Cranmore chase

The Cranmore Chase is a legendary famous run made just after Cranmore railway station was acquired by the Great Western Railway in 1874. This was the year that Benjamin Disraeli (Conservative) had just beaten William Gladstone (Liberal) in the general election and Queen Victoria was on the throne and about to become Empress of India.

Two local Westcombe land owners, Colonel Henry Upton Lamyatt and Mr Everard Creech, had bid a large proportion of their families’ wealth to acquire a small but valuable parcel of land in Britain’s growing Indian Empire. In order to complete the purchase they needed to sign legal papers which had been brought down by train from London to Cranmore Station. Both men had selected a local runner to transport the papers from the station over to Westcombe for signature and then back to Cranmore to return on the next train. The first set of papers back to London would assure the owner of making their fortune in Cotton and Tea.

Colonel Lamyatt and Mr. Creech each choose a local runner from the same Batcombe family named Radforyde. The local archive gives little information about them apart from their names, Benjamin and Daniel, and occupations one listed as a "Cooler" and the other an "Artisan". The race was won by Benjamin who on the return run from Westcombe ran up the steep Small Down Hill saving valuable seconds and avoiding the ford so getting back to Cranmore Station first. His sponsor Colonel Lamyatt won the race to file for ownership of the Indian properties and subsequently made his fortune in the colonies although he died aged only 53 in the India Mutiny. The winner of the race Benjamin was made a freeman of Batcombe and granted an annual stipend. Daniel disappears from the records seemingly having moved away from the area.