William Charles Baldwin, always known as Billy, was born at Leyland Vicarage, near Preston in Lancashire on 3 March, 1827.
In 1864, now living in Tarporley, Cheshire, he made his racecourse debut, winning the Farmers' race on Get Away.
A fearless horseman, he nominated the grey Reckless as his favourite, on which he won the Tarporley Open Steeplechase in 1871.
Other regular, winning mounts included Bracket, Patty, Artesian and Balaam.
Probably his most successful day came at the Croxteth Hunt Meeting in Lancashire when he won on six of his rides.
Billy also won the West of Scotland Steeplechase on Dandy, a horse with a crooked pair of fore legs.
Billy's nerveless character can be best displayed by the following story.
Returning home to his cottage late one night, he found a dead man in his bed. Most men would have run a mile, but Billy, made of sterner stuff, merely laid himself down on the floor and slept soundly until morning.
He was then informed that there had been an accident and the man, badly injured, had been carried into the cottage where he had died. Billy's housekeeper, being frightened, had gone off to sleep in another cottage without thinking it necessary to advise her master of the presence of the unwelcome guest.
