Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and WitMenzies, Stuart, Mrs.
History
Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and Wit
Menzies, Stuart, Mrs.
Beresford, William Leslie de la Poer, Lord, 1847-1900
A fast trotter or two for his buggy was considered a necessity, and
he brought his chestnut mare, Ilee, from India with him, he said
he could not part with her, she had so often saved his life by her
sagacity. She apparently did not leave her wisdom behind her in the
East, for one night when for a wonder Lord Bill was alone and driving
her home in the dark, as he turned into the lower drive at the
Deepdene and she was doing a little bit of her best, she suddenly
stopped dead, causing a bit of a splutter but probably saving Lord
William’s life, for, thinking he had returned, the lodge keeper had
put up the bar for the night across the drive blocking ingress or
egress without his permission and knowledge.
Some of Lord William’s trotters did remarkable things; Harry, another
prodigy, he raced against a train between two stations on the
Brighton line, I believe it was between Burford and Dorking, for a
bet, of course, and ended in a dead-heat! It used to be quite a joke
amongst the people of Dorking when they heard one of the trotters
thundering down the road to shout out, “Clear the way for his
lordship,” all using their best endeavours to clear everything out of
his way. The Dorking people had taken him to their hearts, and they
were so proud of all his feats and doings. It must be recognised more
indulgence and latitude was allowed to his lordship than would be
extended to everybody, but that is just one of the remarkable things
about him, everybody succumbed to him, allowing licence that would
certainly not have been permitted to anybody else.
Piloteer, a handsome grey trotter, won many prizes at Richmond,
Dublin and other places. I am able to give a good photo of him taken
just after winning one of his prizes. He was an Irish horse.
During 1896 there were various hairbreadth escapes, without which
I am sure Lord Bill would have felt dull. While driving his coach
from Ascot to Bishopsgate when trying to pass some other coaches the
leaders stepped into a furze-bush and then bolted; if history tells
true the coach was upset, but of that I cannot speak with certainty,
but I do know for certain that all in the coach were full of praise
for the wonderful driving which had enabled them to escape unhurt. On
the coach at the time were Lord and Lady Marcus Beresford, that fine
old sportsman, Colonel Chaine, and his wife, Major Braithwaite and
Mrs. Featherstonhaugh.
Another mishap occurred once going to the Derby, I think, if I
remember rightly, when some of the occupants were landed over a hedge
into a field. They were all men this time and one who was there told
me about it. I believe it happened when his lordship was racing
against young Mr. Fownes; at least that is how the tale was told to
me, but it was long ago and I hope I am not taking anybody’s name in
vain.
Lord William’s coach was always one of the best turned out and horsed
at the Coaching and Four-in-hand Club meets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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