The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-16 00:00:00

THE LATE MR. JOHN GULLY.

We ,ast week atinouneed the death at burnum, at
;he age of 80, of this well-known sportsman. Mr.

Gully's life is in itself a romance.

Mr. Gully was

born at Bristol in the year 1783. He was brought
tip to the trade of a butcher, but very soon evinced
a handiness in taking care of himself in sundry fistic
tOurnays with the joskins about home. His fellow
townsman, Pearce, better known as " The Chic Ken,"
came to see him in " The Fleet," when, to beguile
the time, they put on the gloves for a bout or two.
Gully did so well in this set-to that it came to be

,alked about, and ultimately he was liberated by

,he payment of the claims against him, and a match

made with The Chicken, the latter staking £6OO to
£4OO. The fight came off, after a disappointment

in the July previous, at Ha'sham, in Sussex, in Oc-
tober 8, 1805, when, after a very game battle, in
which Gully received some fearful punishment, his
friends interfered, and he was taken away in the
59th round, after one hour and 10 minutes' hard
fighting. Although beaten, Gully was by no means
disgraced, and, in fact, he became not only a still
greater favourite with the public, but on Pearce's
retirement, was ( ffered the title of Champion of
England, which, however, he resolutely :declined.
Prior to this Gregson, a Lancashire man, of great
size, and Gully's superior in height and weight, was
bold enough to dispute the Bristolian's pretensions,
and they met on October 14, 1807, in Six-mile Bot-
tom, Newmarket, to contend for 200 guineas.

Thirty•six rounds were fought with equal game-
ness on either part, and with almost equal punish-
ment, but Gully got the last rally, and another
knock-down blow rendered Gregson totally inca-

pable. It was, however, a very near thing, and
naturally enough the beaten man was anything
but satisfied. Another match was consequently
made for two hundred a side, which was decided
on May 10, in Sir Sohn Sebright's park in Hert-
fordsnire, but after nothing like the struggle
which signalised the first meeting of the men, as
Gully, from the first had it all his own way, his
science and coolness completely outgeneralling the
wild rushes of his adversary. Seldom has any such
event attracted more interest ; and on the Monday

be fore the fight the good people of Bedfordshire
when they saw the crowd of strangers invading
them fancied the French bad landed, and called out
the volunteers. At the conclusion of this battle
Gully publicly announced his intention of never
fighting again, his left arm having received a per-
manent injury in his first and more formidable en-
counter with Gregson. On leaving the Ring Mr.
Gully was for sometime landlord of the Plough, in
Carey-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields. But another ring
found attractions for him, and he very soon des
voted himself to the business of a betting man,
though not always as a better round, or layer
against horses. Indeed, at the Newmarket Craven
Meeting, in 1810, when Lord Foley's Spaniard was
got at by some of the Dan Dawson crew for the
Claret, Mr. Gully was amongst those who turned
round and laid the long odds on the favourite, upon
whose defeat, it is said, his backer burst into tears,
and declared he was a ruined man. However, in
only two years subsequently, in 1812, Mr. Gully
had horses of his own, Cardenio being the first that
ever ran in his name. He worked on gradually,
still betting round, and at one period residing at
Newmarket with such tackle as Brutus, Truth, Rig-
marole, Forfeit, Cock Robin, and others, until 1827,
when he came prominently to the fore by the pur-
chase of Mameluke, a horse that he gave Lord Jer-
sey 4,000 guineas for after his winning the Derby.
How his new owner backed Mameluke for im-
mense sums for the St. Leger, and how he was
beaten by Matilda after a fearful scene at the post,
where Mr. Gully had himself to flog his horse off,
are now matters of history. But heavily as he had
lost, the first man in the rooms and the last to
leave—never thinking of going, in fact, until every
claim had been satisfied—was Mr. Gully. Sam.
Chifney, it will be remembered, rode the crack
against Robinson on the mare, and Sykes had the
care of the Derby winner at Hambledon. A year
or two subsequent to this Mr. Gully became the
confederate of Mr. Ridsdale, and they opened well
with Little Red Rover, who in 1830 ran second to
Priam for the Derby. Thirty-two, however, was
their great year, when the confederates won the
Derby with St. Giles and the St. Leger with Mar-
grave, John Scott having the preparation of the
latter. Success, however, did not tend to cement
the friendship of the two, and their quarrel came at
last to a personal encounter in the hunting-field,
upon which Mr. Ridsdale brought an action, that
terminated in a verdict, with £5OO damages, against
Mr. Gully, for the assault. This was not by any
means the only serious altercation the latter was
engaged in, as Mr. Osbaldeston once had him' out,"
when the Squire sent a ball through his opponent's
hat ; but " better through my hat than my head,"
said Mr. Gully, as he coolly looked to the bullet's
course. During this era in his history, Mr. Gully
had purchased Upper Hare Park, near Newmarket,
of Lord Rivers, where, as we have said, he tor some
time resided ; but he sold this in turn to Sir Mark
Wood, and bought Ackworth Park, near Pontefract,
an accession which somewhat unexpectedly led to
his representing that borough in the Radical inte-
rest for some sessions in Parliament. He was twice
returned, and on the first occasion without a contest.
During his long sojourn here he also figured as a
good man over a country, and as one of the
chief supporters of the Badsworth Foxhounds.
Rarely has any man enjoyed more signal success
in his favourite pursuit ; but, as we have said
already, Gully owed much of this to his fine
judgment, especially noticeable in the way in which
he could reckon up a race horse, or pick out a
young one. Latterly, what with increasing years
and failing strength, he had gradually declined,
and having sold Ackworth to Mr. Hill, had lived
for some years at Harwell Hall, near Winchester,
though he had still property in the north, including,
we believe, some coal mines, and hence his death
occurring at Durham ; while he was buried at Ack-
worth on Saturday last. He leaves a family of five
sons and five daughters.
It was the late Mr.l3uckland, who, if we recollect
aright, when on a visit to Lord Fitz william, tells of
the impression made upon him by the appearance of
a fine handsome gentleman coming up the staircase
with a beautiful girl in green velvet on either arm
--the member for Pontefract with two of his daugh-
ters. But if we do borrow a sketch it shall be from
the pen of a sportsman, and to no other could we be
as indebted as to poor " Sylvanus," who thus por-
trayed Mr. Gully in the very zenith of his career :
" He had permanent lodgings at Newmarket, well
and tastily furnished, and dispensed his hospitality
with no sparing hand. An excellent cook, claret
from Griffiths's, with an entertaining, gentleman-
like host, left little to be desired at the dinner await-
ing us. Mr. Gully is justly esteemed, having raised
himself from the lowest paths of life to the position,
not merely of wealth, but to that of intimacy
amongst gentlemen, on or off the Turf, but still gen-
tlemen in taste, which nought but the undeviating
good manners, and entertaining, unpresuming de-
portment of Gully could for a moment, or rather,
for any length of time beyond a moment, suffer
them to tolerate. No man over possessed these
qualifications, gained through innate acutenesss,
great common sense, and a plastic disposition to
observe and benefit by the chance rencontres with the
courtly patrons of his day to a greater degree, taking
the early disadvantages he had to contend with into
consideration, than John Gully. No man could be
more above pretence, or less shy at any allusions
to his early and not very polished career than
himself. When I dined with him at New-
market, as well as upon subsequent occasion", I
was much gratified by his manly openness and lack
of all sensitive false shame on any occasional appeal
being made to the byegone. He, on the contrary,
entered freely into many entertaining portions of
his history, answered all my questions con amore,
and with perfect good nature, as to the mode of
training, hitting so as not to injure the hand,
wrestling, and other minutiae of the ring ; passing
the claret and slicing the pine, as if foaled at
Knowsley or Bretby. He had a quiet sly way of
joking on any turf affair,
on which, bear in mind,
he was as au
_fait as Zamel making a book for the
Derby. The turbot came from Billingsgate by ex-
press, and the haunch from his own park. Most
purveyed. the champagne, Majoribanks the port,