Old Time Racy Racing Reflections
Compiled by W P Howey, Scone
Front Cover
The classic drawing of a ‘Stud Groom’ by Cedric Emmanuel is the copy of an original in my possession. The ‘model’ is almost certainly an employee at Segenhoe Stud sometime in the 1950s or early 1960s. The late Cedric Emmanuel was a close friend of Mr and Mrs Lionel Israel and frequently visited Segenhoe. I’m an ignorant artistic philistine but I believe Mr Emmanuel has admirably captured the very essence of the personality, character and genre of the type of man then occupying these positions in the stud hierarchy. There is both a prevailing poignancy and subtle pathos signified within the portrait and a tacit countenance of the ‘man-and-his-horse’ bond. The ‘roll-your-own’ tobacco pouch, cigarette holder and burning cigarette are classically symbolic of the times and fundamental bucolic ethos. In some sophisticated social circles cigarette holders were the very essence of glamorous chic. For the itinerant farm worker they were a practical means of preventing the acrid and sour taste of raw burning tobacco by-products from fouling the taste buds and the too hot ash from burning! Men like this (they were all men) have now disappeared; rather like much of this collage?
Stop Press: On Wednesday 5th March 2020 I received a most welcome email stating:
“ The Stud Groom”, he is my Grandfather Sidney Errol Anderson who worked at Segenhoe stud in the 1950s
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