National Hunt jockey James William Clifton East – also known by his second Christian name William – was born in 1888 and hailed from a racing family.
He had his first ride on Gruinard, finishing sixth of eight in a three-year-old selling hurdle at Lingfield Park on December 13, 1907. Reunited with Gruinard and back at Lingfield three months later, he landed the Guest Hall Selling Hurdle on February 21, 1908, to register his first success.
His banner year was 1911 when he registered a career-best score of 14 wins and also scored a notable success on Dwarf II in the Becher Chase, winning by a length and a half and surviving an objection by the rider of the runner-up for crossing,
He achieved his greatest success over hurdles on Rosecomb in the 1925 County Hurdle at Cheltenham. Curiously, that turned out to be the last of the 60 winners he rode over jumps.
It may have been injuries that prevented him adding to his winning tally, for his final ride in public was more than four years after that Cheltenham triumph, aboard Gentle Zephyr, which ran out in the Bembridge Handicap Hurdle at the Isle of Wight on August 5, 1929.
James East died on December 22, 1952, aged 64.