William Burley

William Burley

Article by Alan Trout

Having ridden briefly on the Flat without success, William Henry Joseph Burley did much better over jumps, recording 15 wins between 1915 and 1924. 

Apprenticed to William Johnston, he had his first ride in public when finishing unplaced on his master’s three-year-old colt Highercombe in the historic City Bowl at Salisbury on May 24, 1906. He had finished riding on the Flat by the end of 1907.

Granted a jockey’s licence for the 1914 National Hunt season, William rode his first winner on January 23, 1915 at Windsor, a fixture which had survived awful conditions, with the previous day’s racing having been postponed 24 hours because of snow and the next day’s card abandoned, as was common practice at the time. There were only three runners for the Datchet Handicap Chase but one of them, Periwinkle, was ridden by the reigning champion jockey Jack Anthony, while another, Drimineer, was ridden by William J. Smith, who had won the 1914 Grand National on Sunloch. The third runner was Cavero, the mount of William Burley. Despite having by far the least experienced partner in the race, Cavero proceeded to win by 30 lengths from Periwinkle, with Drimineer being pulled up. 

William rode five more winners that year, including a double at Warwick. However, he did not visit the winner’s enclosure again until 1921 – presumably he had been involved in World War One in between – when he won five more races, including three in six weeks on the 10-year-old selling chaser Green Buttons, trained by Ted Gwilt at Lambourn. He failed to ride a winner in 1922 but had three the following year. 

William’s final win was at the Isle of Wight meeting on May 8, 1924, when Ormskirk won the Freshwater Selling Chase by two lengths from Turning Point, the mount of  Billy Parvin. 

He continued to hold a licence until the 1928/29 season. Sadly, he suffered a dreadful fall when schooling a horse over hurdles on the gallops at Lewes on March 27, 1929, His mount refused at a hurdle, threw William and trampled on him, fracturing his spine. He succumbed to his injuries on Friday, April 5, 1929.  

William Burley’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Cavero, Windsor, January 23, 1915

2. Predominant, Warwick, February 3, 1915

3. Dabber, Warwick, February 3, 1915 (dead-heat)

4. Dabber, Warwick, February 4, 1915

5. Cavero, Gatwick, March 4, 1915

6. Frejus, Hereford, April 5, 1915

7. Green Button, Windsor, January 12, 1921

8. Green Button, Birmingham, February 14, 1921

9. Green Button, Newbury, February 24, 1921

10. Oilcloth, Hawthorn Hill, March 15, 1921

11. John Stripes, Beaufort Hunt, April 5, 1921

12. Master Tommy, Huntingdon, April 2, 1923

13. Irish Light, Wye, May 14, 1923

14. Bay Malley, Isle of Wight, September 26, 1923

15. Ormskirk, Isle of Wight, May 8, 1924