Regency Hot Spots: Tattersall’s

Richard Tattersall founded his namesake in 1766, the oldest blood-stock auctioneer and one of the largest in Europe (Tattersalls.com). A former groom to the 2nd Duke of Kingston, his successes allowed him to become an entrepreneuring gentleman.

Originally located in Hyde Park Corner (oft referred to as “The Corner”) just outside of London, Tattersall’s consisted of a counting house, subscription rooms, stables, covered alleys, and courtyard with a circular temple over a pump, a figure of a fox and cupola bearing the bust of George IV.

Tattersalls  was relocated in 1865 to Knightsbridge and then again in the 1970s to Newmarket, just outside of Cambridge.

Members of the Jockey Club were allowed into the two subscription rooms, and historically was for gentlemen enthralled by racehorses and betting (of course!)

Tattersall’s was widely celebrated (and still is today) as a market for racing and high-class horses.  According to the Handbook of London (1850) the days of sale were Monday all year long and also Thursdays during the height of the Season.  Prior to the Derby or St. Leger, Tattersall’s was “crowded with peers and plebeians, butchers and brokers, betting list keepers, insurers, guardsmen and prize-fighters, Manchester manufacturers, Yorkshire farmers, sham captains, ci-devant gentlemen, &c” (Timbs, 704).

In short, if you were ever in the market for horseflesh, Tattersall’s was the place.