Albert Edward Cammidge OBE was twice mayor of Doncaster and for about thirty years the Chairman of the Council’s Race Committee, a phrase which had a very different meaning in that era. A railway foreman by trade and a traditional Labour man politically, he was energetic and enterprising about the racecourse, although that enterprise wasn’t always rewarded.
The St Leger had been moved from its traditional Wednesday to Saturday in 1947 in response to a request from the government, aiming to avoid losses in industrial production arising from large numbers of workers taking time off. On behalf of local traders Cammidge pressed repeatedly for its return to a Wednesday, but to no avail until 1955. The meeting fluctuated between Tuesday-Friday with the Leger on Wednesday and Wednesday-Saturday with the Leger on the final day until the latter arrangement prevailed from 1970 onward.
In the wake of Mrs Topham’s success in attracting Russian horses to enter the Grand National in 1961, Cammidge invited representatives from the USSR to run at Doncaster, but they didn’t take the bait. Not surprisingly, the Jockey Club were not persuaded to let Doncaster stage a ladies race in 1962, ten years before such an event was countenanced. Indeed, the very idea was mocked. The best he could do was give ladies free admission at one evening meeting the following year – provided they were accompanied by a man.
He was associated with the transfer of races from Lincoln and Manchester to top and tail the Doncaster turf season, which susbstantially changed Doncaster’s programme and gave it all-year interest.
He had to stand up to his former union colleagues in 1979 when an overtime ban threatened the Lincoln being switched from Saturday to a weekday, as no Council staff would work at the weekend. The race went ahead on the Saturday.
A six furlong stakes race, the Cammidge Trophy, was instituted at Doncaster’s Lincoln meeting in 1981. Two years later Cammidge was awarded the OBE for services to local government in Doncaster and to the administration of the racecourse. He died at the age of 85 in 1993.