Olympia – A History

By Carole Mortimer

It is June 1907 in West London. Carriages, motor coaches and pedestrians, all heading toward Olympia Way, crowd Hammersmith Road and Kensington High Street. Every ten minutes a train disgorges more excited passengers at the nearby Kensington Station. Outside the large exhibition venue of Olympia there is a queue of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen and their excited families. The first International Horse Show to be held in London has opened its doors to the public.

Once inside The Great Hall visitors gasp at the flamboyant floral decorations. Large arrangements festoon the chandeliers and displays of trees, palms and potted hydrangeas adorn the balconies. There are even trees and banks of flowers in the arena. In the Royal box an elderly King Edward VII accompanied by Queen Alexandra, smokes a large cigar. His heir, George, Duke of York and his wife Princess Mary and their young children Mary and Henry, Duke of Gloucester have arrived by open-topped carriage to accompany the King and Queen.

In the arena the horses of the magnificently polished four-in-hand carriages stand patiently as judges in morning dress discuss the merits of the coaches and the expertise of their top-hatted drivers. Later in the day the crowd gasp at the skill and daring of Gentlemen Officers, many from France, Italy and Belgium and even Russia, as they and their horses tackle the ‘jumping course’. The course that consists of flimsy upright rails, sleepers, picket fences, walls and gates even includes a large turf bank. But the real excitement comes at the end of the day when these dashing officers and British hunting heroes and their brave horses will take on the ‘high jump’. The show closes at 11pm and all the way home wide-eyed spectators re-live the extraordinary events of the day.

The original idea for the show is attributed to a Mr Reginald Gardiner Heaton, a horse breeder from Chatteris in Cambridgeshire. Early in 1906 Mr Gardiner Heaton Esq. invited friends to dinner with the intention of persuading them to organise an international show on similar lines to those in New York, Paris and Brussels. The dinner produces a successful conclusion and the board of his new company of which Reginald Heaton became the Managing Director, a post he held for over 25 years, immediately set to work.

The great sporting peer and patron, Lord Lonsdale, President of the National Sporting Club of Britain and nick-named ‘The Yellow Earl’ after the colour of his livery, was asked and agreed to be the Show’s first President. The roll of Directors so elegantly listed in early programmes included many prominent and wealthy, sporting and aristocratic patrons. No less than 10 Dukes, 11 Marquis’, 54 Earls, 25 Viscounts, 80 Lords, and 28 comparatively ordinary Sirs were made honorary Vice-Presidents.

We didn't see any Earls, Lords or Ladies however we felt we were among sporting royalty with the likes of Scott Brash, Shane Breen and the entire Whittaker family.

J sat perfectly still during the breath-taking show jumping and his knowledge of the sport is clearly growing as he joined in with me counting the horses strides before the taking off for the jump. J said "ooph that was a tight turn" when the horses twisted and turned into the next sequence of fences.

The young riders on their ponies were so inspirational that J said "I want to come to Olympia to ride".

Having only been to two live horse shows before (The Liverpool International Horse Show and Bolesworth) we were familiar with some events and well prepared with shopping lists for the amazing stores available.

Here are some pictures of our tack haul:

J was particularly in awe of the French dressage team La Garde Républicaine – Reprise des Douze.... and the beautiful dance of the liberty horses of Santi Serra.

Words cannot do justice to the amazing talent of these majestic animals and their riders. Take a look for yourselves:

KJB

xxx