George Stevens (jockey)

George Stevens
Occupation	Jockey
Born	1833 Cheltenham, England
Died	1871 Cleeve Hill, England
Major racing wins
Major wins as jockey: Grand National 5 times (1856, 1863, 1864, 1869, 1870)
Significant horses
Freetrader Emblem Emblematic The Colonel

George Stevens (12 June 1833, Cheltenham – 2 June 1871, Cleeve Hill) was an English jockey,^[1][2] famous for having the most wins in the Grand National.

Stevens began his riding career at the age of 16 or 17. He rode Hardwick to victory in the Grand Annual steeple chase at Wolverhampton in 1851. From the beginning of 1848 to the end of 1870 he won 76 races.^[2] He rode 5 Grand National winners: Freetrader, 1856; Emblem 1863; Emblematic, 1864; The Colonel, 1869, 1870.^[3][4] He died on 2 June 1871 after suffering a skull fracture the previous day; his horse stumbled and threw him after bolting as Stevens was quietly riding home to his cottage on Cleeve Hill.^[1]

References

1. Humphris, Edith; Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton (1912). "Chapter XVII". Adam Lindsay Gordon and His Friends in England and Australia. Constable Limited. pp. 237–244.
2. Blew, William Charles Arlington (1901). "George Stevens". A history of steeple-chasing. London: John C. Nimmo. pp. 147–149.
3. Haywood, Linda. (4 April 2008) A Big Long History of the Grand National. Popular Nostalgia. Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
4. Boase, Frederic (1921). "Stevens, George". Modern English biography: containing many thousand concise memoirs of persons who have died during the years 1850–1900. Vol. 6, L–Z. p. 617.