Charles Egerton

1846 - 1912

The eldest son of Mr. E. C. Egerton, M.P. for North Cheshire, Charles Augustus Egerton was born in London in 1846, and was educated first at Harrow then at Christchurch.

Tall and somewhat hefty, he had little chance of making a very great name for himself as an amateur. He rode his first winner on Cromwell at Cushendun, Christchurch. Other regular winners for him included Gamesome, Refugee, Ulster and Ivanhoe, all good hunter-chasers. He also very occasionally rode on the flat, the nearest he came to winning some sort of decent prize was when finishing third on Birthday in a Chester Cup.

The chestnut gelding St Aubyn was a hard puller and of somewhat unpleasant nature: having bought it from Tattersall's for 145 guineas, Charles decided that the horse was too much for him. He allowed his friend T. Pickett to ride him in the 1873 Croydon Metropolitan, a big steeplechase at the time. Conquering the horse's quirky nature. Pickett scored a resounding victory. St Aubyn was eventually sold to Mr J. M. Richardson of Little Brocklesby, and it was here it died, a friendly bullet terminating an interesting career.

Charles's last winner was his own Ivanhoe at York in 1878.

In 1889, he was elected a Member of the National Hunt Committee.

Charles died at his Sussex residence, Mountfield Court, Robertsbridge, on Sunday, 13 October 1912, his funeral taking place on Wednesday, 16 October, at Robertsbridge.