James (Ben) Bartholomew was born in his father’s hotel, the Cock Inn, at Kentford, near Newmarket, in March 1824. His father was from Doncaster but had married and settled in Kentford. The hostelry, some four miles from Newmarket on the Bury road, was well known to the Chifneys, Arnulls, Wheatley, Goodisson and others of the old school of jockeys as the turning point in many a weary walk.
James became apprenticed to Bill Ridsdale at Newmarket but only for a few months. Ridsdale lost most of his horses and James was put out of work. However, with a recommendation from his former employer, he was taken on by Joseph Rogers under whom he completed his apprenticeship.
He had his first ride in 1841 and, carrying 6st 12lb, won his first race at Newmarket on a mare called Barbara, owned by Mr Stanlake Batson, who’d also owned Derby winner Plenipotentiary. Then, at Newmarket’s Second Spring Meeting, he won the Suffolk Stakes on Mr Petit’s Langolee, carrying 5st 11lb.
James had his first ride in the Derby in 1843 on Mr Harvey Coombe’s Fakeaway, sporting Coombe’s famous purple and white colours. Other leading men he rode for included Lord Derby and Squire Osbaldeston. He also rode Midas, perhaps the smallest thoroughbred ever trained.
He won the 1845 New Stakes at Ascot for Lord Lonsdale on the 12-1 shot Joy, beating the then-renowned Sting by a head with a very large field behind them. In the autumn that same year he won the Grand Duke Michael Stakes on Jericho, beating George Edwards on the handsome Idas by a head.
The following season, again riding Jericho (which he later declared to be his favourite mount) he won the four-runner Port Stakes beating Old England (Sam Day), Miss Elis (Nat Flatman) and Idas (Jem Robinson).
Riding for Monsieur Reiset, James won the 1854 French Derby on Celebrity, trained by Thomas Carter senior. He also won the 1855 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot on Paletot. However, his banner year came in 1856 when he won the Ascot Gold Cup on Winkfield, the Coronation Stakes on Victoria, and a second successive St James’s Palace Stakes, this time on Pitapat.
A promising career was effectively ended just weeks later at Goodwood. On the first afternoon of the meeting he was successful on both Fazzoletto for Lord Derby in the Gratwicke Stakes and Imperinse for Mr Newland in the Lavant Stakes.
The following day, riding Hungerford for Lord Rothschild, he was involved in a dreadful pile-up in the Goodwood Stakes. At the turn near the Craven starting post, Chevy Chase ran on the bank then fell back onto the course, bringing down seven horses. James – and Mundy riding Jolly Marine - were so severely injured that both were rushed to Chichester Infirmary, where they remained for several weeks.
A subscription amounting to £450 was subsequently divided between them and Ashmall and Heurden who were also, hurt, albeit less seriously.
This was James’s second serious head injury – when crossing a meadow as a child with his mother, a cow had run at him, knocking him down and stamping on his head.
He spent the winter recuperating, planning to resume his career the following spring. However, weight, increasingly gained during his lay-off, put paid to that, and James was only offered two mounts during the early part of the year. The first of those was on Pitapat, carrying 9st for his old employer Harvey Coombe. The second was on his Gold Cup winner Winkfield, who carried 9st 3lb at Newmarket on April 27, 1857. James took a heavy fall from the horse on the way to the start when his stirrup broke; he remounted and finished unplaced. On dismounting, he announced his retirement from the saddle.
In 1858 he took over as landlord of the Crown Hotel at Newmarket (previously kept by Mrs Georgina Bloss). On Wednesday, 10 January 1866, he held an invitation ball there, at which 150 people attended. After a splendid supper, dancing commenced at nine and continued right up until five o’clock the following morning.
By 1884, he was helping his father out at the nearby White Lion Hotel.
James died at 7 a.m. on Saturday, April 16, 1887. He was 63 and left £1,368. He was buried on Thursday, April 21 at Newmarket Cemetery.
Discussing James sometime later, a friend observed: “He was a curious fellow – a shy, old, reserved sort of man.”
In 1884, Annie Ward, a domestic servant from Borough Green, was charged with stealing a silk handkerchief worth five shillings from James at the White Lion Hotel. She was fined a pound.
