Essay

Considerable interest is attached to the silver-gilt cup which The Hon Gilbert Johnstone, in 1924, gave to the York Race Committee for the Gimcrack Club.  The cup was won by Mr Johnstone’s great-uncle, Admiral Vernon Harcourt in 1848 with Ellerdale, a mare he bred, the winner of the first Gimcrack Stakes at the York meeting of 1846, and fifteen of the thirty races for which she started.  Admiral Harcourt was a son of the famous Archbishop of York, himself a fine horseman and a master of hounds when Rector of Bolton Percy (village near York).  The Admiral first registered his colours – grey jacket with red hoop over the shoulders – in 1843, when still a captain.  In 1854 he changed his racing livery to French grey jacket, red cap.  In his day, as long before, the Richmond Gold Cup was a coveted racing trophy in the North, as were those at York, Doncaster and Beverley. They all came into being about the same time, that at Richmond being first run for in 1759.  The course on the High Moor was given up in 1765 in favour of that near the town, of which many of us still have happy memories, the final gathering thereon not being till 1891.

The Richmond meeting of 1848 began on the last day of October with a very full programme.  The old days and old ways had gone for ever, with the exception that the Town Plate was run in three heats.  There were seven races on the first day, and amongst the jockeys riding were Templeman (who steered four winners and a second), Osborne, Basham, Cartwright, Winteringham (whose family was later closely identified with the Croft Stud), G Abdale, J Marson, Arnold, and Holmes.  Runners were plentiful and once more Inheritess (giving over three stones to the second and third) won the Richmond Handicap.  Mr Meiklam also secured the Wright Stakes with Raby, whilst Mr Dinning’s Railway King (later George Hudson), by Colwick, came in first for the Gold Cup, but having carried weight as a maiden to which she was not entitled, the Cup was given to Captain Harcourt, whose brown filly, Ellerdale (carrying 2 stone more) was second. Admiral Vernon Harcourt bred Ellerdale (by Lanercost) and was ridden by T Lyle.  He lived at Swinton Castle, Masham, and in 1856 won the Derby with Ellington, out of Ellerdale

Octavius Henry Cyril Vernon Harcourt (25 December 1793 – 14 August 1863)

He was a British naval officer and the eighth son of Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, Archbishop of York, and began life as Octavius Henry Cyril Vernon at Rose Castle, Cumberland. On 15 January 1831, succeeding to the properties of William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt, the father's cousin, the family assumed the additional surname of Harcourt

Naval career

Harcourt entered the Royal Navy in August 1806 as a midshipman on board the 74-gunTigre, under the command of Captain Benjamin Hallowell. In 1807 he took part in the expedition to Egypt, witnessing the surrender of Alexandria and was employed on boat-service on the Nile. During the blockade of Toulon, he took part in the action of October 1809 which led to the destruction of the French ships Robuste and Lion. After Hallowell's promotion to rear-admiral in August 1811, Harcourt followed him into Malta. He served in Malta in the Mediterranean, co-operating with the troops on the south-east coast of Spain, and serving in the batteries at the siege of Tarragona in 1813. He was promoted to lieutenant on 11 January 1814 and joined the Mulgrave under Captain Thomas James Maling. While off the coast of Italy, he landed with a party of seamen and marines near Piombino, captured a martello tower and brought out or destroyed a convoy which was anchored under its protection.

During the Hundred Days, Harcourt served aboard the frigate Amelia, under Captain the Honourable Granville Proby, in the blockade of Elba, and when the news of the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo arrived, was sent with a Major of the Tuscan army to summon the town of Porto Ferrajo to hear the announcement. Amelia was paid off in December 1816, and Harcourt remained on half-pay until February 1818 when he was appointed to the Sir Francis Drake, the flagship of Sir Charles Hamilton, governor of Newfoundland. There, in February 1820, he was appointed commander of the sloop Drake, and also commanded the Carnation for a short time the same year. He then served in the West Indies, commanding Britomart from June 1824, and Primrose from May 1825, until finally returning to England in July 1827.

He was promoted to captain on 7 August 1827, and was selected by the Duke of Clarence, the Lord High Admiral, to act as his aide-de-camp aboard the royal yacht Royal Sovereign during an inspection tour to various naval ports. He received his last appointment in March 1834, commanding North Star to Buenos Aires, and was then employed in surveying the coast of central America and the Californias, before finally returning home in October 1836.

On 26 October 1854 he was promoted to rear-admiral on half-pay and on 10 June 1861 to vice-admiral on the retired list.

Charitable works

He was appointed High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1849. He built at his own expense and endowed a church at Healey, near Masham in North Yorkshire, another church at Brent Tor, Devon and restored the parish church of Masham. In 1858 he erected in Masham six almshouses which he endowed with £1,775 three per cent government bond (called Consols).

Marriage and death

He married, on 22 February 1838, Anne Holwell, second daughter of William Gater, and widow of William Danby of Swinton Park, near Masham in Yorkshire. He died at Swinton Park, Yorkshire, on 14 August 1863. His widow Anne died on 26 June 1879, devising her Yorkshire estates to George, fifth son of Sir Robert Affleck, Bt., a relative of William Danby's mother, who then took the name Danby.

The Hon. Gilbert Johnstone (originally Gilbert Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone) (25 September 1865 - 5 January 1949) was a stockbroker, company director and politician.

The third son of Harcourt Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone, 1st Baron Derwent, a Liberal Party Member of Parliament, and Charlotte née Mills, he was born on the family estate of Hackness in Yorkshire.

He married Rachel Douglas-Pennant, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. Archibald Charles Henry Douglas-Pennant and Hon. Harriet Ella Gifford, on 21 January 1897. A resident of Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, Johnstone was a leading member of the Conservative Party in the City of London. On three occasions he was a member of the London County Council as a member of the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform Party. From 1907-10 he represented Shoreditch, Haggerston, from 1911-17 he represented the City of London and from 1924-25 served as an alderman.  A member of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers, he was admitted to the freedom of the City of London in 1912.  He retired to Oxfordshire where he died, aged 83.