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OLD TIME PLUNGER OF FAME I the a . P Young Yorkshire Squire Who Took M World of Sport by Storm. m s r 0| Career of Henry Mellish on the English Turf in the Early Eighties— His the Meteoric- Rise and Downfall. w • si At the beginning of the last century there b burst upon the racing world a young York- it shire squire, who, in the words of a con- w temporary, "took the world of sport by t| storm." This was Henry Mellish of Blythe, ■ who. having attained his majority a year or a two before the battle of Trafalgar, came into uncontrolled possession of a large estate. If p contemporary historians were right, Mr. Mel- t] lish must have been a veritable "Admirable r Criohton." for it is said of him that there t: was aot a singl" sport, manly or otherwise, n in which he did not excel all his rivals, v* Imprimis it was averred that he was the 1 fastest amateur runner and the finest rider to hounds of his day. while at boxing, fencing ii and wrestling he outshone all the other p amateurs. As an artist and also as a musi- e cian he was facile princeps amongst non- I professionals, and as a dandy it was a case v of "trick and tie" with Beau Brummel. As t a whip. too. he was classed Al at Lloyds, ii in and the cynosure of all eyes when he drove e onto the course at Brighton or elsewhere, at a tooling his matchless team of browns. Into I the fact that he had a colorless complexion d and curly jet-black hair, also a long droop- a a ing black moustache rather an acquisition I for ■ youngster who had just attained his I majority, we need not enter, although 1 vouched for bv tittle-tattle historians of the I « turf. WINS THE ST. LEG EH, » r In his fourth year as an owner Mr. Mellish won the St. Leg- r with his colt Sancho. a 7 to 4 chance, with Buckle up, in a field of eleven. Seemingly the judge only placed a second horse. Master Betty, and for that , matter "Ortons Annals" says nothing con- | cerning the distance by which the race was concerned with the fact won. being chiefly that Vesta fell in running, her jockey. 11. , Spencer, being badly hurt, and thit Sir Ber- , trand also came down, as dd Witchcraft at t Mr. Mellish again won the "ending post." the I.cger the next year by aid of Stavely which was only fourth favorite, although at . the somewhat cramped price of 5 to 1. Th.s , is described bv Orton as a "great betting , race " which was won by about a length by ] Mr. Mellishs colt. Mr. Mel- John Jackson on . if brilliant, was at the lishs turf career, . same time meteoric, for it lasted only five . brief vears. coming to an end in 180G. He . commenc-d well, winning a match of fifty . . guineas at the Durham meeting in 1801, tne renowned •Billy" Peirse riding the »■»«• j Having "tasted blood." young Mellish thirsted J for further victories, and. as far as horse I [ racing went, although a reckless plunger, he probablv did not damage his patrimony to any serious extent, for he was admitted to be , . best matchmakers and handicap-pers one of the . of his day. Like the late Squire Ab-ington. he had a strong leaning to the prize » amount of money was * ring, and a large annuallv dispensed in the way of subsidies, or larglsse. to members of the fancy, who regarded him as a sort of milch cow. wuch as did. within the last thirty years, the fistic 5 hangers-on of Mr. "Abington" Laird. FORTUNE ON THROW OF DICE. Dice and cards, how.vcr, made the biggest t inroads on the princely patrimony ,of Mellish. and it is related that he once staked 40.000 pounds on a single throw at hazard and lost t —while- on another occasion it was stated that at one sitting at Brooks Club he "melted away" the trifle of 97,000 pounds. On leaving j the club he happened to meet a royal duke _ the Duke of Essex- to whom he avowed that t "he was ruined, having lost everything." » The duke good-naturedly patted the disconsolate - young man on the back, saying: : "Come back, your luck may turn." The e words were prophetic, for. taking him at his s word. Mellish turned back and won no less s from the duke, , a sum than 100,000 pounds which it is said was compounded for by the granting of an annuity of 4.000 pounds a ■jl year, a mere trifle to a man of Mr. Mellishs lavish nature. ILeturning to consideration of Mr. Mellishs s turf career, his match, s with his St. Leger r winner. Sancho. against the astute Lord Darlingtons - Pavilion, aroused the greatest excitement i- in the sporting world. Pavilion had d met and beaten Sancho in the New Claret •t Stakes Ditch in at Newmarket, a race of 200 guineas each, half forfeit, lor which h Sancho was second in a field of four. That was in the spring of 1805. and Lord Kgre- j inonts Hannibal, which was third, was subsequently matched by his owner for 1.000 guineas against Sancho one mile, the latter winning. A few days later Sancho beat Pavilion in a match over four miles at Lewes for 3,000 guineas 2,000 forfeit. Odds of 2 to 1 were laid on the loser. Subsequently Sane-ho broke down in some other match, but in 1S06 his owner again matched him against Lord Darlingtons Pavilion over the four mil-s at Lewes. Mr. Mellish looked i upon the- mate-h as a retriever anil supported! Saneho to win about HuNt pounds. Odds of 5 and i to 4 were laid on Pavilion and when ] ! Mellish drove e.nte the course in his sple-n- i • didly appoint, d drag, with its superb team e,f browns, it is ehremicl.-d that he- raise-d his white- hat ironic-ally feo his friends in the granelstand and saiel. "If Sanche/s beat. I hope sMiie of you will take me for a eoaeh-man." It was a great race. Weatherbys "Calendar" of that period nn-ntioned no jockeys in the re turns, and eve-n in that at the- Derby, won by Iaris in IMC, no jockeys were- given, not even the distance the- winner won by. Fran a contemporary ace-ount f the match it appe-ars that Sam Chifne-y re d -Pavilion j and Frank Buckle- Mr. Me llish:; i horse. Sane-he is returned as having broken down in the rae-c. but from Hie account just I mentioned it was only at the- finish that he did sei. after looking all over a winner. At that time Mr. M. llish had as a betting confe-d. -rate Lord Foley, and lively the two made it for the prafeaataaal i . tting men. M llish. for example-, never op. ning his mouth in the- ring under a "moiik.-y." Kxeit-ini; wagering was invariably witnessed at Brighton, for instan..-. when the partne-rs were in the-ir best plunging form. Those were th.- days wh.-n the Prince of Wales afterward George IV. made Brighton and Lewes , I the P M m s 0| the w si b it w t| ■ a p t] r t: n v* 1 ii p e I v t ii in e at a I d a a I I 1 I « » r , | , , t . , , ] . . . . . . j J I [ , . . » * 5 t t j _ t » - : e s s , a ■jl s r - i- d •t of h gayest scene of the year In England, 1 and Tom Raikes "Diary" goes on to give a graphic picture of Brighton : "The pavilion was full of guests, and the Steyne was crowded with all the rank and fashion from j London. The legs and bettors, who had arrived in shoals, used to assemble on the 1 Stevne at an earlv hour, to commence their e operations on the first day, and the buzz was tremendous till Lord Foley and Mellish, l two great confederates of that day. would approach the ring, and then a sudden j silence ensued to await the opening of their | books. They would como on, perhaps, smil- I ing. but mysteriously, without making any demonstration. At last Mr. Jerry Cloves would say, Come, Mr. Mellish. will you light , the candle and set us a-going? Then, if the master of Blythe would say. Ill take 3 to 1 about Sir Solomon, the whole pack opened, and the air resounded with every shade e»f e dds and betting." The two confederates pulled off some big coups together, and on the whole held their own well against the ring, though, perhaps, not with such dis- ! tinguished success as the Hon. Richard Ver-BOB, commonly called Dick Vernon, who. if we- are to believe his biographer. Thomas Hedcroft author of that admired comedy. "The Road to Ruin." was "so adroit in hedging his bets" that he usually made a 10.000 pound book, by which "he lost nothing, nor could he in any case have lost anything." But Mellish lived at such a rate that the wealth of Croesus could not have withstood the strain. He had close upon forty horses training, seventeen carriage hors?s, a dozen hunters in Leicestershire, five chargers Brighton he was a captain in the Teenth Hussars, the ne plus ultra of fashionable soldiering, besides hacks innumerable, and had whole brigade of retainers in his pay. whose crimson liveries alone must have cost 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 card3 have already been given. TRE ■ I ■ DOCS WAG ■ RING. The last straw to break the camels back was the £t. Lcger of 1S96, over which the betting was terrific. The "Sporting Magazine," two months before the race was run, stated that there was little doubt that upwards of one million guineas had already been laid. I ord Foley and Mellish were amongst those who were most heavily hit | by the victory of Fyldener. The latter, indeed, was ruined by the blow. In the following Decern b-. r his stud was sold, whilst he himself left England and went out as aide-de-camp to Sir Rowland Ferguson in Spain, where the Peninsular war was then raging. But before he left he had the honor of entertaining his royal highness the prince regent in his ancestral hall at Blythe. which was no longer his, however, for he had been compelled to sell it to Mr. Walker, the great ironfounder of Rotherham, who generously lent him the house in order that he might play host to his distinguished guest in a manner worthy of his reputation. During the few days that Mr. Mellish gave his farewell reception to royalty, he and the Irince used to sit 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 ap- pointed aide-de-camp teo Sir Rowland Fer-3 guson, Mr. Mellish received the brevet rank of colonel, and whilst he was attached to that generals staff distinguished himself so conspicuously by his gallantry and intelligence that he was more than once honored with spee-ial mention and praise in the dispatches of the Duke of Wellington, Lnfor-[j tunately. however, Mellish could not restrain his passion for gambling, a vice which the Duke viewed with the greatest abhorence dur- ing a campaign, and the consequence was the Colonel was advised to throw up his post and return home. During his absence his uncles had undertaken the management ot his terribly embarrassed affairs. Out of his splendid property only one small farm was left to him— Hodsack 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, Iady Harriet Petty, one of the daughter ers of the Marquis of Lansdowne. whom hi had married after his return from the Pen-s insular War. She had a snug income of her own settled upon hers. If, and as her hus- hand from the day of his marriage forswore 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 fine ken-f nel of greyhounds. —London Sportsman, ♦
