Thomas Skipworth

Thomas Lawson Skipworth, son of Captain John (Jack) Henry Skipworth, is best remembered for winning the 1862 National Hunt Steeplechase, the third year of its running, on Fidget, a hot-tempered mare bred by his uncle. The race, watched by some twelve thousand spectators, was run in heavy rain, the course a quagmire.

Aged 55 and then living at Wootton, near Ulceby, Lincolnshire, he was killed on 7 December 1897 whilst riding with the Holderness Hunt.

In the vicinity of Cherry Burton Station, Beverley, he plunged from his horse onto a road. He was given brandy at the roadside before being taken to the Bay Horse Inn, Cherry Burton, where he died.

His brother, Fitz, told the inquest (held at the Bay Horse Inn) that Thomas, who weighed fifteen stone, was a horse dealer by trade.

The horse Thomas fell from had broken both its knees in the past and had fallen in a similar race three weeks earlier. Thomas, said Fitz, was aware of this, yet took the ride nonetheless. There was a suggestion that Thomas may have had 'a fit' before falling.

He was buried on Friday afternoon, 10 December 1897, at Wootton Cemetery. He left a widow.