Wetherells in Ysceifiog

[warkworth]

Ramptonlyles

Now that I've recovered a bit, you may be interested to know that William's children who we know to have survived childhood all stayed in the business.  Arhtur, my great-grandfather, and William, the eldest child, were training grooms. Charles was at one point a "commission agent". Albert, and I think you may be more interested in him, was a jockey and reputedly rode in the Grand National.  He is sighted in Newmarket, Beverley, Pontefract and the Fylde area. 

Your account of William explains why we cannot find the family in the 1861 census - he must, as we suspected, still have been in Ireland.

Yours
Joyce

[ramptonlyles]

Dear "Warkworth",
Many thanks for your kind notes and confirming what I had suspected, that the various Wetherells I had come across in racing history over the years were related. One, incidentally, rode the winner of the 1899 Royal Hunt Cup. In addition I know of an Edward who trained at Beverley,etc, - whether he's connected I don't know.
I think I should explain Holywell because of its superb turf was in its time a famous racing centre with several stables based there. Sadly unlike Middleham for one reason or another this all came to an end as did Holywell Racecourse - it ceased in 1852 so I suppose Mr Wetherell would have been its last clerk of the course. In racing history terms I would say he was a minor player, but an important minor player. I would think he made money in his time but as with most people in racing the difficulty is in keeping it! [I speak as a gambler]. The most famous of the Holywell trainers was John Blenkhorn as mentioned above by one of your correspondents who trained the 1835 St Leger winner for Mr (later Ld) Mostyn) but "Honest John" was employed as Mostyn's private trainer while I would guess Mr W rented the stable in his own right - Mostyn lived to a great age but he (like most owners) faded out of racing. There's no money in racing though I might add commission agents who played a very important role before betting shops were legalised could do better than most! In passing Ld Waterford would probably have been in a strait-jacket had he not been a peer; his various trainers must have had an interesting time. There weren't trainers' championships in those days but had there been Mr W would have been champion trainer in Ireland. After his death I see the Bentinck committee awarded "Mrs Mary Weatherell" a pension two-thirds that of her husband's but they later altered the spelling to yours so I shall use that in future.
                                            Yrs, etc,
                                           Ramptonlyles

 
 had there

[wilcoxon]

Well done Ramptonlyles.

 Excellent results for Warkworth. Pity my Mark Jones wasn`t as famous.

[Rah1980]

Have you any pictures of Holywell racecourse Ramptonlyles? I am particularly interested in the kennels which was part of the complex.

Thanks Sarah

[warkworth]

Dear Ramptonlyles

Thak you for all this wonderful information.  I'll digest it and see how it relates to what we know about our own Wetherells.

Re Edward.  Interestingly, my great-grandfather Arthur seems to have called himself Arthur Edwad or even just Edward.  (I assume it is Arthur who appears as Edward, a training groom at The Park, Walkington, in 1881, though he claims to have been born at Holywell. A was actually born at Middleham.  One of his sons calls him Arthur Edward on his marriage certificate).

There was another Wetherell horse trainer called, I think, Thomas, living in the same street as W and M, but I don't think there's a family connection.  I'd need to go back and check him out.

The pension to Mary would explain why she is referred to as an annuitant after W's death.

I'm now rushing to email Albert's descendant in New Zealand. He will be very excited, too.
Thank you again.
Joyce

[ramptonlyles]

Dear Rah1980,
About Holywell Racecourse. As I said I am an amateur in this field. The authority on dead racecourses is Chris Pitt, racing journalist and author of (amongst others) "A long time gone" which covers racecourses which expired after 1900. I nicked the date 1852 from an appendix inside listing earlier departures. If material is available he is the person to contact. Most of the early smaller racecourses tended to have temporary stands at the best as they were usually used only once a year and often the actual course might vary a bit year from year but whether this applied to Holywell I wouldn't know.   
                                          Yrs, etc,
                                        Ramptonlyles