THIS IS FINDON - Oh Mr Porter

THIS IS FINDON — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

Oh, Mr. Porter!

The John Porter Stakes are run at the Newbury racecourse in Berkshire each year. Have you come across John Porter's name in connection with Findon? He was one of the most successful Victorian trainers in the 19th century and when the above photograph was taken in 1898 he was sixty years of age. He trained the winners of 23 classic races and seven Derbys and was the founder and managing director of Newbury racecourse.

A celebrity in Findon's horse racing past was indeed John Porter. He was born in Rugely, Staffordshire in 1838 to a tailor named John and his wife, Alice. He had no racing in his blood but his father did know several trainers in the Midlands area. This is the how young Porter became familiar with their racing stables and was introduced to the game at an early age by his young school friend, Thomas Ashmall, whose uncle was Tom Carr, the Hednesford trainer. Tom later became a most successful jockey.

John Porter spent the last two of his school years of his education in London as his father wanted him to train in the legal profession. He left school at the age of fourteen in 1852 and had made the decision to enter the racing game and for a year joined a trainer named Saunders at Hednesford near Cannock in Staffordshire. Although Hednesford had many trainers at the time, young John Porter moved out of the area to take up a post of lightweight jockey to "Honest John Day" in Sussex.

A Kentish man, Edward Moodie, became the landlord of the Gun Inn in the Square around the year 1851. He was assisted by his wife, Jane, and they had a daughter, Emily who had been born in 1837. In 1853, Edward Moodie died in Findon and was buried in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist church and his wife, Jane, became the sole innkeeper with 16-year-old Emily as her assistant. It was into this Findon scene that 15-year-old John Porter arrived and became apprenticed to John Barham Day at Michelgrove Stables the trainer to Henry Padwick. John Porter only weighed 4st. 10lbs at the time.

As a young man Henry Padwick had studied to become a solicitor, but soon deserted this calling in favour of the more prosperous business of unscrupulous exploitation and money lending.

John Barham Day took on the young John Porter on a three-year apprenticeship. He was shrewd enough to realise that the boy had received a good education and made him also Clerk To the Racing Establishment and in this way he was helped in keeping the books and took on other clerical duties leaving John Day free.

William Goater was at this time the Head Lad at Michelgrove (long before it was ever thought that he would one day be training at the Downs Stables in Findon).

The horses at the Michelgrove stables were flat racers and were brought on over the springy ancient turf. Day was a typical habitually dour Victorian. He was rather calculating and his traditional training methods were those of over-working his charges and breaking their spirits. He was a countryman but certainly no country gentleman. Horses had to learn the hard way with Old John Day who believed that harsh treatment was good for them. No one knew at that point but John Porter was to go on to become one of the most successful trainers in racing history, even more so than John Day.

John Day — the first trainer at Downs House

At the beginning of 1854, the Downs Stables were beginning to be built at the top of Stable Lane in Findon in readiness for Henry Padwick and he transferred all of his horses from Michelgrove.

It was at this point that John Day and Henry Padwick now had a misunderstanding over a racehorse named St. Hubert and owned by Padwick. This racehorse had been made the favourite for the Two Thousand Guineas in 1854 but was beaten by another horse, Lord of the Isles. Unfortunately, Lord of the Isles was trained by John Day's son, William and this is where the trouble started.

Henry Padwick immediately accused the Day family of conspiring to fix the race. Henry Padwick had become suspicious prior to the Guineas that St Hubert was not being trained to perform to the best of his ability. He had sent an undercover agent down to Findon to keep an eye on his horse when it was exercised on the training gallops.

The spy was a gentleman named Mr Gannon who was a renowned good shot. I guess he was employed in this capacity as he would not appear to be acting suspiciously if seen nonchalantly strolling across the skyline of the Findon downland carrying gun and appearing to look for game.

Following the split up between Henry Padwick and Old John Day, William Goater now came to the forefront and was employed as the trainer at Downs Stables by Padwick and Old John Day departed from our village.

Upon John Day's departure, obviously there was an anxious moment for young Porter when his indentures were cancelled forthwith (he was Head Lad by now). All was not lost though. His career was rescued by Henry Padwick who took him on to deal with all the financial aspects of running the Downs Stables and to deal with the everyday running of the yard. William Goater was left to deal with the actual work regime of his charges in the stables.

The Findon Gallops in April 2004

John Porter appears to have had the greatest respect for Henry Padwick. He considered that because of Padwick's misunderstandings with some of the most prominent men of the turf they had besmirched his name as revenge.

John Porter by now lived in rooms in the village in a property owned by his employer. The property was looked after by a caretaker and his wife. The young man paid for his keep by paying for schooling for the young son of the caretaker. On the opposite side of the road to the property, John Porter (who was a keen gardener) rented a plot where he now proceeded to grow fruit and vegetables which he is said to have distributed among the villagers in Findon.

In all John Porter had about twenty rides in public between 1854 and 1858 but from an early time he knew that he wanted to become a trainer.

By 1861, John Porter was aged 23-years-old and was back residing at the Gun Inn as a boarder, along with the innkeeper Jane Moodie, her 24-year old daughter/assistant, Emily and Jane's sister, Lydia Edwards.

It was during this time John Porter gained fond memories of the Reverend Robert Cholmeley and described him as "A Fine Old Man". It was the Reverend who had prepared him for his Confirmation in Findon and afterwards conducted his marriage to Emily Moodie of the Gun Inn.

Hello form Nova Scotia ,Canada!!

My name is Laurie Macdonald and recently found a used postcard at a local flea market depicting a man and a horse from Great Britain.

Upon reasearching the caption on the postcard "ORNAMENT BY BOND-BILY AGNES OWNED BY THE DUKE OF WESTMINISTER." I found alot of info on the horse ,and that the postcard was misinformed of ORNAMENTS parents who were BEND OR and LILY AGNES and her bloodline and that she was trained by Mr John Porter, and upon searching him your site was the only useful reference to this man.

Athough you have a picture of Mr Porter in 1898 i can not tell if it is actually him in this picture.

If it is him, the pic should date in the early part of the 1890's as Ornament wasn't born until 1887, and she is definately a few yrs old in this pic .

Since you seem to be the foremost authority on this man could you take a look at the attached pics and in your opinion is it Mr Porter? Sincere thanks and Good Day!"

Laurie Macdonald, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Laurie has set a real puzzle here..... and all I can say is, "Pass me my crystal ball".

John Porter stayed on at the Downs Stable until 1863. when Lord Westmoreland wrote to Sir Joseph Hawley and asked him if he would employ the young man as his trainer. When Sir Joseph saw him he said —

"Why you are only a boy".

Young Porter was but 25-years-old at the time. Sir Joseph took a chance and entrusted his horses to him and that is how in 1863 John Porter moved to Cannon Heath, Kingsclere, Hampshire and later to Park House. Besides training for Sir Joseph Hawley, he trained for the Duke of Westminster, Lord Westmoreland, Lord Stamford and one or two others.

It was usual practise in the Victorian era for apprentices to use empty horseboxes at the stables to sleep in. John Porter had new stables built in the 1880's with three yards — namely Baron Hirch's Yard, the Duke's Yard and Sainfoin Buildings or Stud Yard. The stabling was almost perfectly situated in a quadrangle yard — open to the south so that each wing received the sunshine at sometime every day. John Porter built dormitories, a washroom with showers (running hot and cold water) and even a recreation room for his apprentices. The uninterrupted water supply was by gravitation from a water tower to which water was raised from a deep well.

Queen Victoria was not overjoyed with her son's preoccupation with the turf.

"Such success", she remarked, "only encourages gambling by others and the Prince Consort was so against it. But, if it makes the Prince of Wales happy, it is, perhaps, a better excitement than others!"

The future Edward VII loved everything about racing and his subjects rejoiced with him when his horses were successful. His patronage was of great benefit to racing, both on the flat and National Hunt. At first the Prince's horses were trained by John Porter at Lomgsclere. John persuarded the Prince to purchase the "goldmine" Perdita II who bred Florizel II, Permission and Diamond Jubilee.

From his arrival in Findon as an apprentice and clerk, John was to become arguably the most successful trainer of the later half of the 19th century. He trained the winners of twenty three Classic races, probably the best known of them being Ormonde, who won the Triple Crown in 1886. He also won the Triple Crown in 1891 with Common and again in 1899 with Flying Fox. In 1892 he trained La Fleche, who took the fillies Triple crown.

Seven Derby winners came from Kingsclere under John Porter — Blue Gown in 1868; St Blaise in 1883; Ormonde in 1886; Sainfoin in 1890; Common in 1891 and Flying Fox in 1899.

Between 1863 and 1905 the horses he trained won £793,192 in prize money — a good sum in those days.

Of all the animals he managed, Ormonde was probably his favourite horse for when he retired to live in Newbury he named his house Ormonde and this now forms part of the South Berkshire College.

John Porter's Findon wife, Emily, appears to have died at some time, as he is known to have married for a second time.

John Porter was also instrumental in the forming of Newbury racecourse. Because there were so many racing stables within easy reach of the town, John Porter had the brilliant idea that Newbury would be an excellent place to have a racecourse. The Jockey Club at first rejected the idea out of hand, but in 1905 a licence was eventually granted and Newbury racecourse was born. A 1½ mile race at Newbury each April commemorates the trainer with the John Porter Stakes.

When John Porter died he was buried within a few feet of the west door of St Mary's Church at Kingsclere. He had come a long way from his humble beginnings in the Findon area.

Continue if you would like to read about John Porter and the Prince of Poisoners.

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com