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Bill (Jockey) Peter
Text Robert Coles Photographs Robert Coles (unless stated otherwise) July 2020 We get numerous emails asking about village people from the past. One of the most regular enquiries is about Bill Peter who lived in Box during and after the Second World War. Robert Coles dug through his old photos and recalled the man and why he was such a well-known Box character. Bill was born William James Peter (Peter without an S) on 26 August 1908-1994. His family was Cornish and Bill was the seventh child of father William, a farm worker, and mother Elizabeth, who lived near Launceston in 1911. There were two more children after Bill but both died in infancy. Bill's father was a horse dealer, which may account for his love of horses and ponies. In his younger days Bill worked as a jockey and later bred horses, trained them, and ran a horse and trap around the village. Right: Bill Peter outside his stables at the riding school he ran down by the Mews at the Wharf, Box |
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Colourful Reputation
There are very many tales of Bill’s sporting achievements, none of which have been verified but all have become part of the reputation which followed him around. Here are just a few:
There are very many tales of Bill’s sporting achievements, none of which have been verified but all have become part of the reputation which followed him around. Here are just a few:
- Bill Peter, a very dear friend of everyone, was the salt of the earth and a great character.[1]
- Bill rode Hopeful, his retired racehorse, without a girth across Kingsdown from Doctors Hill for a bet.[2]
- During the Second World War, children carried water in buckets from the spring outside Box Church along the By Brook to the stables at The Wharf.[3]
- When Bill was injured by a horse, Glynn Phillips resigned his job and went full-time at the stables. When a circus came to Box in 1950s, there was a bucking bronco with a magnificent prize for anyone staying on board. Bill, a professional jockey in his time, did it but the stall refused to pay out a prize to him.[4]
- To publicise the first Box Revels on a medieval theme, Bill volunteered to drive Lady Godiva in a splendid horse carriage for publicity photos and on the actual day.[5]
Early advertisement (courtesy Glyndwr Phillips, Operation XX and Me)
Life in Box
Bill married Iris Kathleen Margereson (1906-1964) at Launceston in 1928 and they moved to this area before 1933.[6] By 1939 they were living at 1 Mill Cottages (now called Steam Mill Lane) where Bill worked as a stud groom. At one time Bill worked for Tilley & Culverwell, the Chippenham Market auctioneers.
Bill was seen regularly around the village, usually wearing jodphurs and carrying horse reins.[7] He had served in the Box Home Guard in the Second World War but it was horses that he always thought about. With Eric Bayliss, he organised and administered the Box Horse Show after 1945 which was held in Horse Field on the north bank of the By Brook, which was accessed at the foot of Valens Terrace before the bungalows were built on the site. It was an amazing success, even attracting the participation of Olympic horse rider Pat Smythe.
Bill married Iris Kathleen Margereson (1906-1964) at Launceston in 1928 and they moved to this area before 1933.[6] By 1939 they were living at 1 Mill Cottages (now called Steam Mill Lane) where Bill worked as a stud groom. At one time Bill worked for Tilley & Culverwell, the Chippenham Market auctioneers.
Bill was seen regularly around the village, usually wearing jodphurs and carrying horse reins.[7] He had served in the Box Home Guard in the Second World War but it was horses that he always thought about. With Eric Bayliss, he organised and administered the Box Horse Show after 1945 which was held in Horse Field on the north bank of the By Brook, which was accessed at the foot of Valens Terrace before the bungalows were built on the site. It was an amazing success, even attracting the participation of Olympic horse rider Pat Smythe.
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A regular sight in the village – at Hawthorn and Ditteridge (both photos courtesy Robert Coles)
Bill ran a riding school in the old stables at The Wharf, once used for the animals which worked in the stoneyards there. It attracted interest and help from many young people in the village, who volunteered to muck out the animals in return for exercising the horses occasionally.[8] Some were allowed to ride the animals to a farrier to the outskirts of Bath.[9] Bill’s reputation as a knowledgeable horseman was unparalleled and Sir Charles Hobhouse took his animals to the stables for advice and assistance.[10] By the 1980s horse and carriages were a rare sight in the village and many young people used his services to drive through the village to marry at Box Church.[11]
Not all was straightforward, however, as Bill wasn’t good with money and he was declared bankrupt in 1951.[12] His excuses for non-payment finally ran out and he was declared insolvent in an amount of £571.6s.8d. He reported a series of disasters after he opened the riding stables in Box as a business in 1943 with 9 or 10 animals and borrowing £100 as capital. In the severe winter of 1946-47, he lost six horses and two ponies – four through accidents and four by illness. He took work at Melksham for a year, then resumed the Box stables. But in October 1950 he was kicked by a horse and unable to work for a couple of months and obliged to file for bankruptcy when personal assets were seized in payment of outstanding bills.
For a while thereafter, Bill was more usually seen in the village driving his Brougham carriage pulled by a Welsh cob. He offered free rides to friends and for charity purposes and paid rides for weddings and special events, including trips to Bath.
Not all was straightforward, however, as Bill wasn’t good with money and he was declared bankrupt in 1951.[12] His excuses for non-payment finally ran out and he was declared insolvent in an amount of £571.6s.8d. He reported a series of disasters after he opened the riding stables in Box as a business in 1943 with 9 or 10 animals and borrowing £100 as capital. In the severe winter of 1946-47, he lost six horses and two ponies – four through accidents and four by illness. He took work at Melksham for a year, then resumed the Box stables. But in October 1950 he was kicked by a horse and unable to work for a couple of months and obliged to file for bankruptcy when personal assets were seized in payment of outstanding bills.
For a while thereafter, Bill was more usually seen in the village driving his Brougham carriage pulled by a Welsh cob. He offered free rides to friends and for charity purposes and paid rides for weddings and special events, including trips to Bath.
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Below: Group outing at Kingsdown
Left: Bill leading riding school (both courtesy Robert Coles) 
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Robert Coles' Memories of Bill
I first met Bill Peter in the early 1960s when we went for riding lessons at his stables in Mill Lane; not really lessons, you just sat on the horse who took you for a walk. I was not really a horse person preferring something with brakes and a steering wheel but it was the only way I could get my girlfriend to go out with me. Bill had a number of quite small, wiry ponies with rubber legs that could turn on a sixpence. They would puff themselves up as you tightened their girth to holds the saddle firm, so the saddle was firmly anchored. With their puffing up technique the saddle would slowly slide forward as they deflated. The saddle then became a little loose and the rider. In this way, as we descended through the woods from Kingsdown, I was almost astride their ears.
A loose girth was no problem to Bill as, having such a good seat, he could remain glued to the horse without any girth. He told how, cantering home from the pub in the dark one night, the horse saw the ditch and stopped. Bill didn't see it or stop and went sailing through the air, still astride the saddle.
It was not only small ponies that he had. One time, I was on-board a rather bigger ex-racehorse. Our route included the normal canter on the bridle way across Kingsdown Golf Course, until the horse shot off at speed, thinking she was on the track. Shortly,
I was on the ground, tossed over the horse’s front leg. The golfers were not best pleased, with hoof marks on the fairway. Bill was also cross, saying I should not have allowed his mare to charge off as she was in foal, unknown to me. Allow was nothing to do with me, a mere unsecured passenger. Later Bill trusted me to hold his young racehorse, maybe the product of the galloping mare, as he went into the Quarryman's Arms for a drink, the beast was thankfully content to stay still hanging onto me. I did, however, survive many rides with Bill, fell off several times and the girlfriend did marry me. The need to risk to life and limb on horse ceased.
I first met Bill Peter in the early 1960s when we went for riding lessons at his stables in Mill Lane; not really lessons, you just sat on the horse who took you for a walk. I was not really a horse person preferring something with brakes and a steering wheel but it was the only way I could get my girlfriend to go out with me. Bill had a number of quite small, wiry ponies with rubber legs that could turn on a sixpence. They would puff themselves up as you tightened their girth to holds the saddle firm, so the saddle was firmly anchored. With their puffing up technique the saddle would slowly slide forward as they deflated. The saddle then became a little loose and the rider. In this way, as we descended through the woods from Kingsdown, I was almost astride their ears.
A loose girth was no problem to Bill as, having such a good seat, he could remain glued to the horse without any girth. He told how, cantering home from the pub in the dark one night, the horse saw the ditch and stopped. Bill didn't see it or stop and went sailing through the air, still astride the saddle.
It was not only small ponies that he had. One time, I was on-board a rather bigger ex-racehorse. Our route included the normal canter on the bridle way across Kingsdown Golf Course, until the horse shot off at speed, thinking she was on the track. Shortly,
I was on the ground, tossed over the horse’s front leg. The golfers were not best pleased, with hoof marks on the fairway. Bill was also cross, saying I should not have allowed his mare to charge off as she was in foal, unknown to me. Allow was nothing to do with me, a mere unsecured passenger. Later Bill trusted me to hold his young racehorse, maybe the product of the galloping mare, as he went into the Quarryman's Arms for a drink, the beast was thankfully content to stay still hanging onto me. I did, however, survive many rides with Bill, fell off several times and the girlfriend did marry me. The need to risk to life and limb on horse ceased.
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Left: In carriage with Marjorie Hancock (photo courtesy Bob Hancock); Right: Brougham carriage rides for tourists in Bath (courtesy Robert Coles)
Conclusion
Bill was a popular figure in the village, a character who was well-respected. But this isn’t the reason he was so well known.
He reflected the history of Box, dependant on horse power, and a rural environment before the mass extraction of building stone. In the 1970s and later, he became an anachronism which appealed to our nostalgia. Thank you, Bill.
Bill was a popular figure in the village, a character who was well-respected. But this isn’t the reason he was so well known.
He reflected the history of Box, dependant on horse power, and a rural environment before the mass extraction of building stone. In the 1970s and later, he became an anachronism which appealed to our nostalgia. Thank you, Bill.
References
[1] Courtesy Bob Hancock
[2] Village anecdote
[3] Courtesy Glyndwr Phillips, Operation XX and Me, Brown Dog Books and The Self-Publishing Partnership, 2019
[4] Courtesy Clive Banks
[5] Courtesy Alan Payne
[6] Bill was fined 2s.6d for riding a horse on a Corsham footpath, Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 22 July 1933
[7] Courtesy Les Dancey
[8] Courtesy Les Dancey
[9] Courtesy Ken Rickson
[10] Courtesy Bob Alderman
[11] Such as John and Cindy Webster
[12] The Wiltshire Times, 3 February 1951
[1] Courtesy Bob Hancock
[2] Village anecdote
[3] Courtesy Glyndwr Phillips, Operation XX and Me, Brown Dog Books and The Self-Publishing Partnership, 2019
[4] Courtesy Clive Banks
[5] Courtesy Alan Payne
[6] Bill was fined 2s.6d for riding a horse on a Corsham footpath, Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 22 July 1933
[7] Courtesy Les Dancey
[8] Courtesy Les Dancey
[9] Courtesy Ken Rickson
[10] Courtesy Bob Alderman
[11] Such as John and Cindy Webster
[12] The Wiltshire Times, 3 February 1951