St. Leger

Seizing the Moment

/ RGilbert

If the news articles about Rishi Sunak becoming the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom would only add a simple graphic, we would not need to read the entire story.  At a glance, we would see which boxes are checked.  Among other bits of trivia, most of the reports point out that he is the youngest person to hold this office in 200 years.  At 42-years-old, Mr.  Sunak is eighteen years older than William Pitt the Younger was, when he became Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1783.  Like Rishi Sunak, Mr.  Pitt had been Chancellor of the Exchequer prior to his rise to the Tory leadership position.

Palace of Westminster from Victoria Tower Gardens

William Pitt was 21-years old in 1780, when he was elected to the House of Commons with the help of his friend Charles Manners, Duke of Rutland.  The Duke had connected Mr.  Pitt with a wealthy landowner, who sponsored the young man’s candidacy for a rotten borough under his control.  A rotten borough was a district that should not have been entitled to any representation in Parliament, because it had become depopulated.  These boroughs were often corrupt, because their MPs were usually beholden to powerful, self-interested patrons.

Just 20-years-old when he was elected to Parliament in 1774, Charles Manners was even younger than Mr. Pitt had been.   Representing the constituency of Cambridge University, he was known at the time as the Marquess of Granby.  He served for five years, until he became Duke of Rutland upon the death of his grandfather.  Not long after becoming Duke of Rutland, Charles Manners raised the 86th Regiment of Foot for service in the American Revolutionary War.  He asked his friend Anthony St. Leger to come out of his retirement from the military and lead it.  Colonel St. Leger, the founder of the horse racing world’s classic St. Leger Stakes, readily agreed.  He shipped out to St. Lucia with his troops, to defend an important British port against the French fleet, and returned to England in 1781, in time for the September running of the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster.  In recognition of St. Leger’s inspiring leadership in the West Indies, King George III promoted him to Major General.

St. James’s Palace

In February 1783, Charles Manners became Lord Steward of the Household of King George and a member of the Privy Council.  The following February, Prime Minister Pitt appointed Charles to be Lord Deputy of Ireland.  Anthony St. Leger accompanied the Duke of Rutland to Dublin Castle as Major General on his staff.  

Charles was a lively, popular man.  Despite his marriage to Mary Isabella Somerset, who was considered to be the most elegant and beautiful woman of her time, Charles had a reputation for licentiousness.  He also had a love for rich food and red wine and would often forego sleep.  His fast-paced living took its toll.  At the time of his tragic death from liver disease in 1787, Charles was 33-years old, nine years younger than the age of United Kingdom’s youngest prime minister in 200 years.

Lord Rockingham’s Passion

/ RGilbert

Liz Truss made history by resigning as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on October 19, 2022, after only 44 days in office. It was 240 years ago, on July 1, 1782, when the second term of Prime Minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham, ended after only 96 days. The flu epidemic of 1782 took the life of 52-year-old Lord Rockingham.  He had been successfully controlling his dropsy through diet and exercise but, like many of the early fatalities of the novel corona virus pandemic in 2020, a comorbidity inhibited his ability to fight the illness.

One of the wealthiest men in England, Lord Rockingham lived near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England, in Wentworth Woodhouse, a 300-room estate that sprawled over 225 acres. Although he was an influential politician and served in the House of Lords, his passion was raising and racing horses. He kept 200 of them in his stables at his estate.

Lord Rockingham’s friend, Colonel Anthony St. Leger, lived at the nearby Park Hill Estate in Firbeck. They shared a passion for horses. In 1776, Colonel St. Leger moved an annual two-mile race from Firbeck to a better track at Doncaster.  One of his fillies finished second behind the winner, a three-year-old filly owned by Lord Rockingham.  Two years later, Lord Rockingham suggested that the annual race be named after its founder.  To this day, the St. Leger Stakes is still run every September at Doncaster.

York Racecourse
York Racecourse

Horse racing in York, England, dates back to the Roman occupation, and the York Racecourse has been on its current site at Knavesmire since 1730. The first grandstand was built there in 1754, financed by 250 people under a subscription scheme devised by Lord Rockingham. The elegant two-story building with a rooftop viewing platform, designed by architect John Carr, was not only the first grandstand at the York Racecourse, it was the first one anywhere.  

Whistlejacket by George Stubbs at the National Gallery, London

The painting of Lord Rockingham’s Arabian thoroughbred Whistlejacket by George Stubbs was acquired in 1997 by the National Gallery in London for £11 million. It caused a sensation when it was first commissioned about 1762.  The rearing horse is depicted nearly life-size against a tan background. At the time, it was a departure from the expectation that the muscular animal would be depicted under the control of a rider against a scenic setting. It has been suggested that Lord Rockingham wanted the viewer to focus on the raw power and beauty of the horse, without any distraction. A plain colorfield was the best way to achieve this effect. Whistlejacket is now considered to be George Stubbs’ masterpiece.