Biography

Christian was the son of James and Jane Christian of Cottesmore, Rutland

Cottesmore, Rutland

Cottesmore is a village in the north of the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. In terms of population it is the largest village in Rutland, and the third-largest settlement after Oakham and Uppingham. This is due in part to the presence of RAF Cottesmore.The Cottesmore Hunt takes...

. He was taken on as a groom by Sir Gilbert Heathcote

Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 4th Baronet

Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 4th Baronet was a British Member of Parliament.Heathcote was the son of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 3rd Baronet by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Hudson...

 and was subsequently employed by the Cottesmore Hunt

Cottesmore Hunt

The Cottesmore Hunt, which hunts mostly in Rutland, is one of the oldest fox hunts in Britain. Its name comes from the village of Cottesmore where the hounds were kennelled.-History:...

, of which Sir Gilbert was Master. In 1809 he set up as a farmer in North Luffenham

North Luffenham

North Luffenham is a village in Rutland, in the East Midlands of England. It lies to the north of the River Chater, east of Uppingham and west of Stamford.Located to the north of the village is St George's Barracks, formerly RAF North Luffenham....

 and in the 1820s he moved to Melton Mowbray

Melton Mowbray

Melton Mowbray is a town in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is to the northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham...

, the centre of the English hunting world. Between 1841 and 1856 he was employed by Lord Scarbrough

John Lumley-Savile, 8th Earl of Scarbrough

John Lumley-Saville, 8th Earl of Scarbrough , styled Viscount Lumley between 1832 and 1835, was a British peer and politician.-Background:...

. He died in penury on 5 June 1862.

Career

George Underhill recorded that:

It was Dick Christian’s profession to earn his living out of the hunting field. He rode in many steeple chases but was never a cross-country jockey as we understand the phrase. He bought and sold many horses, but was never a professional dealer. He was paid for giving opinions upon the merits or demerits of many horses, but he was never a veterinary surgeon. He was “hail fellow well met” with everybody from George IV

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

 to an earthstopper, and could hardly write his own name.

Among the famous races in which Dick Christian took part was the 1826 steeplechase between Horatio Ross

Horatio Ross

Horatio Ross was a celebrated sportsman and a pioneer amateur photographer.-Background and early life:Ross was born at Rossie Castle, near Montrose, Angus on 5 September 1801, the son of Hercules Ross, a rich landowner who had acquired a substantial fortune in Jamaica...

’s horse Clinker and George Osbaldeston

George Osbaldeston

"Squire" George Osbaldeston was an English sportsman and politician.Osbaldeston spent his childhood at Hutton Buscel, the family estate in Yorkshire...

’s Clasher. Christian rode Clinker and was narrowly defeated by Osbaldeston on Clasher.

William Blew's history of the Quorn Hunt

Quorn Hunt

The Quorn Hunt, usually called The Quorn, established 1696, is one of the world's oldest fox hunting packs and claims to be the United Kingdom's most famous hunt...

 recorded that:

Dick Christian's forte was making hunters. From all accounts he was not a first-class steeplechase rider; but up to a certain point in his life he had a wonderfully good nerve, and he was constantly put on rough horses with orders to turn aside from nothing, and he certainly carried out his directions. He jumped over a whole flock of sheep, and rode the mare Marigold over a most extraordinary drop fence, Marigold being a mare which had given a succession of breakers no little trouble.

Christian also played a prominent, if comical role in the famous set of prints of the Quorn Hunt made by Rudolph Ackermann

Rudolph Ackermann

Rudolph Ackermann was an Anglo-German bookseller, inventor, lithographer, publisher and businessman.- Biography :...

 in 1835:

"Who is that under his horse in the brook?" enquires that good sportsman & fine rider, Mr Green of Rolleston, whose noted old mare had just skimmed over the water like a swallow on a summer's evening. "Only Dick Christian," answers Lord Forester

John Weld-Forester, 2nd Baron Forester

John George Weld Weld-Forester, 2nd Baron Forester PC , was a British Tory politician. He served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms under Sir Robert Peel from 1841 to 1846.-Background:...

, "& it is nothing new to him." "But he'll be drowned", exclaims Lord Kinnaird

George Kinnaird, 9th Lord Kinnaird

George William Fox Kinnaird, 9th Lord Kinnaird KT, PC , was a Scottish Whig politician. He served as Master of the Buckhounds under Lord Melbourne from 1839 to 1841.-Background:...

. "I shouldn't wonder", observes Mr Coke

Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh creation)

Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester , known as Coke of Norfolk, was a British politician and agricultural reformer. Born to Wenman Coke, Member of Parliament for Derby and his wife Elizabeth, Coke was educated at several schools, including Eton College, before undertaking a Grand Tour of...

. But the pace is too good to enquire.