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RegisterThe Twelve Club, in effect, was born in a railway carriage in 1924 when four racing enthusiasts, who travelled regularly together between Sheffield, where they worked, and Worksop, where they lived, were bemoaning their luck on the Turf. One summer day, after reading their evening newspapers on their return journey to Worksop, they realised that they had not backed a winner between them. They thereupon decided that they could have a lot more fun for their money if they each compiled a list of twelve horses to follow for the rest of the season on a starting price basis, and for a sweepstake of £1 each.
The original four racing enthusiasts of 1924 were W.R. (Billie) Long, who was to become the Club’s first Chairman and President, Mr John C.B. Firth, a cousin of Mark Firth and the Club’s first Honorary Secretary, Mr C Eric Holmstrom, brother-in-law of Mark Firth and Mr Guy Usher, who died in 1975 after living abroad for the last few years of his life. In 1925 the membership increased to twelve and The Twelve Club was formed and registered; one of the original twelve members was Mark Firth, a past Chairman and President of the Club, who survived until 1983.
Once formed, The Twelve Club quickly grew to fifty members and in 1928 the membership was increased to one hundred. As the membership grew, men fully employed in racing joined in, including trainers and racing journalists. The first trainer to win the competition was the late Sir Jack Jarvis in 1929. Nine years later his brother Willie, then the Royal trainer, was successful to be followed by Ryan Jarvis (son of Willie) in 1965 and his son William in 1995. All four trained at Newmarket while William the Younger of course still does. Among those successful between the two winning Jarvis brothers, was Bob Lyle, racing correspondent of The Times and a noted author of racing books.
The very first competition in 1925 was won by Guy Usher, who won it again in 1967; E.I. Scott won in 1934 and again in 1966. The Twelve Club was in suspension during the War.
When it came to life again in 1946 the first post-war winner was another Newmarket trainer, the late Harvey (Jack) Leader. He too won it twice, a feat also performed by John Rickman, C.B. Vertue, Lord Chetwode, T.S.M. Cunningham, B.F. Macfarlane, I.H. Stewart-Brown, G. L. Doubleday and, most recently, by N.J.F.Robinson. S.J. Richards is the first member to win it twice in consecutive years, 1996 and 1997.
Other trainers to have won the competition are Jack Waugh of Newmarket, Willie Stephenson of Royston, one of the few men to have trained both a Derby and Grand National winner, Bill Watts, son of the late Jack Watts who was himself a member and trainer of the great Super Sam, Henry Candy and the late John Hills.
Apart from the Jarvis’s, the only brothers to have won the competition have been John Rickman, racing correspondent and television commentator, and his younger brother, Geoffrey, owner and breeder. Their father, Eric Rickman, racing journalist and author, was one of three honorary members at the time of his death in his 87th year in 1977.
Rupert Le Butt could actually be described as the saviour of The Twelve Club after the war, having been in turn Honorary Secretary, then Treasurer, Chairman and President. He was made an Honorary Member as was the former Newmarket trainer Ted Leader, the only member to have ridden the winner of the Grand National – Sprig (1927). Sir Kenneth Butt Bt. who joined the Club in 1936 was also made an Honorary Member. In 2011, Garth Doubleday who had been a member for over 60 years was made an honorary member. Two of the Club’s most recent honorary members, Sir Gordon Brunton and Ian de Wesselow, sadly both died in 2017.
There have been eight Presidents of the Club – W.R. Long, from 1932 to 1953, Colonel Jock Hartley (a fine rugger player and leading figure in Army sport) from 1953 to 1961, Sir Jack Jarvis from 1961 until his death in 1968; Mark Firth from 1969 to 1975, when he was succeeded by Rupert Le Butt. In 1983 Rupert decided the time had sadly really come for him to step down from office in The Twelve Club and he was succeeded by Sir Gordon Brunton from1984 to 2000, followed by Ian de Wesselow from 2001 to 2006. He was replaced by Howard Baveystock, who had been the longest serving Honorary Secretary from 1976 to 2000 and then Chairman. Howard stepped down in 2014 and was replaced by the then Chairman , Harry Beeby.
The cut glass decanter given to Mark Firth on his retirement, by the members, carried a silver label with the inscription “Mark Firth – The Twelve Club – from Manna to Grundy” (Manna being the Derby winner of 1925 and Grundy the Derby winner in 1975, trained by another member of the Club, Peter Walwyn). When Rupert Le Butt retired he was presented with one of the Club’s replicas of the Winner’s trophy suitably inscribed.
The original objects of the Club, which are no longer in Club Rules, were defined as follows: “The objects are primarily to protect members from the clutches of the Bookmaker. The essence of membership is to cultivate an inexpensive interest in flat racing throughout the year by the observance of the following maxim: “Never to back a horse unless personally present at the Meeting at which it runs, with the exception of races in connection with which official anti-post betting is quoted in the daily newspapers”. This good resolution is no longer part of the rules!
In addition to a trophy for the winner of the competition, which is appropriately a silver model of the racehorse Irish Elegance, a great favourite in the early 1920’s, there is also the C.E. Holmstrom Trophy for the members whose twelve horses-to-follow win most races. This was given in 1969 by the then four surviving members of 1925 – P.A. Branson, Mark Firth, Sir Arthur Matthews and Guy Usher, in recognition of Eric Holmstrom’s work in the interests of the Club. The booby prize, “The Bum” (by Poor Result out of My Choice), for the member whose list of horses causes him to be bottom of the competition was given by Mark Firth.
The luckiest winner of the competition was probably the later to be knighted Jack Jarvis who owed his success in 1929 almost entirely to a horse he trained called The Bastard. This horse won at Newmarket at 100-1 on the day when the Tote started and the bookmakers were trying to kill it at birth by offering inflated prices!
As a result a rule was brought in that there would be a starting price limit of 50-1 as far as the Club competition was concerned, and for some time there was an unwritten law that trainer members did not put in their twelve to follow more than three of the horses they train themselves. In 2011 this was stopped, as it was believed that training Member’s lists might provide some valuable insight to other members. This has not in fact appeared to offer any discernible, or indeed valuable, insight. 1977 Willie Stephenson also owed his success to a horse he trained- Touch Pirate who won in the final week of the season at 50/1.
The Club holds two functions a year - the Annual Dinner on the first Friday in March, and the Derby Dinner, (for many years a dance) held on the Thursday night prior to the race on the Saturday. At the Club’s annual dinner in March, since 1977 there has been a guest speaker, the first of whom was William Douglas-Home, the playwright, and he has been followed by a range of speakers connected with or interested in racing.
The Ladies’ branch of the Twelve Club was originally started independently by Mrs Mark Firth in 1932. As Helen Holmstrom she was a fearless rider as a girl. The family then lived at Epsom, and she was once found bareback on the 1908 Derby and Oaks winner, Signorinetta, stabled with other brood mares at the Durdans, at the time the home of the Rosebery family. Mark and Helen lived to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 1972. The Ladies’ Twelve Club was largely responsible for starting the Derby Dance – and, by putting aside part of the proceeds derived from the auction, the Club has been able to give significant donations to various racing charities, over the years. In 2013, Mrs Joey Hue-Williams became the first Lady to sit on the Committee.
There is a Club Tie which members are requested to wear on the racecourse so they may be recognised by fellow members with whom they may not be well acquainted. There is a meaning to the design of the tie: the colours indicating the four facets of racings: Green – the turf, Blue – the blue-blood of the thoroughbreds, Gold – all the money you hope to win and Red – how many finish up!
