Mr Horwood and the Rothschild Horses
The reminiscences of Bob Grace . . .
The story of one of Mr Horwood, is very interesting. 

He was a farmer at Marsworth.  This was in the days of the Rothschilds at Mentmore.  The Baron owned a great number of famous race-horses, and the local farmers of course always followed the Baron’s horses.  In about 1871 it became what was known as the “Baron’s Year” in the racing world, because his horses won all the classic races. 

Mr. Horwood had the good sense to put an accumulator bet on the Baron’s horses for the season and the result was that he won enough money to build a row of cottages and to buy a pair of boats to run on the canal.  He called the boats the Plobonius and the Hannah.  The horse Plobonius had won the Derby and Hannah had won the Oaks.

Mr Horwood ran these boats and a local family became bargees on them.

[Biographic notes, c.1977] Bob Grace lived in Tring for most of his life.  He was born at Parsonage Farm, which formerly stood on the site of Bishop Wood School.  As a boy he attended the old National School at Tring.

He worked in Tring all his life and eventually joined the family’s corn and milling business which had been in existence for 250 years before it ceased in about 1977.