Our famous sons and daughters

Frederick Swindell is one of those shadowy figures who emerge from time to time of whom little is now known.

According to Great Sporting Eccentrics (1985) by David Randall, Fred was a Derby labourer who, in the mid-19th century, became one of the most celebrated bookmakers in England, probably operating from Derby Racecourse.

Although his name might not sound promising, Swindell earned a reputation for scrupulous honesty and was credited with bringing respectability to the profession of bookmaking at a time when its previous history was riddled with scandal and its reputation extremely low.

As such, Fred Swindell was dubbed by some as "The Father of Modern Bookmaking".

Unlike most bookies, he would never countenance bets on anything other than horse racing. He particularly disapproved of gambling on athletics, once advising Sir John Astley MP, who was a noted sporting gambler: "Never back anything as can talk"!

So many punters trusted Swindell that he took more bets than any other bookie of the era and was able to retire a wealthy man.

He was obviously a celebrity in the world of mid-Victorian sports but little else is known about him. So if you can fill in the gaps, contact Bygones or add your information to the YouandYesterday website above.

[edit]

FEEDBACK

Did you enjoy this article? If so, why not comment on it? Perhaps you disagree with something in it, or you know something the writer doesn't and can add some extra facts. You may want to ask a question about this article. Making a contribution is easy - either click 'edit' to insert more information or 'discussion' and then 'add comment.' This is your site. Please feel free to use it to the full and share your memories, thoughts and knowledge about Derbyshire with others.

If there is no 'edit' link showing it means the article has either previously been published in the Derby Evening Telegraph, or it has been protected by the site administrator and cannot be edited.'

Other tags that are relevant to Our famous sons and daughters

Help us to improve You&Yesterday by adding more tags to this article. Simply edit this page, find this area and add the words in a list separated by commas next to the *.

To find out more about tagging please click here.

County: Derbyshire

Return to You_and_Yesterday

Retrieved from "http://www.youandyesterday.co.uk/articles/Our_famous_sons_and_daughters"

You can edit or add to this article.