Frederick Archer

EARLY CAREER

Frederick James Archer was born in Cheltenham on January 11, 1857 in a cottage off St. George's Place. His father William Archer was an accomplished jockey himself, the winner of the Grand National on Little Charlie in 1858, beating 15 opponents. The cottage where Fred Archer was born still stands at the end of a cobbled lane and bears a commemorative plaque.

Much of Archer's early tuition in riding took place in Prestbury, where his father became a landlord of the King's Arms in 1858 on a famous Galloway named Chow, which his father won in a raffle. In 1868 as an 11 year old boy, he went to Newmarket to be apprenticed to the trainer Mathew Dawson, one of the leading trainers at the time. He won his first race at the age of 12 at a steeplechase in Bangor-on-Dee, weighing just 4st 11lb. On 28th September, 1870, he rode his first race in public, when he steered Athol Daisy, 6st. 5lb., to victory in the Nursery Handicap at Chesterfield, winning by a length from Rattlecap and two others. His first important win was in the 1872 Cesarewitch, and his first Classic in the 1874 2000 Guineas, after which he became Lord Falmouth's retained jockey. Lord Falmouth was Dawson's principle owner and the Archer/Dawson/Falmouth combination became amazingly successful. Over half of Archer's Classic victories were for Falmouth, although it could be said that he might have won even more had he not been restricted to Lord Falmouth's horses.

Archer lived at Mat Dawson's stables, Heath House, until on January 31 1883 he married Dawson's niece Helen Rose Dawson, whose father was also a popular trainer John Dawson. He then built Falmouth House (now demolished) and Stables (now known as Pegasus Stables), naming them as a compliment to Viscount Falmouth, who held first claim to his services.

CHAMPION JOCKEY

Fred boasted a remarkable record of riding 2748 winners from 8084 rides between 1869 and 1886. During this period he was champion jockey for thirteen consecutive years from 1874 to 1886. In all he rode twenty one classic winners, including five Derbys. His Derby winners came aboard Silvio (1877), Bend Or (1880), Iroquois (1881), Melton (1885) and finally Ormonde (1886).

However, because of his height (5 ft 10in/1.78 m) he had to diet to keep his weight down. Like a lot of jockeys before and after Fred fought a desperate battle against the scales and had to resort to sweats and a strong daily purgative to ride at around 8st 6lb. His personal life which was in ruins after the death of his first child suffered another blow. In 1884 his young wife died at childbirth of his second child and Archer fell into a deep depression. His strict dieting developed into an eating disorder and was to bring on a fever and on 8th November 1886 in state of depression and delirium he shot himself in Falmouth House. He was still at the height of his riding prowess, who knows what further victories he would have gone on to achieve. The National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket displays a selection of Archer memorabilia, including the gun with which he shot himself during a fit of delirium.