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Gentlemen & Blackguards: Gambling Mania and the Plot to Steal the Derby of 1844
An incredible slice of Victorian social history, complete with aristocratic extravagance, rogues and rascals, obsession, dueling, suicide, and murder
In the early 19th century, gambling was a grave social ill that was largely uncontrolled and corrupt. The 1830s saw the institution of the Poor Law, the abolition of slavery, the regulation of child labour, the birth of the police force, and the widening of parliamentary representation, but gambling was much as it had been since the 18th century: games of faro, hazard, whist, and roulette could be played in houses around the West End; with racing self-regulated by the Jockey Club and a vaguely defined sense of honor. Racing was the chief national sporting obsession, however, its popularity was at odds with the increasingly regulated tempo of life in the 1840s, and moralists began to inveigh against the vice. The government was on a mission to clean up, if not eradicate, gambling in Britain and the premier race, the Derby, was put on public trial. The Derby of 1844 was expected to be a two-horse race between Ugly Buck and Ratan, owned respectively by John Gully, a social-climbing former prize-fighter, and his great rival, William Crockford, the club owner. The race itself was full of drama, not least when it became apparent that the horses had both been doped. Nick Foulkes brilliantly takes William Powell Frith's painting "Derby Day" as the inspiration for a gripping story. There are strong characters, the tension of class rivalries, the drama of the race and the trial, as well as the opportunity to use the gambling of the time as a lens through which to view the wider social change of the period.
In the early 19th century, gambling was a grave social ill that was largely uncontrolled and corrupt. The 1830s saw the institution of the Poor Law, the abolition of slavery, the regulation of child labour, the birth of the police force, and the widening of parliamentary representation, but gambling was much as it had been since the 18th century: games of faro, hazard, whist, and roulette could be played in houses around the West End; with racing self-regulated by the Jockey Club and a vaguely defined sense of honor. Racing was the chief national sporting obsession, however, its popularity was at odds with the increasingly regulated tempo of life in the 1840s, and moralists began to inveigh against the vice. The government was on a mission to clean up, if not eradicate, gambling in Britain and the premier race, the Derby, was put on public trial. The Derby of 1844 was expected to be a two-horse race between Ugly Buck and Ratan, owned respectively by John Gully, a social-climbing former prize-fighter, and his great rival, William Crockford, the club owner. The race itself was full of drama, not least when it became apparent that the horses had both been doped. Nick Foulkes brilliantly takes William Powell Frith's painting "Derby Day" as the inspiration for a gripping story. There are strong characters, the tension of class rivalries, the drama of the race and the trial, as well as the opportunity to use the gambling of the time as a lens through which to view the wider social change of the period.
- GenresHistory
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 24, 2016
Whilst the centre focus of this story is a plot to win a fortune by 'fixing' the Derby of 1844, Foulkes' makes sure that the reader is well aware of the context in terms of society at that time. The early 19th Century was a time when gambling addiction amongst the upper classes was rife. The sums gambled were phenomenal by todays standards and gambling was not regulated like today.
The cast of characters in the book is wide and varied - from the gentlemen to the blackguards. There is nothing more zealous than a convert and George Bentinck was determined to stamp out corruption in horse-racing. The plot in the 1844 Derby has been repeated often over the years - substituting horses - and on this occasion was not successful.
A fascinating insight into changing society and how fortunes were won and lost.
The cast of characters in the book is wide and varied - from the gentlemen to the blackguards. There is nothing more zealous than a convert and George Bentinck was determined to stamp out corruption in horse-racing. The plot in the 1844 Derby has been repeated often over the years - substituting horses - and on this occasion was not successful.
A fascinating insight into changing society and how fortunes were won and lost.
October 20, 2011
Scurrilous is the term that comes to mind when seeking to describe Lord George Bentinck, poacher turned gamekeeper and 'hero' of this book. I really enjoyed it, it was witty (extremely so in places), acerbic, clever, historically impressive, and it told a darn good yarn.
The focus of the book was the plot to win the 1844 Derby by using a four year old horse to impersonate the required three year old, and just to make sure, by employing various tricks and underhand methods to put out the main challengers before and during the race. Foulks does an excellent job of setting the scene, as 'the turf' stops being the provence of gentlemen and starts to be taken over by the great unwashed. Gambling and gaming hells soaked up the income of bakers, butchers, footmen and chimney sweeps alike, who, according to the disapproving (and fast-growing) Victorian equivalent of the moral majority, deprived their starving children of food and shelter in a bid to emulate their betters. A surge of disapproval brought the wrath of the law on the gaming hells, and had Parliament debate the rights and wrongs of betting, just as the Derby was about to become the most bet-upon race in the calender. The eponymous Lord George, who had spent his life and several fortunes, including those of his brother and father and best friend, in establishing his racing stable (and in the proces learning every underhand trick in the book of how to cheat to win) saw which way the wind blew. When the Deraby of 1844 went against him, he threw his all into exposing the sham,and in the process set himself up as the model of propriety and defender of morality which he most certainly was not.
The scam itslef, which involved hair dye, and so many moonlight flits for the two horses in question that it's amazing they ever managed to get the pretender to run at all, stands in history as the most outrageous until Shergar (Foulkes' comparison, not mine). I knew next to nothing about racing and betting, but I found it enthralling.
The focus of the book was the plot to win the 1844 Derby by using a four year old horse to impersonate the required three year old, and just to make sure, by employing various tricks and underhand methods to put out the main challengers before and during the race. Foulks does an excellent job of setting the scene, as 'the turf' stops being the provence of gentlemen and starts to be taken over by the great unwashed. Gambling and gaming hells soaked up the income of bakers, butchers, footmen and chimney sweeps alike, who, according to the disapproving (and fast-growing) Victorian equivalent of the moral majority, deprived their starving children of food and shelter in a bid to emulate their betters. A surge of disapproval brought the wrath of the law on the gaming hells, and had Parliament debate the rights and wrongs of betting, just as the Derby was about to become the most bet-upon race in the calender. The eponymous Lord George, who had spent his life and several fortunes, including those of his brother and father and best friend, in establishing his racing stable (and in the proces learning every underhand trick in the book of how to cheat to win) saw which way the wind blew. When the Deraby of 1844 went against him, he threw his all into exposing the sham,and in the process set himself up as the model of propriety and defender of morality which he most certainly was not.
The scam itslef, which involved hair dye, and so many moonlight flits for the two horses in question that it's amazing they ever managed to get the pretender to run at all, stands in history as the most outrageous until Shergar (Foulkes' comparison, not mine). I knew next to nothing about racing and betting, but I found it enthralling.
December 31, 2016
I recall (it's been over a year since I read the book) that I was in continual awe of the discrepancy between the gentry and working and lower classes, how the idle rich could so easily wager amounts that dwarfed the annual earning power of scores of laborers. Interesting, too, was the fact that the same competitive impetus behind horse racing was precisely the same that led to the development of the stock exchanges, another type of gambling for those who are too elevated to be involved in doing any actual work. The book's central figure was well illumined, describing a type of aristocrat who in place of anything worthwhile allocated all his energies towards raising horses, racing, and then controlling the racing process (which he would not dignify as a "business"). In general, a very lively book, though its story is somewhat padded with additional bits to add more period color.
December 3, 2021
In addition to the magnificent read about the Derby scandal of 1844, the author provided a thorough account on the history of horse racing; how it evolved, how it became a national passion that most likely explains the reasons for what it is today. Personally, as a total novice on this subject, I was surprised to learn to what extent fraudulent and rigged betting / gambling reached already at that period of time. The sums were more than significant and the stakes were simply too high to lose.
September 15, 2011
Not my kind of story. Not into gambling & horse racing but if you are then I highly recommend it. Very well written.
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July 15, 2016Didn't finish. Got a couple of chapters in and realised it wasn't my thing at all.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews