Lord Charles Ker and a Mr James Milward bought Sandon Farm, at Esher, with the intent of turning it into a racecourse. Neither were hugely wealthy, and in order to take the project further Ker’s brother-in-law, General Owen Williams, became the owner of Sandown Park in 1875. The General was a member of an old Welsh family that made its fortune from copper mining. He put Hwfa (pronounced “hoofer”), his youngest brother, then in his mid-twenties, in charge of doing something with the land. Despite their lack of a title the Williamses were part of the fun-loving set that surrounded the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, in the last third of the 19th century.
In her possibly partisan autobiography It Was Such Fun – a truthful title – Hwfa’s wife Florence credits him with the idea of making it a racecourse after Owen had bought it.
Hwfa, a great organiser in spite of his youth, made Sandown an enclosed course – fenced all round – which was the first course specifically designed thus. By keeping out hoi polloi, its attraction was magnified. Its proximity to London, for carriages and by train from Waterloo, will always be an advantage, as will the natural contours that make viewing so good. The Williams’s connections ensured its financing was successful and after being built, unlike some courses it still had plenty of cash with which to put up good prizes. Good horses came, as did their owners, and a virtuous circle began. Annual members could buy two ladies’ badges at reasonable cost, one for their wife and the other presumably for a loved one.
Ker was always disgruntled that he lost control of Sandown and could not share in its huge success – and profits.
Hwfa was also a director of the Savoy group and helped its owners, the D’Oyley Cartes, amalgamate the hotel with Simpson’s, Claridges and the Berkeley. One evening he was the victim of a random gun attack by a madman in The Mall. 400 people called at his home to ask after him. He recovered, and was clerk of the course for 50 years until dying in 1926. A memorial race was run the following year. It continues, albeit moving around in the second half of the flat season, to this day.