George Lyndes Lorillard (March 26, 1843 – February 3, 1886) was an American

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

manufacturer,

yachtsman A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

, and a prominent

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

owner.

Early life

He was born in

Westchester, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

, the son of

Pierre Lorillard III Pierre Lorillard III (October 20, 1796 – December 23, 1867) was the grandson of Pierre Abraham Lorillard, the founder of P. Lorillard and Company. Heir to a great tobacco fortune, Lorillard owned no less than of undeveloped land in New York' ...

(1796-1867) and Catherine Griswold. In 1760, his great-grandfather founded P. Lorillard and Company in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to process tobacco, cigars, and snuff.

Lorillard Tobacco Company Lorillard Tobacco Company was an American tobacco company that marketed cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. The company had two operating segments: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. The ...

remains the oldest tobacco company in the United States to this day. Lorillard graduated with a degree in medicine from the Yale Scientific School in 1862.

Yachting

Lorillard was an avid yachtsman and bought the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Eva'' in 1865. He joined the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

in 1866. He then bought the yacht ''Magic'' and won the Regatta at the New York Yacht Club in 1866. He built the ''Challenge'', which sank in a storm in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. He built and launched the schooner ''Meteor'' in 1869 and took her to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. In 1871, he owned the yacht ''Enchantress'' that was designed by Robert Fish. He sold the ''Enchantress'' and gave up yachting in 1872 to pursue horse racing.

Thoroughbred horse racing

George Lorillard, like his brother

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, was a prominent racehorse owner in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. At his Long Island estate, he built a large stable and training track. Lorillard arranged to take in boys from the

New York House of Refuge The New York House of Refuge was the first youth detention center, juvenile reformatory established in the United States. The reformatory was opened in 1824 on the Bowery in Manhattan, New York City, destroyed by a fire in 1839, and relocated firs ...

, who were given stable work and educated in a specially built schoolroom. The boys learned to ride horses and after a five-year apprenticeship were given an opportunity to become a professional

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

. Notable among them was Tom Costello, who won numerous important races, including three American Classics. George Lorillard's racing stable was handled firstly by trainer Wyndham Walden followed by John Alcock. Notably, Lorillard and Walden won the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () on ...

a record five straight years between 1878 and 1882; the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

in 1878, 1880, and 1881; and the

Travers Stakes The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to internation ...

in 1878 and 1880. Among George Lorillard's best horses were Saunterer, Spinaway,

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

Tom Ochiltree Tom Ochiltree (1872–1897), was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1875 Preakness Stakes and several other major stakes. In 1877, he lost in one of the most famous match races of the nineteenth century – a race that had been so ...

, and Duke of Magenta. In 1878, George Lorillard headed a group of investors which included

David D. Withers David Dunham Withers (January 22, 1822 – February 18, 1892) was an American businessman and a Thoroughbred horse racing track owner and an owner/breeder. His Brookdale Farm (Lincroft, New Jersey), Brookdale Farm in the Lincroft, New Jersey, Linc ...

and Gordon Bennett, Jr., who bought

Monmouth Park Racetrack Monmouth Park Racetrack is an American race track for thoroughbred horse racing in Oceanport, New Jersey, United States. It is owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and is operated under a five-year lease as a partnership with ...

. Under Lorillard's management, they built a new racing facility on of land with the then-largest grandstand in the United States. Opened on July 4, 1890, the track flourished and became known as the " Newmarket of America."

Personal life

In 1882, George Lorillard was married to Marie Louise La Farge (1845–1899), the sister of artist

John La Farge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge is best known for ...

, and the aunt of Christopher Grant La Farge. Marie was the former wife of Edward Whyte, whom she divorced before marrying Lorillard.

Death

George Lorillard died in

Nice, France Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

in 1886, aged 42. His funeral was held in

Grace Church Grace Church may refer to: Canada * Grace Church on-the-Hill, Toronto China * Grace Church, Guanghan Poland * Grace Church, Teschen or Jesus Church, a Lutheran basilica in Teschen, Poland United Kingdom United States * Grace Cathedral (disam ...

in New York City, on April 17. After his death, Lorillard's widow married in 1889 the Spanish-Mexican Count de Ágreda, becoming Countess de

Ágreda Ágreda is a municipality located in the province of Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. Ágreda is the regional services center in the Northeast of the province of Soria. Its abundant heritage as well as the local fi ...

. After the Count's death, she married Leopold Morse (son of

Leopold Morse Leopold Morse (August 15, 1831 – December 15, 1892) was a United States representative from Massachusetts. Biography Morse was born in Wachenheim, Bavaria, in the German Confederation, the son of Charlotte (Mehlinger) and Jacob Morse. Hi ...

), who changed his name to Leopold Morse de Ágreda.

Legacy

Lorillard owned a mansion on an estate of on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, located north of the

Montauk Highway Montauk Highway is an east–west road extending for across the southern shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It extends from the Nassau County line in Amityville, where it connects to Merrick Road, to Montauk ...

on the west bank of the

Connetquot River The Connetquot River (also known as Great River) is a river in Islip, New York. It is one of the four longest rivers on Long Island and is recognized by the state as a Wild, Scenic and Recreational River. It is particularly known for its broo ...

. In 1884, he sold much of this estate to

William Bayard Cutting William Bayard Cutting (January 12, 1850 – March 1, 1912), a member of New York's merchant aristocracy, was an attorney, financier, real estate developer, sugar beet refiner and philanthropist. Cutting and his brother Fulton started the sugar ...

, who built a notable house, Westbrook, on the land. Lorillard also maintained a winter home in St. Augustine, Florida. Lorillard Avenue in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

is named for him and his brother

References

External links

March 9, 1879 ''New York Times'' article on the Lorillard racing stable

May 11, 1998 ''Sports Illustrated'' article on the Preakness Stakes and George Lorillard

Bibliography

* Reeves, Richard Stone, and Ashforth, David. ''Crown Jewels of Thoroughbred Racing'' (1997)

Eclipse Press Blood-Horse Publications is an American multimedia publishing house focused on horse-related magazines headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. It began in 1916 through its flagship magazine, ''The Blood-Horse''. From 1961 to 2015, Blood-Horse Publica ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorillard, George L. 1843 births 1886 deaths American tobacco industry executives American racehorse owners and breeders Owners of Preakness Stakes winners Owners of Belmont Stakes winners People from Westchester County, New York Lorillard family People from St. Augustine, Florida