Sandown Racecourse by Mr Stephen Wallis, Racecourse Manager

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Monograph No 23 November 1994

Sandown Racecourse by Mr Stephen Wallis, Racecourse Manager.

Sandown Racecourse was once farmland attached to Sandon Priory, whose entire bretheren died of the plague in 1338. We can only assume that it remained farmland until the 1860s, since there is no record of dramatic happenings in the intervening 500 years.

In 1870 the land came up for sale, and a battle royal ensued. Esher had a population of roughly 1800 people at the time, who were filled with horror when they were faced with the possibility of the construction of either a lunatic asylum, or a small town 'complete with a fine church', or, most radical of all, a racecourse to be run by a group of young London Society men who were friends of the Prince of Wales. Incredibly, quite a few people fought long and hard for an asylum in preference to a racecourse, because at the time the racecourse epitomised all that was worst about low-life: cheats, crooks and welshers mixing together to pursue both business and pleasure of any kind.

The idea of actually building a racecourse was considered preposterous - particularly on the basis that it would attract the Gentlemen and Ladies of London Society, when it was well-known that such venues were full of the roughest, foulest-mouthed, and coursest members of society, and certainly no place for a lady.

But Sir Wilfred Brett and his young partner Hwfa Williams had already thought their arguments through, and they won the day. How different Esher's history might have been had they lost.

Sandown Park Racecourse held its first meeting on 22nd April 1875, and immediately stunned press and public alike with social innovations that helped overcome previous scepticism about the whole racecourse plan. A boundary fence costing £2000 had been erected to enclose the whole estate so that everybody who came racing that day had to pay an admission fee - nobody had ever had to pay to go racing before; but it meant that the public now had a stand from which to both watch the races, and have a drink. At a single stroke the concept of giving 'more for more' was born. The equally badly behaved, but wealthier race-goers' excesses were reined in by building a separate French designed grandstand, and forming a club to which ladies would be admitted as guests - a radical innovation at that time. Brett and Williams wanted to attract society gentlemen to their club by allowing them to bring their wives and daughters with them. One hundred and twenty years later there are still gentlemen's clubs in London that refuse women entry at all.

Brett and Williams must have been remarkable personalities because they very quickly succeeded in establishing Sandown as 'the ladies racecourse, par excellence'. By 1879, the club had 1800 members - the same figure as the number of residents in Esher, ten years previously. They never lost their zeal for improving the appearance of their club, and when Kensington House in Kensington Gore was to be demolished, they acquired the ornamental gates that can still be seen from the Portsmouth Road.

The club concept alone was not enough to make Sandown Park the success that it became. Williams was a remarkable innovator in the variety of races that were run - he had Sandown laid out for both NH and flat racing. The Grand National Hunt meeting was moved from its previous venue in Rugby, which was far from universally approved by the hunting fraternity at first.

Royal patronage was obviously a great bonus to Sandown, and there was widespread delight when Hohenlinden, a horse owned by the Prince of Wales won the Grand Military Gold Cup of 1887. Unfortunately, the horse was disqualified following a successful objection on the grounds that as the Prince was not an officer on active service, his horse was ineligible to run.

As Sandown Park grew in social importance, so Brett and Williams became more involved in the local community. Brett was a churchwarden, whose brother became Lord Esher. Williams remained in charge of the racecourse for fifty years, until his death in 1926. Between them they began the process of integration with the people of Esher.

In 1887, 1500 people took part in the procession to celebrate Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Led by the Rector, the Duchess of Albany and the young Duke and Princess Alice, a long procession snaked its way through the village, to be honoured with a Royal Salute in the Sandown Paddock. The Esher band, cricket team and volunteers from the fire brigade all took part. Tea was served for all 1500 people on the lawns. Medals were given to all the children; obstacle races, tugs of war and general sports competitions were held - the winners were presented with a Jubilee threepenny piece. The whole party ended with a torch-light procession to a bonfire on the green.

For some reason, Williams was not keen to encourage further sports days, but the community continued to have access to the course facilities, with flower shows being an annual event.

On 6th November 1909, Sandown Park was the stage for Paulhan, one of the early aviators, when he attempted to beat the altitude record. The event was well publicised in advance, and drew a huge crowd. Paulhan broke the official record of 601 feet, but failed to reach the unofficial one of 720 feet - not surprising, considering he was flying a machine that weighed half a ton, at a mere 30 miles an hour! A few years later Paulhan was to be the first man to fly from London to Manchester.

The mood of the country changed with the outbreak of the Great War, and much of the park area in the centre of the racecourse was ploughed up and sown with crops. The army came too, with both the Royal Engineers and the recently formed Welsh Guards being based there. The latter were to cement