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j ! i . I I j , I j ! j ; j . i i . . NEWMARKETS "VETERANS English Writer Interviews Oldest Inhabitant of Racing Town. Reminiscences of Early Days When Miniature Monte Carlo Was Feature of Headquarters of English Racing Center. . o Although my holiday in Newmarket was brief, I stayed long enough to enjoy not only its bracing air, but to meet and talk with one or two of its "grand old men," writes All Sports Special Commissioner. There are several of them. One is "W. B. Sheppard, now in his ninety-third year, but still mentally alert, a splendid testimonial to the invigorating, age-defying atmosphere of the racing capital. At the risk of "getting off the heath" and writing about town topics, I must put on record a few items in the conversation I had with him. Mr. Sheppard has lived in the town for fifty-four years and has worked hard for it in several offices of trust. If ever you want to know anything about old Newmarket, take a walk down its High street with Mr. Sheppard as your guide. He can tell you not only about the good water supply for export to U. S. A. and the main drainage scheme carried out at a cost of 10,000, but something about Newmarkets notable residents and its ancient history. He was personally acquainted with Admiral Rous, "the nestor of the turf," whose memorial hospital is now one o the towns finest institutions ; with Colonel McCalmont and Abingdon Baird, Mr. Savile, Montague Thorpe and Prince Batthyany, the Hunga- rian, who founded the Batthyany Stakes ; with the Lord Wilton who owned "Warren Towers ; with former Earls of Derby ; with Fred Archer and Tom Challoner and Matt Dawson and Bob Peck. SHEPPARD CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL. Mr. Sheppard was chairman of the Urban district council for eight years. He is not keenly interested in racing, but has always stood up for the reputation of the town, On one occasion Justice Phillimore, having a heavy crime calendar at Cambridge assizes, made the remark: "What can you expect when you remember that we are so near to a big center of horse racing like Newmarket?" Mr. Sheppard took up the slander. He called a towns meeting to protest, and was able to prove to the learned judge that Newmarket had less crime and drunkenness per head of population than any place in the assize court area, j A reference to Queensberry house, the local residence of Lord Wolverton, near the heath end of the High street, led Mr. Shep-i pard to recall his long conversation with his lordship about the portion of the site abutting on the pavement. He wanted it for street widening, but was not successful. "This modern house," Mr. Sheppard reminded me, "stands on the site of the old mansion occupied by the noted Marquis or Queensberry, old Q. In old prints you may see the bay window of the iipper story, built out over the pavement. Old Q had this built without permission so that he could sit at the window and amuse himself by dropping bags of flour on innocent racing folks as they hurried into the town from the race course. "At the corner of the avenue, leading to the railway station from High street, once stood Crockfords gambling house, a sort of local Monte Carlo in George IV.s time. The bloods of those time played for high Continued on second page. NEWMARKETS "VETERANS" Continued from first pnse. stakes. Across the road, where the town hall stands, was the cockpit. Our outlook on sport has undergone a great improvement since those days." It was George IV., by the way, "the first gentleman of Europe" who had a dispute with the Jockey Club. One of his riders was "warned off," so Newmarket lost his royal support. Historians tell us that Exning, where Lord Glanely has a residence, and where Matt Dawson trained Ladas and other classic horses, was a market town centuries before Newmarket, and that only Exnings misfortune, in the shape of the plague, early in the thirteenth century, led to the market being removed to this neighboring village. So arose the name Newmarket. In the days of Queen Elizabeth, games and revels were held on the local Heath, and feas of horsemanship were popular. Then came the helpful patronage of James I., with his local residence afterward destroyed in 1653, in the first of Newmarkets fires, the second was thirty years later. SURVIVALS OF A PALACE. In Palace street, where Mr. Watson, at Palace House, stables thoroughbreds owned by Anthony de Rothschild, we may see the remaining portions of the palace which Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt for Charles II., who revived the towns festivities after their repression in the Commonwealth period. Nell Gwynns house, next door, alEO damaged in the 16S3 fire, is still standing and at the top end of the street is the old-fashioned, up-to-date Rutland Arms Hotel, with its quaint old cobbled court yard, entered from the High street. Parts of this building also date back to Charles II.s time. "Only twenty years ago." Mr. Sheppard reminded me, "the races on the old Beacon course used to finish at the top end of the town a short distance beyond the Sir Daniel Cooper memorial fountain. The old Portland stands were then pulled down, and the new stands by the Rowley Mile winning post were built. The Town stands were also pulled down. To these stands the towns folks once had free access." It was the old Duke of Portland who built the Portland stands. Pie also bought the Portland farm and the new ground, on each side of the flat, a century ago, and gave it to the Jockey Club. WIRES FROM NEWMARKET. Few people have any idea of the large amount of telegraphic work that is done daily in Newmarket. They realize that the work must be heavy on race-meeting days, but at ordinary times they fancy there is very little being done in such a quiet country town. I called at the post office to make inquiries. "It is nothing unusual to have a thousand private telegrams handed in before noon," I was told. "On a race day, the number is easily three or four times that figure with press telegrams on top of that, to the extent of thirty or forty thousand words. Press wires, of course, are heaviest after six oclock in the evening. "Our regular staff postal and telegraphic is about twenty-five. On race days we have from twenty to thirty extra. Special telegraphic offices are equipped at the Rowley Mile course, and at the July course, when it is open, and Wheatstone high-speed instruments are installed." The traffic was heaviest just before the war, I was told, than it has ever been since. The grandstand telegraphic office was only reopened this year for the first time since the war. In other war and post-war years, all messages were sent by hand from the course to the post office in High street. Cyclist messengers were employed. Newmarket, by the way, rallied a high percentage of recpuits for .navy iantfamy during the war. "In a population of less than 10,000, over 1,500 joined the colors," I was told by Major Griffiths, recruiting officer for a wide area round about Newmarket. The fine war memorial overlooked the fact Uiat over 200 of those who joined up made the great sacrifice.
