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Caroline Agnes Horsley-Beresford (1818-1894) (Duchess of Montrose), who used the pseudonym "Mr Manton", was a notable racehorse owner, a "wildly extravagant woman" who "strode across the racing scene". She was known as the "Red Duchess", from both her scarlet racing colours (inherited from her second husband) and her habit of dressing from head to foot in that colour at race meetings. It was said of her in one of her obituaries that "few women in England create more stir in all classes of society". She betted heavily, hardly ever missed attending a race meeting where her horses were competing, and associated almost exclusively with followers of the turf.

Origins

She was a daughter of John Horsley-Beresford, 2nd Baron Decies (1773-1855) by his wife Charlotta Horsley, only daughter and heiress of Robert Horsley. Following his wife's inheritance he adopted the additional surname of Horsley in accordance with the terms of the bequest. Her grandfather was William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, Archbishop of Tuam in Ireland, 3rd son of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone, a title in the peerage of Ireland, and younger brother of George Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford. She proved herself a true scion of this famous Irish stock, the harum scarum (i.e reckless, impetuous) family of Beresford, and lived up fully to its reputation for eccentricity. "The Beresfords had all profited immensely by the Irish Church. Twenty-eight of them were pensioned on its revenues, receiving nearly $5,000,000 but the Decies had the richest pickings. The first Baron Decies was Archbishop of Tuam, which paid him $1,000,000 and both his younger sons got a fat thing from the church". "At an early age she developed a reputation for her beauty, her reckless, and her risqué doings". Her sister Louisa Elizabeth Horsley-Beresford married Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury.

Marriages & issue

She married thrice:

• Firstly in 1836, aged 18, to James Graham, 4th Duke of Montrose (1799-1874), a Scottish nobleman by whom she was the mother of Douglas Beresford Malise Ronald Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose (1852–1925) and two daughters.

• Secondly in 1876, aged 58, she married the Scottish millionaire William Stuart Stirling-Crawfurd (1819-1883), a prominent racehorse owner who in 1850 had been elected a member of the Jockey Club, the regulating body of British horseracing. He was the patron of the racehorse trainer Alec Taylor, Senior, whom he financed in 1870 in the creation of the famous Manton training stables on the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire, which Taylor established as his base. The marriage was very happy, as both parties shared the same passion for the turf and were of similar age. She continued to use the title "Duchess of Montrose" for the rest of her life. The marriage was without issue. He died in 1883 at his house in Cannes, South of France, without issue. After the death of her second husband she apparently resolved to devote the remainder of her life to two objects the winning of races and the erection of a magnificent and costly mausoleum in his memory.
• Thirdly in 1888, aged 70, she re-married to the 24 year-old Marcus Henry Milner (1864-1939), MVO, DSO, a racehorse trainer, soldier and cricketer 46 years her junior, and a cousin, both being descended from her great-grandfather Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone. The age difference was regarded as a scandal and press reactions at the news included "it is impossible to conceive the astonishment created in London society by the announcement of the marriage ... it would be impertinent to enquire whether Mr Milner had fallen in love with the Duchess or with her money". She settled an income of £5,000 per annum on him. Her family "cordially detested him". They briefly separated in September 1793 but were reconconciled in December.

Career on the turf

Her second husband Stirling-Crawfurd moved his horses from Manton to Sefton Lodge in Newmarket in Suffolk, headquarters of the British horseracing industry, originally at the Bedford Lodge stables, under the trainer Joe Dawson. They later moved their horses across the road to Sefton Lodge, which the Duchess re-named after Stirling-Crawfurd's 1878 Derby winner "Sefton". Sefton Lodge was a large house, with nearby stables, built in 1872 by the prominent racehorse owner C. J. Lefrevre "in a picturesque Italian style". In about 1883 Stirling-Crawfurd and his wife enlarged the building in the same style. Following the death of her second husband in 1883, for a while she took personal management of his racehorses. She then hired a succession of managers, including Captain Machell and Sir John Willoughby, Baronet, but having parted company with both she again took on personal management under the name "Mr Manton", as at that time women were not allowed under the rules of racing to own racehorses. Lastly her horses were managed by her son the 5th Duke of Montrose. "Almost every jockey of recognized ability had at some time or another ridden in her colors, but she had quarreled with nearly every one of them." In 1793 she sold her racing stable at Sefton House.

Builds St Agnes's Church

Her second husband Stirling-Crawfurd died in 1883 at his house in Cannes, South of France, and three years later in 1886, in his memory the Duchess built St Agnes's Church in Bury Road, next to Sefton Lodge, in which his body was buried. It is said to have the richest, most opulent 19th century interior in Suffolk, with unique examples of mosaic, tiling, stained glass and featuring a white marble bas-relief reredos showing the assumption of the virgin martyr St Agnes, holding a lamb and being lifted up to Heaven by angels from the Colosseum in Rome, the place of her martyrdom.

As patroness of the church which she had built, she had the power to hire and fire the vicar. The following story is told: The weather during one summer had been atrocious which suited the duchess, if no-one else, as she had a runner in the St. Leger which had any sort of chance only on very soft ground. She was horrified when, one Sunday, the Rev. Colville Wallis led his congregation in praying for a fine spell so farmers could gather in the harvest. She took him to one side afterwards and told him: “Do that again, and I’ll sack you.” The horse did not win, but the vicar kept his job.

Hisses at Queen Victoria

In 1839 at Royal Ascot, in co-ordination with several other noble ladies, including her mother in law Caroline Montagu (Duchess of Montrose), she hissed at Queen Victoria in disapproval at the queen's role in the scandal over the recently deceased Lady Flora Hastings, a young unmarried lady-in-waiting who had been falsely accused by the royal household of having become pregnant by a Tory courtier disliked by the queen. Lady Flora's belly had swelled which caused the queen to order a medical examination, which found that Lady Flora was still a virgin and that the rumours were false. The queen apologised to Lady Flora. The actual cause was an undiagnosed liver tumor of which she soon died. The Hastings family, prominent Tories, launched a public campaign against the young queen and her favoured Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne, and portrayed Flora as the "victim of a depraved court", with the queen "dabbling in party politics".

Character

"The Duchess was a very plain-spoken woman, and could swear roundly at a peccant jockey when she deemed that his unskillful riding demanded such verbal correction. She was cordially disliked by nine-tenths of the knights of the pigskin, and although she always liberally rewarded those Jockeys who rode her horses to victory, more than one rider 'begged to be excused' when invited to don the Manton colors". "The position the Dowager Duchess of Montrose held in society is not easy to define. Everybody, from the Prince of Wales to the tiniest mite of a light-weight rider, knew her on a race course. The Prince was to be seen at her side, hat in hand, congratulating her after the all-scarlet had just flashed past the post a winner, while the mite in passing would raise his forefinger to the peak of his cap with a 'Glad your Grace won'. Into society proper, that exclusive circle which tolerates neither eccentricity nor vulgarity if exhibited to the world at large, the Duchess went but little - for the best of all possible reasons - she received but few invitations". "The duchess was popular in the racing world, but had an acid tongue at times. She hated all handicappers, convinced that they always treated her horses unfairly. She called one, “The man who murdered his mother.” Some of her trainers did not fare much better. At one point she had horses trained by a certain Mr Peace at Lambourn, whom she described as 'the Peace that passeth all understanding'. (Philippians 4:7).

A press report of 1888 stated: "Although she is a very grand dame to the very tips of her fingers, her appearance and her dress are very extraordinary. She is accustomed to call a spade a spade, to swear and curse like a trooper at times, and to thoroughly maintain her reputation for eccentricity. Her fat and red face and dyed blonde hair are familiar figures on every racecourse, where she is known by her racing name of Mr Manton. Like old Lady Ailesbury (i.e. her sister) she is full of fun and good nature and an immense favourite at all the country houses ... her style of dress is exceedingly masculine and horsey and she displays a great fondness for loud colours".

References

1. "Phil on Friday", Mark H. Tomkins, race horse trainer
2. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
3. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal,Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 November 1894, p.5
4. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
5. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
6. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
7. "Dowager Duchess of Montrose, An Eccentric Lady of 70 Marries a Youth of Twenty Four Years", New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9172, 29 September 1888
8. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.2176
9. Baily's Monthly Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, and Racing Register, Vol.33, 1879, pp.249-50, biography
10. New Zealand Herald
11. See law suit "Stirling_Stuart v Montgomerie and others (Stirling-Crawfurd's Trustees) Stirling Scottish Court of Session, 6 Feb 1885
12. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
13. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.2176
14. New Zealand Herald
15. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
16. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
17. "Phil on Friday", Mark H. Tomkins, race horse trainer
18. Listed building text
19. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
20. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
21. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
22. See law suit "Stirling_Stuart v Montgomerie and others (Stirling-Crawfurd's Trustees) Stirling Scottish Court of Session, 6 Feb 1885
23. "Phil on Friday", Mark H. Tomkins, race horse trainer
24. http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/newmarketagnes.htm
25. "Phil on Friday", Mark H. Tomkins, race horse trainer
26. The Early Errors of the Mistaken Monarch, 2013
27. Saddles made from pigskin
28. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
29. Obituary, Indianapolis Journal
30. "Phil on Friday", Mark H. Tomkins, race horse trainer
31. New Zealand Herald

• 1894 deaths