Forgotten victim

I NOTED with interest Bob 
Taylor’s analysis (Letters, 10 June) of the “martyrdom” of suffragette Emily Davison, who threw herself in front of the king’s horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby in 1913.

While much attention has been paid to Ms Davison, little has been focused on Anmer’s jockey, Herbert Jones, one of the great jockeys of the day and one of only 15 to win the British Triple Crown, comprising the 2,000 Guineas Stakes, Epsom Derby and St Leger Stakes.

In the collision with Emily Davison, Jones suffered significant injuries himself, including mild concussion.

It was an incident from which he was never to recover fully and he was haunted for the rest of his life “by that woman’s face”.

Fifteen years after the death of Emily Davison, he laid a wreath at the funeral of Emmeline 
Pankhurst in honour of her and Emily Davison.

Jones retired from riding in 1923. In 1951, he was discovered to have killed himself after his son found him in a gas-filled kitchen. As we mark the centenary of the death of Emily Davison, let us spare a thought for the jockey on that Derby day.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh