The sudden death of Lord George Bentinck, the political leader, in 1848,
in his forty-seventh year, showed how the most ardent intellect and the
noblest frame are alike broken down by the turmoil of public life. After
a late debate in Parliament he would travel by rail many miles to hunt,
and return in time to attend the sittings of the House in the evening;
throwing a wrapper over his scarlet hunting-coat, and exercising
indefatigably the office of “whipper-in” in the House, and subsequently
leader of “the country party.” He had during these political avocations
continued his attention to racing and race-horses, declaring on one
occasion that the winning of the Derby was the “blue-ribbon” of the
turf. In August 1848 he retired to Welbeck Abbey for relaxation; he,
however, attended Doncaster races four times in one week, at which a
horse of his own breeding won the St. Leger stakes, to his great
gratification. On September 21st he left Welbeck on foot, soon after
four o’clock in the afternoon, to visit Earl Manvers, at Thoresby-park,
and sent his servants to meet him with a carriage at an appointed place.
He appeared not; the servants became alarmed; search was made for him;
but it was not till eleven at night that he was found quite dead, lying
on a footpath in a meadow about a mile from the house: his death having
been caused by spasms of the heart. In Cavendish-square has been set up
a colossal statue of this remarkable man: the pedestal simply bears his
name; his political and sporting celebrity has “waned with time; had the
awful circumstances of his death been inscribed upon the memorial, it
would have been a constant monition—a “siste viator”—of far greater
value than a political monument.
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