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AN OLDTIME PLUNGER OF GREAT FAME Henry Hellish of Blythc Owner of a Large Estate Took the Sport World by Storm At the Inginning of the last century when hard drinking was a natiunal custom there was no liquor control iHiartl to say an Englishman nay if he felt thirst in those days and heavy gambling at cards dice and on the race course thu rule there burst upon the racing world a young Yorkshire squire vvho In the words of a contemporary took the world of sport by storm This was Henry Mellish of Blythe who having attained his majority a year or two before the battle of Trafalgar came into uncontrollable possession of a large estate estateIf If contemporary historians were right Mr Mellish must have been u veritable Admiral Crichton for it is said of him that there was not a single sport manly or otherwise in which he did not excel all his rivals Imprints it was averred that iie was the fastest amateur runner and the finest rider to hounds of his day while at boxing fencing and wrestling lie outshone all the other amateurs amateursAs As an artist and also as a musician he was facile princcps amongst nonprofessionals and as a dandy it was a case of trick and tie with Beau Brum mel As a whip too lie was classed Al at Lloyds and the cynosure of all eyes when he drove onto the course at Itrighton or elsewhere witli his match ¬ less team of browns Into the fact that he had a colorless complexion and curly jetblack hair also a long drooping black mustache rather an acquisition for a youngster who had just attained his majority we need not enter although vouched for by titletattle historians of the turf turfIn In his fourth year as an owner Mr Mellish won the St Lcgcr with his colt Sancho 7 to 4 chance with Huckle p in a field of eleven Seemingly the judge only placed a second horse Master Hetty and for that matter Orions Annals says nothing concerning the distance by which the race was won l ciiig chiefly concerned with the fact that Vesta fell in running her jockey It Spencer being badly hurt and that Sir Bertrand also came down as did Witchcraft at the ending post postMr Mr Mellish again won the St Leger the next year by aid of Staveley which was only fourth favorite although at the somewhat cramped price of to 1 Tliis is described by Ortou as a great betting race which was won by about a length by John Jackson on Mr Mellishs colt coltMr Mr Mellishs turf career if brilliant was at the same time meteoric for it lasted only five brief years coming to an end in 1805 He commenced well winning a match of fifty guineas at the Dur ¬ ham meeting in 1801 the renowned Billy Peirsc ritling the twinner Having tasted blood young Mellish thirsted for further victories and as far as horse racing went although a reckless plunger he probably did not damage his patrimony to any serious extent for he was admitted to be one of tlie best mautchmakers and haudicappers of his day Like the late Squire Abington he had a strong leaning to the prrze ring and a large amount of money was annually dispensed in the way of sub sidics or largesse to members of the fancy who regarded him as a sort of milch cow much as did within the last thirty years the fistic hangerson of Mr Abington Laird LairdDice Dice and cards however made the biggest in ¬ roads on the princely patrimony of Mellish and it is related that he once staked 40000 pounds on a Mingle throw at hazard and lost while on another occasion it was stated that at one sitting at Brooks Club lie melted away the trifle of 97000 pounds On leaving the club lie happened to meet a royal duke the Duke of Sussex to whom he avowed that he was ruined having lost everything The duke goodnaturedly patted the disconsolate young man on the back saying Come back your luck may turn turnDUKES DUKES WORDS WEEE PROPHETIC PROPHETICThe The words were prophetic for taking him at his word Mellish turned back and won no less a sum than 100000 pounds from the duke which it is said was compromised for by the granting of an annuity of 4000 pounds a year a mere trifle to a man of Mr Mellishs lavish nature natureKcturning Kcturning to consideration of Mr Mellishs turf career his matches with his St Leger winner Sauclio against the astute Lord Darlingtons Pavil ¬ ion aroused the greatest excitement in the sporting world Pavilion had met and beaten Saucho in the New Claret Stakes Ditch in at Newmarket a race of 200 guineas each half forfeit for which Sancho was second in a field of four That was in the spring of 1 05 and Lord Egreinouts Haiinibel which was third was subsequently matched by his owner for 1000 guineas against Saucho one mile the latter winning winningA A few days later Sancho beat Pavilion in a match over four miles at Lewes for 3000 guineas L000 forfeit Odds of 2 to 1 were laid on the loser Subsequently Sancho broke down in some other match but In 1800 his owner again matched him against Lord Darlingtons Pavilion over the four miles at Lewes Mr Mellish looked upon the match as a retriever and supported Sancho to win about 30000 pounds Odds of 5 and 0 to 4 were laid on Pavilion and when Mellish drove onto the course in his splendidlyappointed drag with its superb team of browns it is chronicled that he raised his white hat ironically to his friends in the grandstand and said If Sauchos beat I hope some of you will take me for a coachman coachmanIt It was a great race Weatherbys Calendar of that period mtntioned no jockeys in the returns and even in that of the Derby won by Paris in 1SOO no jockeys were given not even the distance the winner won by From a contemporary account of the match it appears that Sam Chifney rode Pavilion and Frank Buckle Mr Mellishs horse Saucho is re ¬ turned as having broken down in the race but from the account just mentioned it was only at the finish that hu did to after looking all over a winner winnerAt At that time Mr Mellish had as a betting con ¬ federate Lord Foley and lively the two made it for the professional betting men Mellish for example never opening his mouth in the ring under a mon ¬ key Exciting wagering was invariably witnessed at Brighton for instance when the partners were in their best plunging form Those were the days when the Prince of Wales afterwards George IV made Brighton and Lewes the gayest scene of the year in England and Tom Raikcs Diary goes on to give a graphic picture of Brighton BrightonThe The pavilion was full of guests and the Steyne was crowded with all the rank and fashion from London The legs ami bettors who had arrived in shoals used to assemble on the Steyiie at an early hour to commence their ouerations on the first day and the buzz was tremendous till Lord Foley and Mellish the two great confederates of that day would approach the ring and then a sudden silence ensued to await the opening of their books booksThey They would come on perhaps smiling but mys ¬ teriously without making any demonstration At last Mr Jerry Cloves would say Come Mr Mol lisli will you light the candle and set us agoing Then If the master of Blythe would say Ill take 3 to 1 about Sir Solomon the whole pack opened and the air responded with every shade of odds and betting The two confederates pulled off some big coups together and on the wboh held their own well against the ring though perhaps not with such distinguished success as the Hon Richard Vernon commonly called Dick Vernoii who if we are to be ¬ lieve his biographer Thomas Holcroft author of that admired comedy The Koad to Ruin was so adroit in hedging his bets that he usually made a 10000poiiml book by which he lost nothing nor could in any case have lost anything But Mel ¬ lish lived at such a rate that the wealth of Croesus could not have held the strain strainHe He had close upon forty horses in training seven ¬ teen carriage horses a dozen hunters in Leicester ¬ shire five chargers at Brighton he Was a captain in the Tenth Hussars the no plus ultra of fashion ¬ able soldiering besides hacks innumerable and had a whole brigade of retainers in his pay whose crimson liveries alone must have jeost him a pretty penny Yet not even all this lavish expenditure would have ruined Mr Mellish if he could only have kept aloof from dice and cards A few examples of his reckless betting at hazard and cards have al ¬ ready been given givenThe The last straw to break the camels back was the St Leger of 1800 over which the betting was terrific The Sporting Magazine two mouths before the race was run stated that there was little doubt that upwards of one million guineas had already been laid Lord Foley and Mellish were amongst those who were most heavily hit by the victory of Fyldener FyldenerThe The latter indeed was ruined by the blow In the following December his stud was sold whilst he himself left England and went out as aidede ¬ camp to Sir Rowland Ferguson in Spain where the Peninsular was then raging But before he left he had the honor of entertaining his royal highness the prince regent in his ancestral ball at Blythe which was no longer his however for he had been com ¬ pelled to sell it to Mr Walker the great iron founder of Rotherhain1 who generously lent him the house in order that lie might play the host to his distinguished guest in a manner worthy of his repu ¬ tation tationDuring During the few days that Mr Mellish gave his farewell reception to royalty he and the prince used to set up all night engaged in the fascinating pursuit of hazard and there may be still preserved in Doncaster the little table at which the master of Blythe rattled the dice for the last time with the future sovereign of England On being appointed aidedecamp to Sir Rowland Ferguson Mr Mellish received the brevet rank of colonel and whilst lie was attached to that generals staff distinguished himself so conspicuously by his gallantry and in ¬ telligence that he was more than once honored with special mention and praise in the dispatches of the Duke of Wellington WellingtonUnfortunately Unfortunately however Mellish could not restrain his passion for gambling a vice which the duke viewed with the greatest abhorrence during a cam ¬ paign and the consequence was Mie colonel was ad ¬ vised to throw uj his post and return home Dur ¬ ing his absence his uncles had undertaken the man ¬ agement of his terribly embarrassed affairs Out of Us splendid property only one small farm was left to him Hodsac Priory and there within sight of the noble mansion which had once been his he lived the quiet life of a country gentleman in company with his wife Lady Harriet Petty one of the daughters of the Marquis of Lansdowne whom he had married after his return from the Peninsular war warShe She had a snug income of her own settled upon herself and as her husband from the day of his marriage foreswore betting and gambling of every description they were able to live comfortably Mr Mellish devoted his attention to scientific farming especially the breeding of cattle and became also renowned for his line kennel of greyhounds London Sportsman
