Tregonwell Frampton (1641–12 March 1727) was an English racehorse trainer, known as 'the father of the turf.' [1]
Contents
Tregonwell Frampton (1641–12 March 1727) was an English racehorse trainer, known as 'the father of the turf.' [1]
Frampton was born in 1641 at Moreton, Dorset, the fifth son of William Frampton, lord of the manor of Moreton, by his wife, Katharine Tregonwell of Milton Abbas. He is described by William Chafin as being in 1670 the most active pursuer of hawking in the west of England. He was at the same period a regular attendant at race meetings, kept horses in training, and owned a house at Newmarket, though he passed most of the year in Dorset. At Newmarket, he was "keeper of the running horses" to William III, Queen Anne, George I and George II. [1]
At Newmarket he acquired a reputation for successful gambling. Henry Coventry, in a despatch dated March 1675, mentions a horse-racing match 'wherein Mr. Frampton, a gentleman of some 120l. rent, is engaged 900l. deep.' Frampton won his money, and in the racing records of the time his name appears more frequently as a winner than a loser, the amounts at stake being higher than was usual. In April 1676, for example, he had two matches in the same week, the one at Newmarket and the other at Salisbury, each for £1,000.
A well-known tradition on Frampton is given by John Hawkesworth in an essay on instances of cruelty to animals; but not from personal knowledge. This story is that Frampton's horse Dragon beat a certain mare, winning a stake of £10,000. On the conclusion of the match the owner of the mare instantly offered to run her on the following day for double the sum against any gelding in the world, and Frampton accepted the challenge. He then castrated Dragon, who was brought out the next day, and again beat the mare, but fell down at the post and died almost immediately. In contradiction, Edward Conway, 1st Earl of Conway, in a letter dated 7 October 1682, says: ‘His majesty's horse Dragon, which carried seven stone, was beaten yesterday by a little horse called Post Boy, carrying four stone, and the masters of that art conclude this top horse of England is spoiled for ever.’ A letter written by James, Duke of York to the Prince of Orange eighteen months after the date of Frampton's alleged cruelty mentions a forthcoming match between the 'famous horses Dragon and Why Not.’
On one occasion, Frampton made a match with Sir William Strickland, a Yorkshire baronet, between his own favourite horse and Strickland's, known as Old Merlin. Frampton managed to arrange a private trial between the two at Newmarket, and covertly put 7lbs overweight on his horse for it, and was just beaten. Unbeknown to Frampton, Merlin had also gone into the race carrying overweight and in the race itself, Frampton's horse was again beaten. [2] Frampton's own losses must have been large; but wider interest was excited by the match, which was looked upon as a struggle between the north and south of England. Several estates changed hands after the event, and many gentlemen were ruined. James Christie Whyte's History of British Turf attributes to the scale of these losses the passing of the Act of Parliament forbidding the legal recovery of any sum due for bets above £10.
Frampton, in need of money, made over the family estate, to which he had succeeded on the death of his brother William in 1689, to his cousin Giles Frampton, the next heir, in consideration of £5,000. But the exact dates of both the match and the transfer of property are unknown, though the latter took place before 1702.
It was probably in 1695 that Frampton first assumed the duties of the position ascribed to him on his tombstone of 'keeper of the running horses to their sacred majesties William III, Queen Anne, George I and George II,' although it is surmised he may also have performed the role for Charles II and James II. [3] In October of that year he won with the king's horse the town plate at Newmarket, and in the accounts of the master of the horse for the same year there is mention of a payment to him 'for settling the establishment of racehorses at the Green Cloth and Avery, and for a plate at Newmarket.’
In 1700 he first appears in Edward Chamberlayne's Angliæ Notitia as receiving £1,000 per annum as supervisor of the racehorses at Newmarket, for the maintenance of ten boys, and for provisions of hay, oats, bread, and all other necessaries for ten racehorses. From that date until his death he regularly received a salary, apparently being £100 for every horse in training. He trained the royal horses, and made matches for them, and they generally ran in his name.
He continued to breed horses on his own account, some of which he used to dispose of at high prices to the master of the horse, and he remained a gambler. That part of his time which was not given up to horses was devoted to hawking, hare coursing, and cock-fighting. He was particularly successful with his cocks, and his taste was largely shared by William III, who, during his visits to Newmarket, spent afternoons watching his trainer's cocks fight.
Frampton kept his post until his last day, which was 12 March 1727. He was buried in the church of All Saints, Newmarket, where on the south side of the altar was a mural monument of black and white marble inscribed to his memory.
The author of Newmarket, or an Essay on the Turf, London, 1771 [4] described him:
He was a known woman hater, passionately fond of horse-racing, cocking, and coursing; remarkable for a peculiar uniformity in his dress, the fashion of which he never changed, and in which, regardless of its uncouth appearance, he would not unfrequently go to court and enquire in the most familiar manner for his master or mistress, the king or queen. Queen Anne used to call him Governor Frampton.
Another writer quoted by Whyte in an account of Newmarket in the reign of Queen Anne, remarked:
There was Mr. Frampton, the oldest, and, as they say, the cunningest jockey in England; one day he lost 1,000 guineas, the next he won 2,000, and so alternately. He made as light of throwing away 500l. or 1,000l. at a time as other men do of their pocket-money, and was perfectly calm, cheerful, and unconcerned when he had lost a thousand pounds as when he won it.
Mark Noble wrote:
a thorough good groom only, yet would have made a good minister of state if he had been trained for it ... Frampton was supposed to be better acquainted with the genealogy of the most celebrated horses than any man of his time. ... Not a splint or sprain, or bad eye, or old broken knee, or pinched foot, or low heel, escaped in the choice of a horse.
On the other hand, he is tersely dismissed by Sir George Etherege in the couplet:—
I call a spade a spade, Eaton a bully,
Frampton a pimp, and brother John a cully.
The time when Frampton was first given the title 'father of the turf' is not known; he was so described in caption to an engraving of his portrait by John Wootton in 1791. Frampton's portrait frequently served as a frontispiece to books on racing, for example in Thomas Henry Taunton's Portraits of Celebrated Racehorses.
Horse racing is the second largest spectator sport in Great Britain, and one of the longest established, with a history dating back many centuries. According to a report by the British Horseracing Authority it generates £3.39 billion total direct and indirect expenditure in the British economy, of which £1.05 Billion is from core racing industry expenditure and the major horse racing events such as Royal Ascot and Cheltenham Festival are important dates in the British and international sporting and society calendar.
The Byerley Turk, also spelled Byerly Turk, was the earliest of three stallions that were the founders of the modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock.
Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of British horseracing and is home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country and many key horse racing organisations, including Tattersalls, the National Horseracing Museum and the National Stud. Newmarket hosts two of the country's five Classic Races – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, and numerous other Group races. In total, it hosts 9 of British racing's 36 annual Group 1 races.
Matchem, sometimes styled as Match 'em, was a Thoroughbred racehorse who had a great influence on the breed, and was the earliest of three 18th century stallions that produced the Thoroughbred sire-lines of today, in addition to Eclipse and Herod. He was the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland from 1772 - 1774.
Herod was a Thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of the three foundation sires of the modern Thoroughbred racehorse, along with Matchem and Eclipse. Herod was the foundation sire responsible for keeping the Byerley Turk sire-line alive.
Marske was a Thoroughbred racehorse, best known as siring the great Eclipse.
Eleanor was a British Thoroughbred racehorse bred by Charles Bunbury and was the first female horse to win The Derby. Eleanor also won the 1801 Epsom Oaks among many other races before retiring from racing at age eight to become a broodmare for Bunbury. She produced the stallion Muley, which in turn sired the mare Marpessa and the influential stallion Leviathan which was exported to the United States in the early nineteenth century. Through the produce of her daughter Active, Eleanor is present in the pedigrees of 19th-century American Standardbred racehorses.
Whalebone was a British Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1810 Epsom Derby and was a successful sire of racehorses and broodmares in the 1820s. Whalebone and his full-brother Whisker were produced by the prolific and important broodmare Penelope, and they contributed to the perpetuation of the genetic line (tail-male) of their sire Waxy and grandsire Eclipse into the 20th century. Whalebone raced until he was six years old and was retired to stud at Petworth in 1815. Whalebone sired the Derby winners Lap-dog, Spaniel and may have been the sire of Moses. Other notable sons are Sir Hercules and Camel, the sire of Touchstone. Whalebone died in 1831 at the age of 24 of hemorrhage after covering a mare.
Plenipotentiary (1831–1854) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1834 to April 1835 he ran seven times and won six races. His most important win came in May 1834 when he won The Derby. His only defeat, in the St Leger at Doncaster later that year, was widely believed to be the result of foul play. After three successes as a four-year-old in 1835 he was retired to stud where his record was disappointing. Plenipotentiary was regarded by racing experts as one of the best British racehorses of his era.
St. Giles was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from October 1831 to July 1835 he ran eleven times and won five races. After showing little form as a two-year-old, he made marked improvement to win his first three races of 1832, culminating with a highly-controversial success in The Derby. His only subsequent wins came in two minor races in 1835 and he was eventually sold and exported to stand as a stallion in the United States.
Priam (1827–1847) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1830 to July 1832 he ran nineteen times and won seventeen races, including four walkovers. Unraced as a two-year-old he won seven of his eight starts in 1830 most notably The Derby. He continued to win major races, including successive runnings of the Goodwood Cup for the next two seasons before being retired to stud. He proved to be a successful sire of winners in both Britain and the United States. Priam was regarded by experts as one of the best horses to have raced in England up to that time.
Emilius (1820–1847) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1823 to October 1824 he ran ten times and won seven races, including a walkover. As a three-year-old in 1823 he was undefeated in six starts, including the Derby. After a less impressive year in 1824 he was retired to stud and became a highly successful and important breeding stallion.
Whisker was a Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1815 Epsom Derby and was a full-brother of the 1810 winner Whalebone. Whisker raced until he was a six-year-old, but did not race in 1817. Whisker was retired to stud in 1819, where he became a successful and influential sire. The offspring of Whisker and Whalebone continued the sire-line of Eclipse into the 20th century.
Aimwell was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from autumn 1784 to spring 1786, he ran eight times and won five races. In 1785, he won the sixth running of the Epsom Derby as well as three races at Newmarket. He was beaten in his only race in 1786, and did not appear in any subsequent records.
Grey Momus was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from August 1837 to 1839 he competed twenty-one times and won fourteen races. Grey Momus first attracted attention as a two-year-old when he recorded two impressive victories at Goodwood in August. In the following year he won seven times from nine starts, taking two of the year's biggest races, the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Gold Cup at Ascot. Grey Momus won one competitive race and took three walkovers in 1839 before being retired. He was exported to stand as a stallion in Germany, where he had some success as a sire of winners.
Bay Bolton or Brown Lusty (1705–1736) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won Queen Anne's Gold Cup as a five-year-old in 1710. After retiring from racing he became a successful sire for the Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, and his son Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton, was Champion sire seven times.
Gohanna was a British racehorse that was second to Waxy in the 1793 Epsom Derby and was a successful sire in the late 18th and early 19th century. Gohanna was initially referred to as "Brother to Precipitate" during his early racing career until he was officially named in 1795. Retired to stud at Lord Egremont's Petworth House in 1801 where Gohanna spent the entirety of his 14-year stud career, he sired numerous successful racehorses including the Derby winners Election and Cardinal Beaufort.
Staveley was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1805. Bred in Yorkshire, he won seven of his nineteen races in a career which lasted from April 1805 until September 1807. As a three-year-old in 1805, he won his first three races, culminating with a victory at odds of 6/1 in the St Leger at Doncaster Racecourse. In the following season he was transferred to race at Newmarket, Suffolk, where he achieved mixed results, being beaten in most of his races but winning a match against The Derby winner Cardinal Beaufort. He won two further races in 1807 before being retired to stud in Yorkshire. He had no impact as a breeding stallion.
Cockfighter (1796–1807) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1799. In a racing career which lasted from May 1799 until August 1802 he won ten of his eighteen races. Originally named Abraham Newland, he was renamed to reflect the sporting interests of Henry Tempest Vane who bought the horse in the summer of his three-year-old season. After bolting on his racecourse debut, Cockfighter was undefeated for more than two years, winning the St Leger, the Doncaster Cup, and three divisions of the Great Subscription Purse at York, and was regarded as the best horse in Northern England. He won the Craven Stakes in 1802, but was retired from racing after a run of defeats later that year. He had little opportunity to establish himself as a breeding stallion, dying in 1807 after four seasons at stud.
Bay Malton (1760-1786) was a successful British Thoroughbred racehorse of the 18th century.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : "Frampton, Tregonwell". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.