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April 2003

 

 

The 2^nd Marquis of Rockingham & the Turf

 

 

Rockingham was a great patron of the turf and owned some 84 horses. To stable all these horses he commissioned the famous architect John Carr of York to build the stable block at Wentworth. The stables were built in the Palladian Style and are so grand they could well be mistaken for Wentworth Woodhouse. Building work began in December 1766 and the number of masons employed on the project was 8, they had 9 labourers to assist them. By August of 1767 the stable building project employed a total of 12 carpenters, 3 joiners, 10 masons and 17 labourers, by October 1775 there were only 6 carpenters, 10 masons, 5 joiners and 12 labourers employed on the project.

The Stable Block at Wentworth

 

As part of the stables there was also a riding school at Wentworth, the riding school area became part of the gymnasia for the Lady Mabel Physical Education College which subsequently occupied the premises. The 2nd Marquis also kept stables at Swinton and it was here that he trained his horses. There was an oval track which was one and three quarter miles round. At Swinton in 1758 the 2nd Marquis employed 8 boys to look after the horses and in 1759 the number of boys employed rose to 18. As well as being expected to look after the horses the 2nd Marquis saw to it that the boys were taught to read and write and keep accounts.

It is said that the money to build the stable block at Wentworth came purely from the profits of the 2nd Marquis's horse racing activities. Towards the second half of the 18th century the stables at Wentworth were acknowledged as being the finest in the land, not only because they had been built in a very grand style, but also because the 2nd Marquis owned several fine race horses.

Probably the most famous of all his horses was Whistle-Jacket; Whistle-Jacket won the 2,000 Guineas in 1759 at York Race-course. There is a room in Wentworth Woodhouse named after Whistle-Jacket. Another successful horse the 2nd Marquis owned was called Samson, he was a black stallion bred in 1745 and reputed to be the largest boned horse ever to be bred as a racehorse. He was 15.2 hands high, lived to the ripe old age of 32 and was unbeaten for two years from 1750 to 1752.

The Whistle-Jacket Room

The Whistle-Jacket Room

 

Rockingham also owned a horse called Scrub; Scrub was a small horse and only stood 14 hands and one inch high and was foaled at the Rockingham Stud. Although he was only just over 14 hands he won a considerable number of races between 1755 and 1761. Scrub was thought very highly of and was reputed only ever to have been beaten three times in public and never in private. It was probably on these private occasions when large sums of money would have been gambled on the outcome of such private meetings. When Scrub became too old to race Rockingham made a gift of him to his regular rider a Mr Singleton. Scrub was in the possession of Mr Singleton when he died at Givendale in Yorkshire some years later.

Rockingham was very much into the habit of having his horses painted and probably the most celebrated artist of horses at this time was an artist called George Stubbs. George was a British artist born in Liverpool in 1724 to the son of a courier. His art combined portraiture, landscape and exact delineation of horses in an effort to accurately record the turf, hunting field and all that made the golden age of country life.

Whistle-Jacket by George Stubbs

 

 

When Stubbs painted Whistle-Jacket as a mount for the King, Rockingham subsequently decided to keep the painting for himself solely as a portrait of the stallion. Stubbs was then immediately commissioned to paint another lifesize picture of the horse to serve as the King's charger. This time the 2nd Marquis would not allow Whistle-Jacket to be the subject and chose to substitute Scrub instead, Stubbs reluctantly finished the painting of Scrub but while he was painting it he fell out with the Marquis over the painting for some reason and removed the painting. After a chequered history, which included a trip to India, the painting of Scrub was finally purchased by Lord Rosebery.

Of course the horses owned by the 2nd Marquis eventually died and when this happened they were usually buried on the estate in Trowls Wood just to the south west of the mansion. Each horse had its own gravestone to mark their grave; no doubt Samson and Whistle-Jacket are buried there.

The 2nd Marquis was the founder of the famous St Ledger race in 1778; the race was won that year by a horse called Allabaculia. The St Ledger race meeting is usually held over a few days in September and it soon became a great tradition in the racing fraternity of the day for the Marquis and subsequent Earl Fitzwilliams to invite members of the British aristocracy,

and sometimes Royalty, to attend the St Ledger race meeting at Doncaster as their guests. After a days racing they would stay at Wentworth Woodhouse and enjoy the legendary hospitality, comfort and opulence offered by the owners and residents of Wentworth Woodhouse.

Charles Watson Wentworth

The 2^nd Marquis of Rockingham

 

 

 

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