SPORTING HISTORY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 22, 18 April 1927, Page 2

SPORTING HISTORY

GREAT TATTERSALL FIRM WONDERFUL GROWTH FOUNDER’S SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE Richard Tattersall the First, founder of the famous firm under whose auspices the aggregates of this year’s Doncaster and December sales of bloodstock was no less than 764.151 guineas, lived in spacious days, days in which men—and women, too, took their pleasures whole-heartedly and unashamedly. Fortunes and estates hung upon the issue of a race; scandals —not without foundation—were rife in every rank of society, and in the very highest circles morals were merely a matter of convenience. It may, indeed, be said of the men of those days that they lived hard, drank hard, and died hard. Through it all Richard Tattersall, though closely and intimately associated with many of the leaders of the revels, kept his head: and it was a solid one, for after dinner he could, according to a contemporary, swallow three bottles of port without feeling the slightest effects therefrom. But it was not so with some of his convives. At his residence, Highflyer Hall, hospitality was open and profuse, and the young Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Fourth, when at Newmarket, was constantly in the habit &£ inviting himself and his friends to dinner. On these occasions Air. Tattersall was accustomed to give them what he called simple country fare, and, after dinner, some of the best port wine in England. On one occasion, when the potations had been unusually deep, and it became time to return to Newmarket, it was found necessary to put the Prince and one of the party inside the post-chaise while the celebrated William Wyndham rode one of the leaders, no less ‘a personage than Charles James Fox, as well known at Newmarket as he was at Westminster, being in the postillion's saddle on one of the wheelers. The astonishment of Mr. Wyndham’s trainer may be imagined when, early in the morning, he met his employer walking up the High Street in the inebriated postboy’s boots, arm-in-arm with Charles James Fox. THE FOUNDER OF THE FIRM According to contemporary history, Richard Tattersall, founder of the firm of which his descendant, Mr. E. Somerville Tattersall, is now head, was born about 1724, in Yorkshire or Lancashire. In his earlier years he seems to have been fairly successful in the wool trade, but circumstances, with which we are not at present concerned, subsequently induced him to set his face toward London. Soon after his arrival in the metropolis he found his way to Beevor’s Repository. There he remained until he entered the service of the Duke of Kingston as superintendent of the stables, and in that employment he remained until he left in order to become an auctioneer. The moment was opportune. When the Duke of Cumberland, son of George 11., died, his immense stud of horses was sold and dispersed, and although the Dukes of Bolton, Portland, and Queensberry, and Lords Rockingham, Claremont, Grosvenor, Vere, Boringdon, and others did their best to keep racing going, the sport had been more or less under a cloud for many years. Then came the revival, brought about by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Bedford, and Lords Barrymore, Bolingbroke, Foley, Abingdon, Derby, Sherborne, Claremont. Grosvenor, and others. It was at this period that Richard Tattersall embarked upon his career as an auctioneer. By strict integrity and strenuous work he soon began to make a position for himself, and found a warm and active patron in Lord Grosvenor, who built for him “those extensive and commodious premises at Hyde Park Corner, where h«eventually died, and granted him a 99 years’ lease of the five fields where Belgrave and Eton Squares now stand.” RAPID SUCCESS From the time Mr. Tattersall took up his abode at Hyde Park Corner in 1756, success was amazingly rapid. He soon found himself obliged to enlarge -the premises by adding on a stand for carriages, a coffee-room and tavern, rooms for the use of members of the Jockey Club, and accommodation for the use of the bettors, or gamblers, as they were sometimes called. Until this time there had been no regular repository for sales at definite periods, but “Tattersall’s” supplied the want, and soon became the medium by which the traffic “in racehorses and hounds was carried on not only in this country, but in Ireland, France, America, and the West Indian Islands as well.” “Nothing,” adds a contemporary writer, “contributed so much to Air. Tattersall’s success as his giving credit to customers,” and sellers of to-day will be interested to note that Mr. Tattersall’s own bloodstock wer? invariably sold absolutely without reserve. One of Mr. Tattersall’s earliest ventures in bloodstock was the purchase of a nobleman’s stud in Scotland. Money was none too plentiful at the time, and, applying to a friend. Air. Tattersall said: “If you will find the money, for I have none, I will find skill, and you shall have a good thing.” The necessary monev was found, and partly by coach and partly on foot the journey to Scotland was duly made, and the purchase effected. On the return journey Air. Tattersall sold a few of the animals at York for more money than the whole had cost, and the remainder were profitably disposed of at Newmarket, and in London. Other deals followed, and what with these and his business at Hyde Park Corner, Air. Tattersall soon found himself to be a busy and. prosperous man.

But the best stroke of business he ever did was the purchase of Lord Bolingbroke’s famous horse, Highflyer, for £2,500, on March 29, 1779. Highflyer was by Herod (or King Herod, as he was sometimes called) out of Rachel, by Blank out of a mare by Regulus, out of a mare by Soreheels, out of Milbank’s black mare by Alakeless (dam of Hartley’s Blind Horse). According to many contemporary writers. Highflyer was once beaten and once paid forfeit, but they were wrong for as a matter of fact Highflyer was never dfeated or paid forfeit, the mistake arising out of an error in the Calendar, in which Lord Bolinbroke colt by Herod out of Marotte was assumed to be Highflyer. It was as a sire that Highflyer added so much to Air. Tattersall’s steadily increasing fortune. His subscription list was always overfull, and for the stock got by him out of Air. Tattersall’s own mares large prices were always forthcoming. THE ROYAL ROAD It occurred to Air. Tattersall that the royal road to success in breeding was the crossing of mares of the AlarskeEclipse strain with this son of Herod, so he set to work to buy up every mare of this line that he could get hold of. They proved to be a mine of wealth, and not only did the produce sell well, but the fame of Highflyer was marvellously increased. With regard to his fee, Air. Tattersall was- enabled to dictate his own terms. Well, indeed, might the already famous auctioneer’s favourite toast be, as it was, “Hammer and Highflyer.” The most important sale of bloodstock, of which we discovered record in the annals of the founder of the firm, was that of

I Hls R oyal Highness the i Wales's Stud in 1736, when th2 £1 °i ! was only 24, and wished to retVl Ul '* as he required some assiatanoe , n< ' l Parliament. His Royal hUI Ir °& Stud included 29 brood ' horses in training, nine vearltnUTL, 1 ' 10 fillies, 11 hunters and hack, '°useven coach horses, and the hi^ 5: price realised was the Bft (tens Mr. Bullock for Rockingham L*horse by Highflyer out of Purttv • is a fact redounding not a linil | tlte credit of Richard Tutters.lt U First that in days when diftereneL'*’* rank and class were far more ah” ? I defined than they are row he I have acquired and retained not the respect, but the personal friers ? ly of many of the highest in the Cd had. indeed, the Prince of IValei? a partner in a journalistic vent.... which more anon. It so that Mr. Tattersall himself all but came a marquis tFreneh). He h T it appears, sold horses and hounrt. " a French nobleman. In payment*ik! count gave Mr. Tattersall drafts whl-I were at first punctually paid. js " ther transactions between the two r* * ties took place, with the reshit *?' the count owed Mr. Tattersall a w! sum of money which he could not aoT sibly pay. He had, however, the*** version of an estate carrying; with*' a marquisate, and secured the ' he owed to Mr. Tattersall h? a conveyance of the greater part of 5? subject to the life of his father. “What" says a contemporary writer, “should * have said if we had seen the Hswnl! Tatersall selling horses by auction '! Hyde Park Corner,” and this cecuh£ would have been the cast* had it jJJ been for an event which effected th, whole world, namely, the stupendous revolution which abolished all titles in France. And it may be for the loss of his money and the marquisate that Mr Tattersall took a rooted dislike to th* French people. That, at all events, the suggestion made, but reading h/ tween the lines of Mr. Tattersaij’s and character, the loss of his monev and a foreign title weighed little with him by comparison with his invettrav hatred of the Revolution itself, it* eor.. sequences, and the class of per.h'. whom it placed in power. . So long as he confined himself to i business as an auctioneer or breeder i bloodstock, Air. Tattersall seems t have been always successful; but in a evil moment he embarked upon ;\ stormy sea of journalism. Finding advertising to be at on. necessary and costly, it occurred to lu n that it would be as well to have 4 journal of his own. Many of his friends tried to dissuade him from making the venture, but to their remonstrances he replied. “I know r.,< more of newspapers thar. I do of horses” —(it is a curious fact that thfamous auctioneer knew very Jim, about the animals, to whom he was indebted for his fortune) —“but I have done well with one, and the chance fi equal that I shall do well with thother.” In due course Mr. TattersuVi became owner of the “Morning Post, in which he had for partners Mr. Skinner (then Lord Mayor), Air. Christie, the auctioneer, Mr. Bell, an exceedingly capable journalist in the shape of the Rev. Air. Bate, better known as Mr. Dudley—and. later on. the Prince of Wales. Trouble was not long in coming. Personal attacks upon well-known people were made in the paper, including the Prince of Wales; (although he was one of Air. Tatters&li's principal benefactors) and Airs. Fitzherbert. These were put a stop to through the intervention of one Weltje, chef and a .sort of domestic Prime Minister to His Royal Highness, sent post hast* to Hyde Park Corner with instruction* to silence, upon any terms, the scurrilous attacks upon His Royal Highness and his affairs. For a brief space peace reigned, but, determined to make the paper “go,” and without Mr. Tattersail’s knowledge, those to whom the management was entrusted imblUneda series of paragraphs damaging to the reputation of the beautiful Lady Elizabeth Lambert. Her mother, Lady Cavan, promptly brought an rctioa against Air. Tattersall, claiming £IO,OOO damages. Thoroughly alarmed. Mr. Tattersall betook himself to the Prince of Wales, beseeching him to throw oil on the troubled waters; but Lady Cavan would not be pacified, and the case having been tried, the jury awarded £4,000 damages. HAD ENOUGH

Other actions for libels followed, and. having had enough of journalism. Mr. Tatersall sold the paper, the settling up disclosing the fact that a balance of £IO,OOO was due from the Prince of Wales on the partnership account, for payment of this debt Richard Tattersall the First never applied, and many years afterwards “the family solicitor, in valuing the property for probate, treated it as a bad debt.” Richard Tattersall the Second, who had the property conjointly with brother Edmund, did not look upon the debt in that light. “I will see His Roys’ Highness (then Prince Regent) about it,” he said. He having done so, the Prince immediately ordered the debt to be paid, and to the day of his death remained a firm friend to the firm. Th* famous horse, Highflyer, who had so well played his part in the building UP of the fortunes of the Tattersall family, died in 1793, and two years afterwards, on February 21, 1795, Richard Tatter* sail the First breathed his last, leaving behind him a very sufficient fortune. and, above all, a reputation founded upon answering integrity of deed and purpose. So the life story of the founder of the firm of Tatersall hru* been all too briefly told, and it may be added that his descendants have addown by their ancestor in the conduct of their business.