, Abbey Stud, ,a The overall lifestyle of Yorkshire trainers is given detailed attention P,ich,nond, 186o, passim. in MJ Huggins, Kings of the Moor: North YorkshireRacehorse Trainers 3:See J Fairfax-Blakeborough, Sykes and Sledmere, 1929, passim. A 1769-J9oo, Teesside, I99L full obituary of Sykes is given in the Scarborough Gazette 06 April *TSee Bell's Life, 5 Feb :88L 1853), as is a description of the sale of his stud 07 Sept 1863).

j THOROUGHBRED BREEDING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 1I 9 Breeders saw themselves as a community of Beeswing, the famous Northumberland to a very limited extent. They usually mare, stressing his gentry associations and subscribed to the Stud Book, but they patrons. 36 By I86o, £24,600 worth of produced their own publication, the shares had been called up, held by thirty- Bloodstock Breeders' Review, only in I912. two shareholders, almost all of aristocratic Generally, they seem to have preferred not or gentry background, including the duke to share expertise, and rarely acted of Devonshire and the earl of Scarbrough, together. On one of the few occasions but the Flying Dutchman was still not when they did, meeting in I88O to petition attracting sufficient subscriptions. 37 By an alteration in the closing of entries for 1862 the stud was in financial trouble and the St Leger, those 'not breeding for sale' being advertised for sale.: It was still trad- were very careful to distinguish ing in 1863-4, but thereafter there were thernselvesY no returns to London. Thompson set up Stud companies were a logical extension the Moorlands Stud farm nearby with his of individual activity, and featured from son. Any loss from the Rawcliffe stud does mid-century onwards. The first was the not appear to have damaged his life style. 39 1Kawcliffe Stud Company, based on 135o From the I87OS commercial breeding acres rented just outside York, an expansion came increasingly into the hands of breed- of the existing commercial stud run by Mr ing companies and specialist stud farms, H Thompson. In 185o Thompson set up both predominantly owned by gentry or a company to lease the mp four-year old, near-gentry breeders. Magazines like The the Flying Dutchman, from Lord Eglinton Field or Country Life Illustratedfeatured their after his expected Doncaster Cup win. His studs. Examples include the Fairfield stud, defeat, and subsequent narrow win in a then owned by 1~ C Vyner, a member of York re-match in I85I , forced the com- the Jockey Club and major owner, and the pany to reduce his fee from fifty sovereigns Sledmere stud owned by the second Sir to thirty. Adroitly, Thompson then created Tatton Sykes. Managers carried on the a joint stock company, with its objectives day-to-day business in both cases: ° 'the breeding of thoroughbred stock and other horses, and the keeping of horses for the public; and leased the Dutchman to it. III The share price of£1oo effectively restric- The utilization of stallions lay at the heart ted share ownership, whilst the first direc- of most commercial breeding. Stallions tors unsurprisingly overlapped with the were serving an ever rising number of original company. 34 brood mares through the century. There The company adopted a business mode. were only 735 brood mares in the Stud As the Druid remarked 'for a downright Book in 1822 but by I848 there were 1337. business and not mere breeding for the By I872 there were 2593 and by 19oo the love or honour of the thing Rawcliffe figure had reached 589oY Stallion adver- Paddocks quite bear the palm') s The com-

pany marketed aggressively, sponsoring the ~6 Northumberland RO, NRO/1356/D/7, Letter from 1Kawcliffe Stakes at the York Spring meet- H Thompson to R Orde, 26 July 1856. ing, and using direct mailing. Thompson, s7 Sporting Magazine, Dec 1858, p 37L 3"Baily's Magazine, 4, i862, p az7. for example, wrote directly to the owner 39 In i88i as a 'gentleman farmer' he could maintain a butler, cook, and three other house servants: PRO, RGIx/4715, Census enumerators' returns for Moorlands House, Skelton. ~Doncaster P,O, Doncaster Race Committee minutes, I I June 4°See Corn,try Life Illustrated, I3 and 27 Feb, and 6 March I897, 188o, Details of correspondence. pp 159, 216 and 249. 3~ PRO, BT 31/58/a26. 4'C M Prior, The Early History of tke Thoroughbred Horse, I926, 3SThe Druid, Post and Paddock, p "~27. pp "-.1-36. 120 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW TABLE I Location of major stud farms, I8oo-I9oo Locality 18oo-i o Mid-century 189o-1900 York area Middlethorpe Midcllethorpe Myton Shipton Fairfield Fairfield Kirby Bridge Dringhouses Huntingdon Mut*on Tadcaster Rawcliffe Tadcaster North Riding Catterick Cattefick Catterick Kichmond Richmond Leybum Middleham Middleham Middleham Boroughbridge Boroughbridge Thirsk Ripon Northal/erton Ainderby Steeple Sheriff Hutton Bedale Bedale Y~rl'n East Riding Malton Malton Malton Bishop Burton Beverley Beverley Hull Howden Bridlington Driffield Driffield North Barton Sources: 1K Pick, The Sportsman and Breeder's Vade Mecum, York, 18oo; York Herald, x8o6, 1852; 1~ Johnson, Racing CaleMar, 1845; Rt!ff's Guide to the T11~ I856, t89o, I899.

tisements help identify changes and conti- decades of the nineteenth century the nuities in terms of the key places where region usually had between 25 and 30 per stallions were based, the prices charged, cent of national stallion advertisements. marketing strategies, and general stud This proportion had dropped to almost 2o organization. per cent by mid-century, but this was from Stud farms could be found in a number a growing total and numbers of studs in of areas of Yorkshire. As can be seen from the area showed little change. By the cen- Table I, there were significant continuities, tury's end, however, the region had not least because the setting up of a new declined in importance as a breeding stud farm required significant investment centre. It now had less than 9 per cent of to provide stabling or loose boxes, accom- national stallion advertisements, with the modation and pasture. In terms of conti- East Riding particularly hit. 42 nuity, the area around York was the main The subscription fees charged for location. It was centrally situated, with Yorkshire stallions are an index of its rela- excellent transport links, and excess stabling tive importance through the century. In capacity. Breeding was also consistently the first decades fees rarely exceeded linked to training areas, such as Malton, 15 gns. Whilst mares had to walk from Richmond or Middleham. The key dis- their owner's stud, most subscribers were continuity is the evidence of late century from within the region because of the risk. decline. Some studs disappeared through urban expansion or railway development, 4: Sporth~¢ Magazine, I8oo-25; Ruff's Guide to the TtI~ I856, I899. BPP, 189o, XXVII, Tkird Report of tlte Royal Conlnlission on Horse- but competition from breeders further Breeditu: Minutes of Evidence, p 327, qq 2968-75, show a recognition south was also a major element. In the first of the decline of Holderness as a breeding area. THOROUGHBRED BREEDING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 121 When the Northumbrian owner Orde of Advertisement details varied. Some early Nunnykirk walked his mare back from ones have voluminous and glowing York in the early 184os, he was warned by descriptions. After mid-century they the breeder that 'the role will be sore became more concise. Wiser and more travelling all that way on the harde rode'. 43 experienced purchasers, or their represen- The highest Yorkshire price was usually tatives, would inspect a stallion's confor- 15 gns as late as 1844, when all but three mation, and his pedigree: racing Yorkshire stallions had subscriptions of performance and potency interested all IO gns or less. 44 prospective subscription purchasers. It was The expansion of the railway system in vital that a stallion proved himself a sure the I84OS increased crowds and prizes at foal getter. Press and magazine league tables race meetings. As a result, demand for could be consulted to see to what extent thoroughbreds increased, whilst horses offspring were winning races. 46 could travel further without risk. While Thoroughbred stallions also became a northern bred and trained horses could in popular draw at agricultural shows, especi- consequence experience success in the sou- ally at the Great Yorkshire Show. At York thern classics, the railways also encouraged in 1848, Melbourne and Lanercost, both many northern magnates south to live. top grade stallions, were entered. .7 From They increasingly bred and trained there, the 188os, Queen's Premiums were offered coming north to their estates more rarely. at agricultural shows to encourage good After the I87OS there were no further quality thoroughbred stallions to contribute northern classic successes. Training and to half-bred rearing. 4s Most owners offered breeding expertise followed the wealthiest stallions to a limited number of subscribers. available patrons south. By 1879, 49 per Stallions usually covered between thirty cent of stallion fees quoted in the Racing and fifty mares a season, although more Calendar were over ~5 gns, with one stal- than one visit could be needed for each lion at over IOO gns, ahnost all being based mare. Take-up of subscriptions was greatest in the south. Yorkshire fees were generally for fashionable stallions. Untried stallions lower, being usually between 15 and had a difficult time attracting custom, and 25 gns. There was a linfited recovery in adverts would often offer coverage of 'dams the reNon by the I88OS and I89OS, with of winners half price' as sweeteners, in fees in Yorkshire approaching the national hopes of future winning offspring then pattern - IO per cent of its stallions being making the stallion fashionable. Portraiture priced at IOO gns or more, but around 7o in connection with breeding had a long per cent priced at 3o gns or less. history, and was used more widely with Stallions were marketed in a number of the advent of photography. Some pho- ways. Breeders usually advertised them in tographers were specializing in this by the the newspapers, although srnall printed century's end. 49 cards or larger sheets were often sent out. Most stallions based at commercial bree- Free publicity could be obtained from ders' studs were leased, often from gentry sports writers' descriptions of stud visits. 4s 4('For example, 'The sires of the season', Yorkshire Gazette, 7 Dec 1861. 4aNorthumberland IKO, NRO/1366/D/5, Orde correspondence, 'sTC M and F M Prior, Stud Book Lore, x95t, p z95. After BPP, York, t5 April '844. Other correspondence relating to 1888, XLVlll, First Report of the Royal Commission or, Horse- Northumbrian horses travelling can be found in Northumberland Breeding, 1888, the government ceased its ineffective support for RO, ZCO/VIll/I3. There are examples of horses travelling to breeding through the offering of Queen's Plates for racing. Instead York from as far south as Epsom: The Yorkshireman, 2 Feb i839. Queen's Prmniums for stallions were offered in key areas, with '4Johnson's Racing Calendar, 1844. prizes given by the Royal Agricultural Society. 45 York Herald, 13 Feb I847; Baily's Magazine, -,8, April t867, 4SBpP, 1888, XLVIlI, p t. pp zSI-6. 49 Osborne, The Horsebreeder's Handbook, p Lxw. 122 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW owners of top classic winners who lacked mare. 53 Less fashionable stallions usually the accommodation or interest to manage filled up their subscriptions with some half- their stallion at stud but wished to retain bred mares, at a much reduced fee. ownership. The breeder took the risk that Travelling thoroughbred stallions were at the stallion might not be a success, s° the lowest end of the market. They largely Breeders could also purchase stallions, usu- covered half-bred mares to get hunters. ally at a high price, but this was an option Each followed a particular circuit: more for the wealthy, aiming to breed Napoleon le Grand was shown at Hull, their own classic winner. John Bowes' Hendon, Brandesburton, Driffield, Market Triple Crown winner West Australian was Weighton, Howden, Cave, and Beverley sold to Lord Londesborough for 5000 gns, in I839 .s4 and was at stud at Tadcaster for 30 gns. Costs for a mare's accommodation and Unfortunately, the horse was not a success feed whilst at a stud were around 7s a as a stallion, and such a risk would have week in I8OO, rising to just over 8s by been too great for a less wealthy breeder. 1813. By mid-century, most stud farms Commercial breeders who apparently pur- were charging between 9 and lOS, and chased stallions were more likely to be prices climbed steeply thereafter. In 1883 acting as agents for others. There was a the Fairfield stud was charging 22s for flourishing foreign trade, mainly through foaling mares and I6S for barren mares. Hull, especially up to the I86OS, when Such prices n-fight not help stud profits. It northern horses were still successful, and was claimed that breeders were increasingly northern-bred stock was therefore in high sending their mares just for covering, and demand. The York breeder Thomas Kirby then bringing them back by train, because was a central figure from 1791 until the of the 'risk of misadventure during ges- I85OS in building up this trade, sI Foreign tation' and 'the dangers of starvation at buyers played a significant part in the certain depots more remarkable for their national market, and the export trade will grasping propensities', ss be addressed in a future article. The stud-groom's care and judgement were both important. During the season he assisted at the foaling of mares that IV arrived 'heaw'. This was a skilled task, Surviving gentry archives and legal cases often carried out in poor light at night. At arising from disputations over the origins the Easby Abbey stud, the stud-groom slept of a horse which could affect the results of over the foaling shed so as to be always a race both reveal much about the way on-hand. The groom assessed when mares studs were managed and run. s2 Most studs showed themselves ready to be covered, kept between one and three stallions, sometimes using a 'teaser' stallion, and then which would not mzly serve their own prepared mare and stallion. He took care mares but would be walked to local mares, of mares, foals and yearlings, and man- although sometimes another stud's stallion aged staff. was used to 'nick' better with a particular A stud-groom's earnings varied accord- ing to a stallion's success. From the start of the nineteenth century most stud advertise- ~° For a letter from one Middleham trainer wishing to hire a horse merits included mention of a groom's fee 'on the same terms as last year' see Northumberland RO, for each mare a stallion covered. Between NR.O/I356/D/I, 22 Oct I84I. ~' The Druid, Post and Paddock, pp 71 if, deals with 'Mr Kirby and the Foreigners'. s3 lbid, 24 Aug I839. ~For examples, see Yorkshireman, 24 Aug ~839, 6 July and m 54 York Herald, 27 Feb ~84I. Aug I844. 5~ Baily's Magazine, Jan 1876, p 65. THOROUGHBRED BREEDING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I2 3 1800 and 182o fees ranged from 5s to I gn, exception was the Fairfield stud in I89I, depending on the stud fee. There was little six of whose eleven grooms came from change through time. At the end of the outside the county. The success of the stud century most grooms' fees were still may explain why they were also slightly between lOS and I gn per horse, although better paid, the head man earning £I lOS a mare's owner might also give an honor- a week, two men earning I8S, and one arium for extra service. The fact that stud- boy I:ZS a week, plus bed and board. 6~ grooms identified in census enumerators' returns rarely employed servants suggests that they perceived themselves as skilled V workmen, not members of the lower The way in which stock was commonly middle classes, and that earnings were not sold changed through the century. Up to high. The Fairfield groom in the I89OS the I84OS most gentlemen sold by private received £IOO a year plus unfurnished contract. The few surviving letter fries of accommodation, gas, firewood and coal. 56 stud owners contain correspondence from Stud-grooms needed basic literacy to a range of interested parties wanting to buy write to their masters and to customers. well-bred stock, sometimes as yet unborn. When Beeswing was at Easby Abbey in Owners took the best offer they could get, the late I84OS and early I85OS regular negotiating at length by letter. Information reports on progress were sent by the two about prices was confidential. One would- stud-grooms concerned, s7 Grooms kept be aristocratic purchaser, appraised of costs day-books, giving records of coverings, of young stock hitherto, wrote 'I am much and horses going in and out of the yard. 58 obliged for your frankness...and I need Managers or grooms had to attend to a hardly appraise you that the information farm's day-to-day management, and deal shall go no further'. 62 with a vast amount of correspondence. Commercial breeders found auctions Record keeping carried out by stud- more attractive. Studs and yearlings were grooms could be erratic. The nominations best sold during race weeks, when there for races, giving sire and dam, and entries were large numbers of prospective pur- in the Stud Book both relied heavily on a chasers. Auctions were also held, but less groom's honesty and careful record keep- often, at the beginning or end of the racing ing. These could be problematic, as stable season, or at gentry houses when a stud evidence at court cases showed, s9 was being broken up. Doncaster, during Stable-grooms were also employed. St Leger week, had become a major Census data show ages well distributed Yorkshire venue for auctions by the 182os. from fifteen to late forties. Job mobility Tattersalls auctioned there from mid- was high, since the job was specialized, decade, and by 1831 the Doncaster auc- and mares and stallions were regularly tioneer tL Tilburn was auctioning blood- moved, facilitating job contacts. Most stock at York August races as we]]. 63 grooms living-in were Yorkshire-born, like The auction became more important to other 'horse-lads' in the region. 6° An thoroughbred sales than private treaty after mid-century. Purpose-built auction facili- s6 Leeds IkO, Vyner Records, NH t41, Box 2. ~TNorthumberland ILO, NRO/1356/D/7, Correspondence con- ties were erected at York and Doncaster in cerning the foals of Beeswing. the I86OS, despite the opposition of publi- SSLeeds KO, NH additional papers 75, Day-books, letters of applicatio,l for stud-groom jobs. 59 For exa,nple, see Yorkshireman, 24 Aug 1839. There is some doubt, 6, Leeds IkO, NH additional papers 141, Box I. however, of the veracity of some of the evidence. ~-'Northumberland IkO, NRO/I356/D/9, Letter from Lord 6°S Caunce, Amongst Fann Horses: the Horselads of E'est Yorkshire, Eglinton, Ii July x85z. Stroud, I991. 63 York Herald, 23 July I83I. I24 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW cansP 4 Ruff's Guide to the Tu0Cintroduced top stallions, averaged £1311. 69 These a return of the sales ofbloodstock in I868, values can be contrasted with the struggling based on auction sales. Tattersalls were by Blink Bonny stud, itsyearlings only averag- then dominating bloodstock sales, although ing 63 gns. they were experiencing an increased level The profitability of studs is a moot point of debt default, and imposed the condition and needs a wider data base than the limited that the yearlings were expected to be paid Yorkshire sources provide, with their gen- for before removal in the same year. This eral omission of marginal costings. 7° may have been because auction purchasers Conclusions must therefore be tentative. had fewer opportunities to spot the weak- Breeding was a risky business; 'a lottery'. 7~ nesses of yearlings fattened up and 'molly- Successful racing stallions were not always coddled' for the sales. The Yorkshire trade successful at stud. Mares might not produce was more limited than the turnover at racing stock. 72 Although overall yearling London and Newmarket, or at the and foal long-term price trends are clear, Hampton Court, Cobham or Middle Park they were subject to significant cyclical studs in the south, but grew sufficiently for variation.73 Nevertheless, a minority of Tattersalls to introduce a Doncaster breeders, like Kirby or the Smallwood December sale later in the century. 6s family, managed a good standard of living Prices paid for foals and yearlings rose over the longer tenn. Others, most com- alongside the growth of auctions. This was monly the joint stock stud companies, in large part a consequence of the increased generally struggled. 74 Failures were due to numbers involved in racing. Prices in the a combination of land rental and building first half-century are difficult to calculate, costs, poor financial management, and the because few horses were auctioned and the practice of breeding from inferior mares. Yorkshire press tended to concentrate on Some owner-breeders recognized and particularly high prices. As the number of accepted their losses as the price of potential reported auctioned foals and yearlings grew success. 7s A third group, possibly the larg- patterns became clearer. In 1861 the aver- est, wrongly assumed they were achieving age price of thoroughbred foals and year- profits. Few accepted that mares, accom- lings at the Doncaster September sales was modation and stallions were all depreciating £164, with prices ranging from £5 to assets, arguing that there was 'no standard £850. 66 By 1883 the average price of foals value by which any of the animals can be and yearlings had reached £237 , with assessed'. 76 Stallions' value, for example, Doncaster prices ranging from £25 to rose or fell rapidly depending on stud £255o. 67 Oversupply at the bottom end of success. Kecognition of depreciation made the market by 1898 saw average foal prices profitability questionable. The apparently drop to £95 and yearling prices to £187, successful yearling sales of Sir Tatton Sykes' but accompanied by an increasingly wide range of prices. 6s Nationally, highest prices ~ For a breakdown of Sledmere prices from x888-19oo, see Fairfax- Blakeboruugh, S),kes p 235. were mainly in the south, where St Sirnon's 7o See Hu,nberside P,O, DDCC(2)/zoA, Stable account book, 1828, eight yearlings averaged I569gns. In and DDCC/14o/ml, Stable account book, 1837-4o. 7, Manchester Courier, 4 June I867, Letter fru,n Admiral P, ous. Yorkshire, only the Sledmere stud could v: The Druid, Post and Paddock, p 223, provides details for 1853-6. compete. Its six yearlings, from a range of 73 For Doncaster sales data illustrating this, see IK Orchard, Tattersalls; zoo Years qf Sportitlg History, I953, pp 239-40. 74 PKO, BT 3I files have a large nu,nber of examples: amongst the ,hOSt famous were BT3x/2581/I353o the Cobham stud, and ~4 Sporting Magazine, Sept 1868, p 163. BT31/2357/11588 the Enfield stud. ~ Osborne, The Horsebreeder's Handbook, p lxxxix. 7~ Lord Glasgow spent a fortune on his Glasgow Paddocks at 66 Yorkshire Gazette, 2~ Sept I861. Doncaster and never won a classic: Thorumnby [W Wilhnott ~T Ruff's Guide to the Tu~ I883, sales of bloodstock. Dixon], Kings of the Tll~,, 1898, pp 177-87. 68 Ibid, I899, sales of bloodstock. v~W Allison, My Kingdom for a Horse, 19x9, p 248.

Z~ .'2. 2 Y . _ • THOROUGHBRED BREEDING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 19. 5 Sledmere stud produced just over £I0,500 the price rises through the century indicate. income per annum in the mid-I890s. His Breeders were a source of rural employ- inclusion of depreciation and income tax ment, vehilst success conferred status both converted an apparent profit into a loss. 77 on the breeder, and on the rural society of Alternative ways of investing money would which he was a part. have been more effective, if profit alone Its structure was complex, supporting a were sought. 7s range of views about the relative impor- Few breeders bred purely for profit. tance of the various factors determining Love of horses, the opportunity of mixing the quality of offspring. Although there with the gentry, and the honour of seeing were significant continuities in terms of their horses' success all played a part. location and organization, the industry Thoroughbred breeding was part of changed significantly over the century; Yorkshire's rural culture. At Hovingham from breeding for distance and stamina to the country people attending the intern- breeding for shorter sprints; from the pre- ment of the brood mare Atlanta were given dominantly part-time activity of gentry plenty of 'good bread and ale' by the breeders, innkeepers, farmers, and trainers steward. 79 Words like 'pilgrimage' or to the dominance of the specialized stud 'levee' were often associated with a stud company and stud farm; from private con- visit. 8° The death of 'the breeder and tract selling to selling by auction. owner of Alice Hawthorn' was a major There are, however, some dangers in local event to a diarist and reading room attempting to generalize from this case secretary ten miles distant, s~ study. Despite the clear increase in bloodstock numbers bred and prices charged, the Yorkshire industry was in relative decline VI from the I87OS, due to the growth of the By the end of the nineteenth century the railways and the move of Yorkshire mag- amount of money circulating in racing, nates south. Much more work is therefore and the numbers involved directly and needed, especially on breeding in the indirectly in racing and in betting on races south, before firm conclusions can be rendered horse-racing amongst the largest drawn. Data from the Newmarket, London of Victorian industries. 8~- The breeding of and South Downs areas would be particu- thoroughbreds was a crucial part of this, as larly useful. The paper, nevertheless, indi- cates some directions for future research. A wider range of data might make clearer 77 Humberside IkO, I)DSY 98/51, Sykes account book p 44. what proportion of studs actually made a 7s BPP, 1898, XXXIII, Reports and Mimltes of Evidence tf the Royal Commission to inquire imo the Horse-Breeding Industry in Ireland, profit, and provide the opportunity to pp "6z, '95 (in particular, the report of the earl of Enniskillen), assess the extent of regional variation in seem to indicate that a very small proportion of general breeders were profitably engaged in the trade. Nevertheless, it was suggested the occupational wage structure and in that the thoroughbred horse was 'the most profitable kind of horse stallion fees. The role of the thoroughbred to breed' (q 75t"). 7,) Sportitlg Ma~,azine, June 1828, p 19o. export trade has only been touched on 8°Bailj,'s Magazine, Jan and June x876, pp67, z5t-6. A young here, but the exportation of bloodstock Marton fianner walked ten miles to see the 'object of pilgn'image' Barbelle, the dam of the famous Flying Dutchman, in the 185os: was important, not least in its central con- W Scarth Dixon, Me~l, Horses and Hunting, 1931, p a48. tribution to thoroughbred breeding in ~' H Hibbs, ed, Victorian OItseburn; George l,Voodhead'sjoumal, York, Europe, North America and the British 199o, p 55L ~:L H Curzon, A Mirror of the Tu~, 189", pp 60 ft. Empire, an area yet to be fully explored.