“RACING circles throughout the country, and particularly the North, together with the general public, will deplore the tragic death of James Ledson, the well known jockey, which occurred on Thursday night when he was motor-cycling between Darlington and Richmond,” said the Darlington & Stockton Times of 100 years ago this week.

Ledson, 30, had ridden 31 winners in the flat racing season that was nearing its end and was one of very few jockeys ever to have won the Northumberland Plate – “the pitman’s derby” – on three occasions: 1912, 1914 and 1923.

James Ledson, as pictured in the Daily News as it reported his deathMost of his successes were on horses trained by Major Renwick of Richmond and Mr Dobson of Middleham, and trainer Sir Henry Tate of Lancashire had just secured him on a £3,000 retainer to ride for him next season – that’s worth more than £150,000 in today’s values and was said at the time to be a record for a northern jockey.

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His death, therefore, was reported across the country.

“He used the whip only when absolutely necessary because, with his hands, he could obtain sympathy and responsiveness from a thoroughbred to an extraordinary degree,” said the Daily News, although other newspapers reported that in 1923, he had been banned for six months for excessive use of the whip in Edinburgh.

The Echo’s sister paper, the D&S, said: “In addition to his prowess as a jockey, he was known as a skilled motorist. He was the owner of a powerful Vauxhall car and a fast motorcycle.”

At shortly before 11pm, he was returning to his home in Newbiggin, Richmond, on that fast motorcycle – a “long stroke 3½hp Sunbeam” – from a visit to the pictures in Darlington when, between Middleton Tyas and Scotch Corner, he crashed into a stationary waggon, which had got lost on its way to Northallerton.

It was estimated that Liverpudlian Ledson, who was described as a fast but clever driver, was doing more than 60mph.

“The unfortunate jockey was pitched headlong under the lorry, and his machine wrecked,” said the D&S Times.

The Scotch Corner AA box in the 1960s, when it was probably a very different box to the one used in the 1924 emergencyA passing motorcyclist was a member of the AA and used his key to access the Scotch Corner AA box.

“Information of the affair was promptly telephoned to Richmond from the Automobile Association box at Scotch Corner and an ambulance was sent out,” said the many newspaper reports.

Ledson was already dead.

At an inquest a few days later, there much discussion about whether the lorry’s rear red light, which was the size of a shilling coin, was adequate, and the driver, from Leeds, promised the coroner, he’d get a better one.

“At the close of the inquest, Major Renwick personally supervised the dispatch from the Richmond hospital mortuary of the coffin containing Ledson’s remains to Liverpool, and a large crowd gathered to pay a last tribute of respect to the deceased,” said the D&S. “The touring car, on which the coffin was conveyed, was followed by the deceased’s racing Vauxhall car.”

His funeral in Kirkdale, Merseyside, was attended by thousands of mourners and the horse-drawn hearse was followed by his Vauxhall coupe which was full of flowers.

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