Jenison Shafto (c. 1728 – 13 May 1771), of West Wratting Park,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, was an English politician, race-horse owner, and gambler. He was second son of Robert Shafto of Benwell Towers,

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. He served in the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

with the

1st Foot Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, being commissioned as ensign in 1745 and retiring as lieutenant in 1755. He was a

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(MP) of the

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for

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from 1761 to 1768 and for

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from 1768 until his death. His only recorded speech in the House of Commons was made on 18 March 1762, proposing the

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be sent to serve abroad, during the

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, reputedly done to win a wager of £200 laid at his London club, Arthur's. As a horse owner, Shafto's thoroughbred racers included:

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, which he bought in 1752 and sold after it had won three 1000-

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match races at Newmarket;

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, another successful racer which was retired for stud in 1760 and lived until 1780; and Goldfinder, sired by Snap, which won two Newmarket Challenge Cups and Whips before being sold to stud. He was reported to have rode 100 miles every day for 29 days to

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, and then for 50 miles for 2 hours, for bets. In 1763, his reputation as a winning gambler at Newmarket was such that

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

wrote to Lord Hertford: "The beginning of October, one is certain everybody will be at Newmarket, and the

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will lose, and Shafto win, two or three thousand pounds". He committed suicide, having shot himself, in May 1771, which many attributed to gambling losses on the turf and elsewhere He had married on 24 November 1750 Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Allen who was one of the main coal-owners of

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. The couple had no children and she died in 1766. After his death his brother Robert continued to run his West Wratting stables until his own death in 1780.

References

1728 births 1771 deaths People from West Wratting British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Suicides by firearm in England {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub