Richard Vernon

Richard Vernon (18 June 1726 – 16 September 1800) was a British individual involved in horse breeding and training, as well as a politician who served in the House of Commons.

**Early Life**

Vernon was born on 18 June 1726 as the eldest son of Henry Vernon, Member of Parliament of Hilton Park, Staffordshire. Around 1743, he undertook a Grand Tour of Italy and France. In November 1744, he joined the British Army as an ensign in the 1st Foot Guards. By 1747, he held the rank of lieutenant and captain. By 1751, Vernon had developed an association with the Duke of Bedford.

**Involvement in Horse Racing**

Vernon was one of the original members of the Jockey Club. Evidence of his early involvement in horse racing appears in June 1751, when a wager between Lord March and Vernon was recorded at White's Club. Due to his friendship with the Duke of Bedford, Vernon was blackballed at White's in 1752. Horace Walpole described him as a sociable, good-humored young man close to fashionable circles. Sometime after this, Vernon moved to Newmarket, engaging in a racing partnership with Lord March, known as "Old Q." Thomas Holcroft, a dramatist, worked as a stable boy in Vernon's stables for two and a half years and noted Vernon as a "gentleman of acute notoriety on the turf." Vernon bred and trained horses, recognized for his skill in placing matches and racing.

**Political Career**

Vernon's political career was largely influenced by the Duke of Bedford, and he generally held positions that provided financial benefit with limited independent activity. In the general election of 1754, Vernon was unsuccessful at Camelford but was elected as Member of Parliament for Tavistock in a December 1754 by-election. He married Evelyn, Countess of Upper Ossory, widow of John Fitzpatrick, 1st Earl of Upper Ossory, and daughter of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, on 15 February 1759.

Following his marriage, Vernon received an Irish sinecure position as Clerk of Quit Rents in Ireland, supplemented by an annual pension of £500. He was re-elected at Bedford in 1761, and served as clerk of the Green Cloth starting in April 1764 until July 1765, with reinstatement in 1768. He was re-elected at Bedford in 1768, though elections became contested due to the enfranchisement of freemen in the town. In 1774, Vernon was moved to the safer seat at Okehampton, held until 1780, when he was re-elected for Bedford again. His public reputation in 1781 was described as someone with moderate talents, skilled in horse racing, and as a silent supporter of the ministry. In 1784, he secured a seat in Newcastle-under-Lyme and retired from Parliament at the 1790 general election.

**Horse Racing Achievements**

Vernon owned and bred numerous racehorses, competing successfully at Newmarket. He won several notable races, including the first Jockey Club Challenge Cup with his horse Marquis in 1768 and the Oaks with Annette in 1787. His stable housed Diomed, the first winner of The Derby, and Emigrant, who won the July Stakes in 1796. He personally rode in races, including a gentleman-jockey race at Newmarket in 1758. Vernon owned the lease of the Jockey Club’s coffee-room at Newmarket, which he purchased in 1771 and held the ground lease until it was purchased by stewards sixty years later.

**Later Life and Other Interests**

Vernon accumulated wealth through betting and horse breeding, transforming a modest inheritance of three thousand pounds into a fortune of approximately one hundred thousand pounds before ceasing ownership activities. He is noted in horticultural records for introducing fruit-forcing techniques, with his peaches at Newmarket gaining particular recognition.

**Death and Family**

Richard Vernon died on 16 September 1800. He married Evelyn, Countess of Upper Ossory, on 6 February 1759, with whom he had three daughters: Henrietta (who married George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick), Elizabeth, and Caroline Maria (who married "Bobus" Smith). His daughter Henrietta married into the Greville family. Vernon's nephew, Henry Hilton, continued his sporting traditions and was listed among the first official members of the Jockey Club in 1835.