Thomas Darley (born 19 May 1664) served as Her Majesty's Consul to the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
(
Syria) during the reign of
Queen Anne. He is famous for having bought an Arabian colt that became an important part of the history of the Thoroughbred breed.
Darley was born in
Aldby Park, Yorkshire, England. His father was Richard Darley and his mother Dorothea was a daughter of the regicide
Thomas Waite (Wayte).
In 1702 Darley while in
Syria bought an
Arabian colt from
Sheikh Mirza for his father, Richard Darley. There are conflicting stories about how much Darley exchanged or paid for the colt; one proposed history is that a price of 300 gold sovereigns was set but after the sheikh withdrew from the deal, Darley arranged for British sailors to steal and smuggle the horse via Smyrna. Nevertheless, he had made arrangements to send him back to
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. The colt was foaled in
Syria, late March or early April in the year 1700. The horse, a bay, was tall for an
Arabian horse of the time was 15 hands when described by Darley in a letter to his brother dated 21 December 1703.
The horse whose original name was "Ras el Fedowi," translated as "The Headstrong One", became immortalised as the "
Darley Arabian
The Darley Arabian (foaled c. 1700) was one of three dominant foundation sires of modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock. The other two founders were the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. This bay Arabian horse was bought in Aleppo, ...
".
In Thomas Darley's own words, "he was immediately striking owing to his handsome appearance and exceedingly elegant carriage". Although he never raced, he covered mares at
Aldby Park from 1705 until 1719, and lived until the advanced age of 30. His genes added speed to those of stronger English
horses of the time. Through his offspring, including his great-grandson, the famous and never beaten
Eclipse, he has had the greater influence of the three foundation stallions of the
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 ...
breed. His bloodline is said to be present in about 95% of today's thoroughbred
racehorses
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 ...
.
Ancestry
References
External links
Darley Arabian
Year of death missing
British racehorse owners and breeders
1664 births
18th-century deaths
Arabian breeders and trainers
Horse trader
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