William Boynton (died 1817)

William Boynton 

Lamberton’s racecourse was located in the Scottish Borders, three miles from Berwick. Racing was originally part of the celebrations associated with the Riding of the Bounds in May each year. However, the results were not included in the Racing Calendar until 1785, when there was a three-day meeting at the end of October. The fixture was switched to July the following year, with one race each day, run in heats, comprising two £50 plates and a purse given by the non-freemen of Berwick. 

The meetings continued, albeit sporadically, there being none between 1794 and 1802. In 1808 it was reported in the Press: “There was much company at Lamberton races, and we are informed that next year there will be four £50 plates run for and a Hunters’ stake, for which there are already ten subscribers.”

The Lamberton Gold Cup was first run in 1810, and the meeting’s popularity increased thereafter. A record crowd attended in 1813 and “it was determined that in future the meeting shall take place one clear week after Newcastle races.”

However, four years later it was reported that: “William Boynton, the celebrated jockey, fell from Lalla Rookh in the first race at Lamberton on Tuesday July 8, 1817. He was immediately bled, as was the treatment of the day, and carried to Ayton by carriage. Despite receiving every attention, he lingered until Thursday afternoon, when he died.”

Whether that tragic incident event had a material effect on the future of Lamberton races is unclear, but after the 1818 meeting the Racing Calendar ceased to publish the results, though the meeting continued mainly for farmers’ horses, with a race ball in the evening.

There was a brief revival from 1851 to 1853, then a one-day meeting on April 1, 1868, when the ‘big race’ was the Welter Handicap of £5 each, with £50 added, over a mile and a half. The main interest from a historical point of view is that it was the day when, in the hurdle race, the celebrated amateur rider Charlie Cunningham recorded his first win on Fiery Cross.

That latest revival lasted just one more year, the final meeting at Lamberton taking place on April 8, 1869, with most of the races confined to amateur riders.