In 1779 the 12th Earl of Derby leased a house in Epsom called The Oaks. Whilst there he and a friend decided to start a new race for 3 year old fillies to be run over one and a half miles.
He called it The Oaks. The following year a similar race was run for colts. It was decided that the race should be named after either the host of the party or one of his guests, Sir Charles Bunbury. According to legend the decision was made by the toss of a coin or perhaps the guests decided that The Bunbury didn’t sound as good as The Derby. Lord Rosebery commented: “A roistering party at a country house founded two races and named them after their host and his house. Seldom has a carouse had a more permanent effect.”
The Derby was run on a Wednesday or a Thursday in June and on the day huge crowds would come from out London to enjoy the Epsom Fair. This included magicians, conjurors, musicians, clowns and side shows. During some of the 19th century and most of the 20th Parliament would adjourn to allow members to attend the race meeting. The Epsom Derby is still one of the most prestigious events in the horse racing calendar.
Is that Frith’s painting? My first introduction to the Derby was a jigsaw of that picture, and I was astonished at the sheer variety of people there, it all looked so decadent. I recently read Nicholas Foulkes’ book, Gentlemen and Blackguards, about the plot to steal the Derby of 1844 and the fall into disrepute of horse racing from being a ‘gentleman’s’ sport to one of the people. It was a brilliantly fun and shocking read, I’d highly recommend it.
Hi Marguerite! Yes, that’s the Frith painting. What fun to have a jigsaw of it!
I hadn’t realised that The Derby was such an intergral part of “The Season” but of course racing was also a very democratic sport in the sense that all classes met and mingled at the racecourse. I’ve done quite a lot of research into it apropos of the Craven family of Ashdown, who were big racehorse owners.
I love the sound of Gentlemen and Blackguards. I’ll look out for that.