George Cholmondeley  (Lord)

Lord George Cholmondeley, born on 3 July 1858, made his riding debut in a private sweepstakes at Lichfield in 1887. Carrying 16 lbs overweight, he finished second in a field of three.

Some eight years passed before he rode again in public. At Bangor, in 1887, he rode Catechism into fourth place in a three-mile chase.

The following week he suffered a bad fall from his hack, which fell and rolled over him on the road. Cholmondeley was gravely injured and fears for his life entertained: his career in the saddle was in much jeopardy. That autumn he went to live at Wroughton in Wiltshire: the following spring, having got his weight, which, during his illness, had increased to 13 st 7 lbs., down to a considerable extent, he began race-riding again, but this time on a bigger scale.

His first ride back, High Art, won the two-mile Hunters' Flat Race at Ludlow. Carrying 12 st 2 lbs, High Art won by half a length after a tremendous tussle with Roddy Owen's mount.

Cholmondeley rode High Art at Aldershot the next week, this time beating a hot favourite ridden by Mr Abington. For this victory, Cholmondeley used a saddle weighing just one pound, one ounce.

On to Stockbridge and Kempton where he won a race at each venue, riding the useful but difficult to ride Mon Roi. The combination was then beaten on bottomless ground at Liverpool, much to the annoyance of Cholmondeley, who had placed £900 on Mon Roi to win.

The horse ran a second race at the course the next day and Arthur Coventry, the starter and close friend, informed Cholmondeley that there was a bit of sound going close to the rails.

Cholmondeley took advantage of this knowledge to win very cleverly and, in the process, retrieve his lost stake of the previous afternoon. He'd had a second £900 on Mon Roi at 4-1.

Later that year Lord Cholmondeley won the Final Plate at Manchester before landing a double at the Beaufort Hunt Meeting on Father O'Flynn and Aintree.

He also won several Hunters' races on the flat on the very useful Weasel.

Lord Cholmondeley final winner was at Lewes in 1898 when he won on Maltravers, owned by Owen Williams.

Reflecting later on his career he said: 'I was too heavy, and began riding too late in life to do much good at it. Still, it was real good fun, and I should like to do it all over again.'

On February 20, 1923, Lord Cholmondeley was thrown from his horse while riding at Cholmondeley Castle. The horse tripped over a tree root and rolled over its rider. It was his fourth serious accident in 15 years. He suffered a broken hip and other injuries but seemed to be making progress.

Aged 64, George Henry Hugh Cholmondeley died unexpectedly three weeks later, 16 March 1923.

His Times obituary stated that he was 'first and foremost a sportsman...despite his experience and mastery of horsemanship, he was a very unlucky rider.'