Tattersall's Repository

The Microcosm of London, or, London in Miniature, Volume III by R Ackerman.(1808):

This place so well known and so generally frequented is situated near Hyde Park-corner. It was established, in the year 1773 by Mr Richard Tattersall, the father of the present proprietor, for the reception and sale by auction, of horses , carriages, coach –harness, hounds etc. it is the grand mart for everything connected with the sports of the field, the business of the turf and equestrian recreations. The days of sale are every Monday and Thursday during the winter season, and on Mondays only in the summer. On the mornings when there is no sale, this Repository is a fashionable lounge for sporting gentlemen. The horses etc are then examined, their merits or defects considered and sporting intelligence from all parts of the country detailed and disseminated.

These spacious premises contain accommodation for one hundred and twenty horses , a large number of carriage and coach harness, as well as a commodious kennel for hounds. During the time o that horses and dogs remain here for sale, which is usually but a few days, a moderate compensation is charged of their maintenance, and when sold, a small per centage "ad valorem".

A room on the premises is appropriated for the use of subscribers who pay one guinea per annum each. Here the generality of bets which relate to the turf are settled at whatever place they may originate; as it is not the custom ,among these noblemen and gentlemen to pay on the spot where the bets have been lost, but , on the return of the respective parties to town ,at Tattersall's: so that this Repository is become a kind of exchange for gentlemen of the turf. Debts of this kind are settled here to an incredible amount.

A fashionable house of entertainment, well known by the name of the Turf Tavern, once formed a part of these premises; but has been discontinued during the last fifteen years. The dining –room, though not large is uncommonly elegant, and was fitted up at a very great expense; the ceiling alone, which is adorned with allegorical paintings, cost eight hundred quineas. The sides of the room are enriched also with paintings and sculpture, with the addition of many detached picture of horses, which were famous in their day for their exploits on the turf.

The aggregate annual value of the horses and other property which is sold by auction at this Repository is very considerable. The average number of horses, which pass under the hammer weekly throughout the year , being about one hundred. They consist chiefly of saddle-horses ,coach-horses, hunters and race-horses. The value of saddle-horses warranted sound without fault or blemish extends from forty to two hundred guineas; a good pair of coach horses, from one hundred and fifty to four hundred guineas; excellent hunters average about three hundred and fifty pounds and race-horses about fifteen hundred. One of the most celebrated horses on the turf in his time, well known by the name of "High–flyer", was purchased by Mr Richard Tattersall, the founder of the establishment, for two hundred and fifty guineas.

Cart and agricultural horses are seldom offered for sale at this place, as the purchasers who attend here are devoted rather to to the pursuit of pleasure than of business.This Repository has ever possessed an acknowledged preeminence over every establishment of a similar character and may be justly considered as of much public utility. It greatly facilitates the business of buying an selling horses etc and attracts both parties to meet each other in the market; while the liberal dealings of the late and present proprietors have entitled them to receive that patronage which they have long experienced.

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