William Loft (born Seaford, Sussex 14 September 1803 - died Grimsby 15 December 1887) was a farmer and one time steeplechase rider best remembered for his victory in the 1845 Grand National riding Cure-All.
Seaford is a coastal town in East Sussex, on the south coast of England. Lying east of Newhaven and Brighton and west of Eastbourne, it is the largest town in Lewes district, with a population of about 23,463.
Sussex, from the Old English Sūþsēaxe, is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English Channel, and divided for many purposes into the ceremonial counties of West Sussex and East Sussex. Brighton and Hove, though part of East Sussex, was made a unitary authority in 1997, and as such, is administered independently of the rest of East Sussex. Brighton and Hove was granted City status in 2000. Until then, Chichester was Sussex's only city.
Grimsby, also Great Grimsby, is a large coastal English seaport and administrative centre in North East Lincolnshire, on the South Bank of the Humber Estuary, close to where it reaches the North Sea. It ran the largest fishing fleet in the world by the mid-20th century, but fishing declined dramatically after the Cod Wars denied UK access to Icelandic fishing grounds, and the European Union parcelled out fishing quotas in waters within a 200-mile limit of the UK coast to other European countries, in line with its Common Fisheries Policy. Since then Grimsby has suffered post-industrial decline, although food manufacturing has been encouraged since the 1990s. The Grimsby–Cleethorpes conurbation acts as a cultural, shopping and industrial centre for much of northern and eastern Lincolnshire. Grimsby people are called Grimbarians; the term codhead is also used jokingly, often for Grimsby football supporters. Great Grimsby Day is 22 January.
In 1843 Loft purchased the horse Cure-All at Horncastle fair [1] and after running impressively at Lincoln he was approached by William Sterling-Crawford with an offer to lease the horse to run as his nominee in the forthcoming 1845 Grand National. Loft agreed on condition that he be allowed to ride the horse himself.
Cure-All was a half-bred racehorse by Physician out of an unknown dam who won the 1845 Grand National Steeplechase when an unconsidered outsider.
Loft was the second son of the Grimsby M.P. John Henry Loft and farmed on the estate inherited by his brother from his father.
Great Grimsby is a constituency in North East Lincolnshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since May 2015 by Melanie Onn of the Labour Party.
John Henry Loft was a British soldier and politician.
