Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

Fred Archer interest: A pair of Victorian silver-mounted ox-bone candlesticks,

by George Wish, Sheffield 1886,

the central bone columns with two foliate capped and pierced scroll arms each supporting an urn capital gadroon border, on thee leaf capped scroll legs terminating in ball feet, applied with a shield engraved 'F. Archer married Feb 1883' height 37.8cm and 41.3cm. (2)

This lot is sold with a framed coloured lithograph Fred Archer, in a gilded memorial frame, plus two framed photographs and record of his wins.

Provenance: purchased by William Gilbert, racehorse trainer and then by descent to the current owner.

Fred Archer (1857-1886) was an English flat race jockey of the Victorian era, and is considered by many to have been one of the greatest jockeys of all time. During his career he had 2,748 wins, which included five Derby's, four Oaks, six St Legers, three 1000 Guineas, four 2000 Guineas, The Prince of Wales Stakes three times and The Champion Stakes four times. In France he won the Prix du Jockey Club twice and the Grand Prix de Paris three times. He was the British flat racing Champion Jockey 1874-1886.

In 1883 he married Helen Rose Dawson, the eldest daughter of John Dawson. It was the celebrity wedding of the day, in Newmarket the High Street was fully decorated, and the town were all involved. For the public, an Ox was roasted whole on The Severals and a ball was held at the Rutland Arms. After the ox roast, the femurs of the fore and hind legs were mounted in silver to form two pairs of candlesticks. William Gilbert bought one of the pairs.

In 1884 the couple's son was born but died shortly after. The following year his wife died giving birth to a daughter, she was only 23.

These events sent him into a deep depression. He was 5 foot 10 tall and of slim build and his fight to keep his weight down with fasting and constant Turkish baths took their toll. In 1886 he rode St Mirin in the Cambridgeshire for the Duchess of Montrose, riding in flimsy silks on a cold November date, he caught a severe chill and became seriously ill. He developed typhoid fever, his mind began to wander and he picked up his revolver and shot himself . He was just 29 years old.