Birmingham with Patrick Conolly Up, and his Owner, John Beardsworth 1830

Despite my love of history, I’ve never really been into family tree research. Besides, I doubt there’s much to discover – we Beardsworths probably only came down from our trees or emerged from our caves 2 or 3 generations ago. But I did know I had a 19th century namesake who dealt in horses and whose stallion Birmingham had won the 1830 St Ledger, and today a conversation with my brother led me to dig a bit deeper:

“Beardsworth (John).—Founder of the Repository, began life as driver of a hackney coach, in which one night he drove a beautiful young lady to a ball. John went home, dressed, procured admission to the ball, danced with the lady, handed her to the coach, drove her home, and some time after married her. The lady’s cash enabled him to acquire an ample fortune, being at one time worth nearly a quarter of a million, most of which, however, was lost on the turf. The Repository was the largest establishment of the kind in the kingdom, and Beardsworth’a house adjoining was furnished in most splendid style, one centre table (made of rich and rare American wood) costing £1,500.”

There’s a lot more equally-juicy stuff here. I doubt we’re related, but isn’t that the kind of ancestor you’d want?