The enthusiast who started a great tradition
ANNUAL PLATE RACE FOUNDED BY LANDOWNER
AS racegoers roar on the runners in the Northumberland Plate today, they might spare a cheer for the North East landowner who started the tradition.
In 1722 George Bowes inherited the Gibside estate near Rowlands Gill, now managed by the National Trust.
He added to his wealth as a coal-owner, served as MP for County Durham, was also variously mayor of Durham and Hartlepool and developed Gibside.
Bowes also had a passion for horses and racing, and this will be one of the areas covered in an exhibition later this year to mark the 300th anniversary of George inheriting Gibside.
On June 29 in 1753 he won the first Royal purse of 100 guineas at the Newcastle Town Moor races with his bay horse Cato, which was later sold for 350 guineas.
The 1753 winnings were used to buy a silver salver, or plate, which became the trophy for the Northumberland Plate, or Pitman’s Derby.
The original plate, which is held in Newcastle Civic Centre, incudes an inscription describing how Bowes “generously presented it (the race prize) to ye
Corporation to purchase a piece of plate.”
The Bowes family had long bred horses at their ancestral home at Streatlam Castle, near Barnard Castle. In 1710 the family bred a stallion, White Arabian, which is one of three stallions considered to be the progenitors of all modern bloodstock.
In 1726, George Bowes decided to demolish the existing stables at Gibside, employing the leading architect Daniel Garrett, to design a lavish new Palladian stable block.
According to research by Gibside history guide Ruth Wiltsher in 1742, the Gibside estate had 48 horses for various purposes.
She said: “George was very active in developing horse racing in the north of England.”
He also gave £2 towards a plate to be run for on Whickham Moor.
Gibside general manager Mick Wilkes said: “Newcastle Plate Day is a fabulous part of the region’s heritage. The Pitman’s Derby has a long tradition but what people probably don’t realise is that Newcastle’s Northumberland Plate and one of England’s best surviving 18th century landscapes are intrinsically linked, with the silver salver plate originating with George Bowes.”