Harry Worcester Smith

Harry Worcester Smith was born in 1865, a second-generation American

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