Museum Treasure Summer 2011

The Nine Light Candelabrum Centrepiece presented to Admiral Rous

On loan from Jockey Club Estates and on display in Gallery 1

On 18^th June 1866 friends and colleagues of Admiral Henry John Rous gathered at Willis’s Rooms in London to celebrate twenty-five years service to the Turf. The gifts to Rous were a portrait of himself by Mr Weigall and three candelabra. The centrepiece of those candelabra now stands in Gallery One on loan from Jockey Club Estates.

The design of that centrepiece celebrated the life and character of Admiral Rous. It is a nine light candelabrum surmounted by a statuette of The Honourable H. J. Rous in Admiral’s uniform, with elaborate branches decorated with scrolling acanthus, raised on a central column that is mounted on a square plinth. The total height is 50½ inches (128.3cms). The maker was Messrs. Hunt and Roskell. Around the column stand four Greek goddesses representing Justice, Wisdom, Courage and Navigation. The panels of the base show HMS Pique, an ordinary horserace, the Admiral’s coat of arms and fourthly, an inscription reading ‘From the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the English and Foreign Turf 1866, In Memoriam of 25 years valuable, zealous and disinterested service’. The plinth stands on a quatrefoil platform applied with six racehorses and two foals.

This candelabrum demonstrates the supreme skills of the modeller and the technical skills of the silversmith. It was produced for someone who was obviously held in high regard and at a time when Britain could think that it ruled the world and would continue to do so. Its design incorporated classical themes in a period when an education in the Classics was considered important. And such ornate sculpture was typical of the racing trophies that were produced at the time, some of which can be seen in the gallery.

Horseracing dominated the life of Admiral Rous and he dominated horseracing during his time as a Steward of the Jockey Club. His father, the first Earl of Stradbroke, had a small stud in Suffolk, which is where he developed his love of the horse and horseracing. He joined the Navy at the age of 13 in 1808 and moved through the ranks to receive his first independent command - HMS Podargus - in 1817. Rous was stationed in St. Helena from June 1817 to July 1819. While there he acted as Steward at the race meeting in September 1817 and in all attended four meetings. This was an apprenticeship for a career in race management. He was elected to the Jockey Club in 1820 but it was not until he left the Navy in 1836 that he could devote his time to the Turf.

Rous has been described as ‘friendly, straightforward both in word and in act, of unsullied integrity himself but shrewd enough to detect sharp practice in others. He was vigorous, determined and quite unafraid of responsibility’. He needed these qualities when he started as a Steward of the Jockey Club. At that time racing was full of corrupt practice influenced by high-stakes gambling. To start with he had to play second fiddle to Lord George Bentinck, who was leading his own crusade to clean up the sport. This meant that at first Rous concentrated on improving the finances of the Jockey Club increasing revenues from £3,000 to £18,000 at the time of his death in 1877. He published The Laws and Practice of Horse-Racing in 1850, which included a summary of difficult racing cases and how they were resolved, as a way of introducing consistency in judgements.

He became the stud and racing manager for the Duke of Bedford in 1840. In this capacity he built a formidable reputation as a handicapper through his ability to assess the racing merit of a horse and its competitors. He did this through close observation of races at all the major meetings. In 1851 he published his weight-for-age scale that assessed how much weight a horse should carry one against the other by month over different distances. He was appointed the official handicapper in 1855.

After his initial period in office, Rous was not formally in office again until 1858, although he had maintained his interest throughout that period. After that was re-elected as a Steward at the end of each three-year period until his death in 1877.

In summary Rous provided a link between the rough-and-ready world of horseracing in the early nineteenth century and the highly organised sport of today. In 1878 the Rous Memorial Fund was launched with the aim of building a hospital in Newmarket to care for those employed in the racing industry. Forest Heath District Council converted the hospital to warden-controlled flats in 1966. Racing Welfare now manages Rous Memorial Court.