Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/168

 has been said that the bets arising from it were far in excess of anything that had been previously known. Several estates changed hands after the event, and so many gentlemen were completely ruined that, if Whyte (Hist. of British Turf, i. 397) may be believed, it was in consequence of the vast sums lost that the act (9 Anne c. 14, s. 3) was passed, forbidding the recovery of any sum due through bets above 10l. Frampton's horse was again beaten, and his losses must have been considerable. He had before known what it was to be in want of money, for in a letter dated September 1690 he says he ‘shall be for a fortnight tumbling up and down in Dorset and Wiltshire till I have got up some money to make up part of my engagements; but I doubt shan't all,’ and it may have been at this defeat of his horse by Merlin that he made over the family estate, to which he had succeeded on the death of his brother William in 1689, to his cousin Giles Frampton, the next heir, in consideration of 5,000l. down. But the dates of both the match and the transfer of property are unknown, though the latter took place some time prior to 1702.

It was probably in 1695 that Frampton first assumed the duties of the position ascribed to him on his tombstone of ‘keeper of the running horses to their sacred majesties William III, Queen Anne, George I and George II.’ In October of that year he won with the king's horse the town plate at Newmarket, and in the accounts of the master of the horse for the same year there is mention of a payment to him ‘for settling the establishment of racehorses at the Green Cloth and Avery, and for a plate at Newmarket.’ In 1700 he first appears in Chamberlayne's ‘Angliæ Notitia’ (pt. iv. p. 506), as receiving 1,000l. per annum as supervisor of the racehorses at Newmarket, for the maintenance of ten boys, their lodgings, &c., and for provisions of hay, oats, bread, and all other necessaries for ten racehorses. From that date till his death he regularly received a salary, which sometimes, however, dropped as low as 600l., the amount apparently being reckoned at 100l. for every horse in training. It is not now possible to ascertain the precise nature of Frampton's duties. He certainly trained the royal horses, and made matches for them, and they generally ran in his name. He continued to breed horses on his own account, some of which he used to dispose of at high prices to the master of the horse, and he remained a steady and persistent gambler. That part of his time which was not given up to horses was devoted to hawking, coursing, and cock-fighting. He was particularly successful with his cocks, and his taste was largely shared by his royal master, William III, who, during his visits to Newmarket, spent many of his afternoons in watching his trainer's cocks do battle. Frampton kept his post till his last day, which was 12 March 1727. He was buried in the church of All Saints, Newmarket, where on the south side of the altar is a mural monument of black and white marble inscribed to his memory.

Notwithstanding the comparative humility of Frampton's position there were few men of his time who enjoyed more widespread notoriety through the country. The author of ‘Newmarket, or an Essay on the Turf,’ London, 1771 (attributed by Cole to Mr. Anstey of Trumpington), thus describes him (p. 171 n.): ‘I cannot here omit to instance the famous song which begins— Four and twenty Yorkshire knights Came out of the north countree, And they came down to Newmarket Mr. Frampton's horses to see. At the same time I take this opportunity of paying my respects to the memory of old Frampton. This gentleman (whose picture may be seen in many a house in Newmarket) was as great an oddity as perhaps ever was heard of. He was a known woman hater, passionately fond of horse-racing, cocking, and coursing; remarkable for a peculiar uniformity in his dress, the fashion of which he never changed, and in which, regardless of its uncouth appearance, he would not unfrequently go to court and enquire in the most familiar manner for his master or mistress, the king or queen. Queen Anne used to call him Governor Frampton.’ Another writer quoted by Whyte (British Turf, i. 398), in an account of Newmarket in the reign of Anne, remarks: ‘There was Mr. Frampton, the oldest, and, as they say, the cunningest jockey in England; one day he lost 1,000 guineas, the next he won 2,000, and so alternately. He made as light of throwing away 500l. or 1,000l. at a time as other men do of their pocket-money, and was perfectly calm, cheerful, and unconcerned when he had lost a thousand pounds as when he won it.’ Noble (additions to, ii. 387) gives further testimony to his qualities. It has been said of this man that he was ‘a thorough good groom only, yet would have made a good minister of state if he had been trained for it … Frampton was supposed to be better acquainted with the genealogy of the most celebrated horses than any man of his time. … Not a splint or sprain, or bad eye, or old broken knee, or pinched foot, or low heel, escaped in the choice of a horse.’ On the other hand he is tersely dismissed as a mere tout by Sir George Etherege in the couplet:—