William ('Billy') Higgs
(1879-1958), Jockey, racehorse trainer, owner and breederSitter in 1 portrait
William ('Billy') Higgs ('Men of the Day. No. 1041. "Top of the List."')
by Sir Leslie Ward
chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 21 November 1906
NPG D45355
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Christine
15 May 2021, 16:41
Most of his details must be here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Higgs_(jockey)
William Arnold HIGGS (8 Feb 1880 ~ 1958q4), a professional jockey, and his wife, Mary Ann née Lewis, were married on 16 December 1903 in St Brigid Cathedral, Kildare. They had six children: five sons and a daughter, Beryl. One son Arnold Ebor was killed tragically young when he was thrown from his horse at Chester; another son died as a very young baby, a third died, aged only 11, as a result of a horrific accident on his father’s farm, while he was larking around. The last-born son served in the RAFVR and was in 405 Squadron and was in a Lancaster that didn’t return from a bombing raid over Berlin; he, too was only 20. The only surviving son emigrated with his wife to the USA. The daughter, Beryl, was recognised as a significant assistance in William's career as a trainer – in a later era, she would have been a trainer in her own right.
William ("Billy") HIGGS won more than 1,000 races and headed the list of winning jockeys twice, in 1906 and 1907. He rode for King Edward, the Tsar of Russia, and the ex-Kaiser; and at Newmarket in 1907 he rode five winners in succession in one day.