William Bean, familiarly known as Squire, began his working life as a horse dealer in London. He also owned a few horses which he would try out with the hounds in Neasden.
Billy 'Squire' Bean soon gained a reputation as a rider of considerable merit: some said he was even better than his close friend, the celebrated jockey Jim Mason.
He was soon in great demand. Having finished unplaced on Hotspur in the 1832 St Albans Steeplechase, he returned the following year on Captain Fairlie's Antelope to score by two lengths.
In 1834, then aged over fifty, he unsuccessfully rode the famous Grimaldi in the first Aylesbury Steeplechase in November. The gallant Captain Becher came down on Vivian at the gate, getting ducked in a river: nonetheless, he remounted to score a stunning victory.
Billy Bean also won a big steeplechase at Ware on his celebrated horse Beanstalk, said to be one of the most perfect hackneys in London. In total, he won seventeen of the twenty-four major steeplechases he competed in.
In his later years, having become too infirm to sit on a horse, he moved to Golders Green next to Jim Mason's farm.
Though very lame from sciatica, Billy Bean made old bones, eventually dying at his home in Norland Square, Notting Hill, in April 1867. His age was reckoned to be about eighty-eight years - a remarkable longevity taking into consideration that during his time in the saddle he had broken just about every bone in his body.
