Henry John Rous
Henry John Rous ( January 23, 1795 - June 19, 1877 ) was a British admiral and sportsman who was born as the second son of John Rous, 1st Earl of Stradbroke .
He completed his school days at Westminster School and was a member of the British Navy between 1808 and approx. 1840, where he completed an officer career, led some of his own commands and received a medal of bravery. During his shore leave he organized the first regatta in Sydney in April 1827 . From August 1828 he explored the Tweed River and the Richmond River in northeast New South Wales . The area between these two rivers is now called Rous County , a tributary of the Tweed River was christened Rous River .
After quitting naval service, he married rich and was a member of the House of Commons for the Conservative Party between 1841 and 1846 . After 1846 he devoted his life exclusively to horse racing .
horse race
His father owned a stud in Suffolk and won the Two Thousand Guineas in 1815 with the stallion Tigris . Rous became a member of the Jockey Club in 1821 and one of its stewards in 1838, a position he would hold until his death. In this function he restructured the finances of the jockey club. In 1855 he was made a handicapper and in this capacity he introduced the weight-for-age system. This first handicap system , which relates the age-dependent level of development of the horse to the race distance to be completed, is essentially still valid today and can be found in general compensation in German horse racing .
Rous ran the stables of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford , in Newmarket for many years , and in 1850 wrote The Laws and Practice of Horse Racing , which further cemented his position as the leading authority on administrative matters in horse racing . Because of his reforms, which are often still effective today, Rous is considered the last and greatest dictator of British horse racing; For 25 years his word - never uttered arrogantly - was the law.
The Rous Memorial Stakes , currently a race for two-year-old horses at Ascot , were named in his honor.
Honors
The Rous River in the Australian state of New South Wales is named after him.
swell
- R. Mortimer et al .: Bibliographical Encyclopaedia of British Flat Racing . London 1978, pp. 523-525.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Louise T. Daley: Henry John Rous . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1966–2012 (English).
- ↑ theguardian.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rous, Henry John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British admiral, equestrian official and politician, Member of the House of Commons |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 23, 1795 |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 19, 1877 |