Harry Worcester Smith
Worcester, Massachusetts, 1865 - 1945
of English descent. He lived most of his life in Grafton, MA on his
estate Lordvale, which was destroyed by fire in 1940. He was a
successful businessman in the textile industry. He was a patent
expert, perfecting over 30 patents on automatic color weaving which
revolutionized the manufacture of gingham. Smith started the Grafton
Country Club with the desire to bring wholesome English outdoor life,
riding, shooting and hunting to America. He was a champion four-inhand
driver. His horses “Sky-High” and “Sue Woodstock” won three
National Horse Shows at Madison Square Garden. He took up
steeplechasing in his thirties, winning the Genesee Valley Point-toPoint,
the gentlemen’s Whitney race at Saratoga in 1897, the Meadow
Brook Hunt Cup on Long Island in 1898 and 1899, and the Champion
Steeplechase of America in 1900. He placed first at the Grand National
Steeplechase at Sheepshead bay in 1901, as well as in the Hempstead
and Calvert Cups in Baltimore the same year.
A pivotal moment in his foxhunting career is known as The Great Hound
Match of 1905 in which English foxhounds and American foxhounds were
put to the test to see which breed was superior. Smith and his
American foxhounds proved to be the victor by the final judgment at
the end of the two week match. Smith spent most of his middle ages
researching and writing about the life of Edward Troye, one of the
greatest American equine portraitists of the nineteenth century.
Through his continuous research, acquisitions, and documentation of
Troye’s works, the first gallery exhibition of Troye’s works was held
at the Newhouse Galleries in New York City in 1938. Throughout his
career, Smith wrote numerous essays and articles, and he authored
several books, including Life and Sport in Aiken and Those Who Made
It, A Sporting Tour through Ireland, England, Wales and France, and A
Sporting Family of the Old South
from http://www.nationalsporting.org/images/finding_aids/MC0041.pdf accessed 11/21/18 MP
Person TypeIndividual
Last Updated8/7/24
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