Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/393

 :: cum versione Latina H. T.’ 1852, 8vo.
 * 1) ‘Memoir of the late John Camden Neild of Chelsea,’ privately printed, London [1852], 8vo.



TATTERSALL, RICHARD (1724–1795), founder of ‘Tattersall's,’ second son of Edmund Tattersall of Ridge and Hurstwood, Lancashire, by his wife, Ann Varley of Laund, was born in June 1724 in the hamlet of Hurstwood, with which place his family had long been connected. Having been educated at Burnley grammar school under Ellis Nutter, he left his native place in 1745, in consequence, it is said, of his father having thwarted his ardent desire to join the jacobite rebels. Young Tattersall, who had been distinguished from an early age by his love of horses, entered the service of, second duke of Kingston [q. v.], and soon rose to be his stud-groom. Having put by a considerable sum of money, he purchased in 1766 from the Earl of Grosvenor the ninety-nine years' lease of some premises at Hyde Park Corner (then an outlying part of the town, now forming Grosvenor Crescent). There he set up as a horse auctioneer. His straightforward honesty and businesslike precision won him golden opinions. He soon numbered among his clients the chief members of the Jockey Club and the nobility, and he even procured horses for the king of France and the dauphin (his correspondence with M. de Mézières, grand écuyer du roi, 1770–84, is preserved in the French Archives, T. 132). In 1774 he sold the stud of his former patron, the Duke of Kingston, and had some difficulty in resisting the claims to the proceeds of the rapacious [q. v.] Early in 1779 he bought the famous racer Highflyer from Lord Bolingbroke for what was deemed the enormous price of 2,500l., being then described as ‘Richard Tattersall of the parish of St. George-in-the-Fields, liberty of Westminster, gentleman.’ He now started a stud farm at Dawley in Middlesex, which, together with his reputation for integrity, became the cornerstone of his large fortune. About the same time he fitted up two rooms at Hyde Park Corner for the use of the members of the Jockey Club; and these ‘subscription rooms’ soon became a most important resort of the sporting world, and the centre whence all betting upon the turf was regulated. An original copy of the ‘Rules,’ now in the counting-house at Tattersall's, bears the date 1780. Tattersall purchased the seat of New Barns, near Ely, known thenceforth as Highflyer Hall, where he regaled chosen spirits, such as the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV), Charles Fox, and William Windham, with ‘some of the best port in England.’ The prince is said to have made Tattersall his almoner for the relief of certain decayed turfites, and in honour of his patron the auctioneer erected the cupola with a bust of the prince as a youth and an effigy of a fox, known to many generations as ‘the palladium of Tattersall's.’ Upon him devolved the arrangements for the sale of the prince's stud in July 1786 (Memoirs of Hurstwood, Appendix). About 1788 Tattersall became proprietor of the ‘Morning Post,’ which, in spite of the clever verses of Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcott) and the attention paid to sporting matters, proved a losing venture, apart from the heavy damages (4,000l.) in which the paper was cast in July 1792 for an especially gross libel on Lady Elizabeth Lambert. The property was made over for a nominal sum in 1792 to [q. v.]

‘Old Tatt,’ as he was called in later days to distinguish him from younger members of the dynasty, died on 21 Feb. 1795, and was buried in St. George's, Hanover Square. His popularity was so widespread that he was said to be ‘free of the road, as no highwayman would molest him, and even a pickpocket returned his handkerchief, with compliments.’

One of the two portraits, of Richard Tattersall, by [q. v.], is in the possession of the present head of the firm, and depicts a solid, benevolent, rather melancholy-looking man. The veteran's hand rests on the ‘stud-book,’ and beneath is the legend ‘Highflyer not to be sold,’ alluding to the decree by which the grateful owner assured the euthanasia of the famous racehorse. A mezzotint was engraved by John Jones in 1787; a similar portrait, by Sir William Beechey, belongs to Mrs. Philpott.

By his wife Catharine, a granddaughter of James, twelfth baron Somerville, Tattersall had an only son (‘Edmund I,’ 1758–1810), who succeeded him in the business and proprietorship of ‘the Corner.’ He was well known in France, had many dealings with the noblesse, and practically founded the foreign business of the firm; he died on 23 Jan. 1810, and was buried at Northolt, leaving by his wife Elizabeth, born Wilshin (d. 1843), three sons—Richard, Edmund, and George—and one daughter. Richard Tattersall (1785–1859), known as ‘Old Dick’ to distinguish him from his son