Frank Parvin

Frank Parvin

1875-1953

Article by Alan Trout

Frank Parvin had 23 wins over jumps between 1899 and 1911. He had also ridden winners in Jersey as far back as 1897. 

Born in 1875, his first success came on The Venerable Bede in the Hawthorn Hill Spring Chase at that Berkshire venue on May 2, 1899. Worth £238 to the winner, it was a valuable prize in those days, when many jump races were worth less than £50 and few were worth over £100. The Venerable Bede won by four lengths from Ernie Piggott’s mount Duello. 

It was the second time Frank had ridden The Venerable Bede, having finished third the previous month in another of the year’s more valuable races, the Great Staffordshire Steeplechase at Wolverhampton.  

Despite this promising start, it was almost a year before Frank rode another winner. He had his most successful year in 1901 with nine wins including four on Dancing Laddie. However, that was followed by just one in March 1902 and then a gap of over five years before he next visited the winner’s enclosure. 

He did not ride in any major races. His final victory came at Wye on March 27, 1911, when his mount Palermo II landed the Selling Handicap Chase by a length and a half. He rode for the last time when Princess Longniddry finished unplaced in the Three Years Old Hurdle at Plumpton on December 16, 1912. 

Frank Parvin’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. The Venerable Bede, Hawthorn Hill, May 2, 1899

2. Titchfield, Plumpton, April 23, 1900

3. Ethelred, Bromyard, September 3, 1900

4. Titchfield, Folkestone, October 25, 1900

5. Dancing Laddie, Folkestone, October 26, 1900

6. Plaintain, Sandown Park, February 28, 1901

7. Tom-tit, Monmouth, March 7, 1901

8. Louis, Chepstow, March 26, 1901

9. Ruby Darling, Newton Abbot, August 6, 1901

10. Dancing Laddie, Wye, September 30, 1901

11. Dancing Laddie, Hawthorn Hill, November 8, 1901

12. Dancing Laddie, Hawthorn Hill, November 9, 1901

13. Dancing Laddie, Portsmouth Park, November 22, 1901

14. Min, Plumpton, December 11, 1901

15. Colette II, Wye, March 10, 1902

16. Exhilaration, Plumpton, November 22, 1907

17. Exhilaration, Aldershot, November 25, 1907

18. Zancig, Portsmouth Park, April 12, 1909

19. Dathi, Isle of Wight, May 14, 1909

20. Red Collar, Portsmouth Park, November 26, 1909

21. Marita, Plumpton, February 7, 1910

22. Palermo II, Lingfield Park, March 14, 1911

23. Palermo II, Wye, March 27, 1911

Frank Parvin's immediate Family Tree

Samuel Francis (Frank) Parvin was born on 24 November 1875 in Hambledon, Hampshire, 

and was baptised there on 20 February 1876. 

Aged 77, Frank died in Portsmouth in January 1953.

His parents, Samuel Parvin (1848-1926) and Hannah Barlen (1852-1918) had seven other children: 

Edward (1878-1946): Albert (1800-1969): Charlotte Mary (1883-1948) Walter (1885-1973) 

Charles Thomas (1887-1973) Julia Bessy (1891-1986) and Godfrey (born 1901).

On 28 December 1901, Frank Parvin married Annie Warrington (1877-1943) at Stoughton, Sussex.

They had four children:

Percy Leonard (1902-1922): Ellen Martha Muriel (1903-1998): Grace (born 1907) and Walter (1912-1944)