Jackie Crouch

When, on Tuesday, October 19, 1938, apprentice jockey Doug Marks rode outsider Bresica to victory in a nursery plate at Newcastle, he received scant praise from anyone because the stable money wasn't down.

At that time, he was employed by the royal trainer William Jarvis.  One day, a batch of 25 yearlings joined the stable and Doug fell in love with one of them and begged to be allowed to be its lad. The horse was called Godiva.

This honour was duly granted and Doug would proudly lead the filly around the paddock while stable jockey John Lionel Crouch (always known as Jackie) and trainer Jarvis discussed tactics.

In June 1939, Jackie was required to ride some mounts at Newcastle.

The 25-year-old royal jockey flipped a coin to decide how to travel from the South to the northern racecourse. It landed tails, and he went by plane rather than by car.

The plane left Heston, Middlesex, on Tuesday morning on its way to Newcastle and was last seen over York.

Jackie Crouch, together with two others, died when the plane crashed into a hill near Ettersgill. Had pilot F. S. Appi flown the aircraft a few yards either side, it would have missed the peak.

It was later discovered that Crouch's wristwatch had stopped at 12.17. This was then assumed to be the time the crash probably occurred.

Many locals saw the plane come down but, because of thick fog in Upper Teesdale, search parties took three days to find the crash site. It was some miles from the nearest habitation and on rising moorland about 2,000 ft above sea level.

The bodies were taken to Moor House Farm on a hay sledge where, because of the absence of cuts and bruises, many people remarked that they looked as though they were asleep.

The pilot, Feruccio Sylvani Appi, whose father lived in Hounslow, was just 21.

The wireless operator, who also died, was James Elmslie aged 32 of Amble, Northumberland.

Jackie's funeral took place at 12.30 on Monday, 26 June 1939, at Epsom Parish Church. His body had been brought by road the day before from Yorkshire to Epsom.

Among the wreaths was one from the King.

The service was conducted by the Vicar of Epsom who was to have officiated at Jackie's wedding to Miss Betty Hives on Saturday week, which was the 19th birthday of Miss Hives.

Among those who attended were the manager of the King's horses, Captain Moore, and the King's trainer, Mr W Jarvis. Also present were Mr W Nightingale, Mr S Wootton, to whom Jackie was apprenticed, jockeys Freddie Fox and Joe Childs, and Mr Curzon Howe who was representing Mr R C Dawson, for whom Jackie Crouch often rode.

Trainer George Lambton said that his wife had told him that she was flying to Newcastle. She would have been on the ill-fated plane but George told his wife that he didn't want her to go.

Wreaths were sent by all the leading trainers and jockeys and by the lads of the local training stables.

Because of this tragedy, Doug Marks was later told 'You're not leading up Godiva today, you're riding her.'

Jackie's background:

Jackie's father, Walter Thomas Crouch, lived in Portsmouth in 1877. 

Jackie's grandfather was a shipwright.

Walter married Blanche Phillips who, by 1911, had given him 11 children. Two had died young. Jackie was born on August 13, 1915.

Jackie had served his apprenticeship with Stanley Wootton

Jackie's first-ever ride had been on Stanley Wootton's Rhum in an Apprentice Plate at Newmarket on Wednesday, April 5, 1933.

He became the youngest ever King's jockey.

Jackie was described by his many friends as 'a very nice, reserved young man and a most capable rider.'

He had known all about ponies from his earliest childhood, for his father used several in his business as a greengrocer in Deptford. It was part of young Jackie's duties to help to take these ponies out into the countryside during weekends, with the result that, when he was apprenticed to Wootton at Epsom, he was already able to sit a pony. He became one of Wootton's most successful apprentices and one of the nicest. He rode a number of winners for Wootton and later for the Royal stable.

On the day before his death, he and his wife-to-be, who was to be married on July 1st, had sent out the invitations to their wedding.

Jackie had also bought and furnished a house near Tattenham Corner, around which he had ridden many times with success.

To have so much taken away so early was truly heartbreaking.