Heard of 'Tinman'?

As they work their way through redecorating the Hideout pub with some of the old pictures and mirrors they found in storage in the premises, new tenants of the famous hosterly Eamonn and Rory Boyce have come across a couple of puzzles.

One is a picture of a jockey with the name ‘F Archer’. Eamonn had never heard of him, so he made some enquiries and found it represents both major triumph and personal tragedy.

Cheltenham-born Fred Archer was a flat race jockey who held the English National Champion position for 13 years in succession until 1886. He won 21 classic races, including five Epsom Derbys. In 1885 he rode 246 winners, a record that wasn't broken until Gordon Richards' 1933 season.

Known as ‘Tinman’ because of his appreciation of money, he committed suicide in 1889 at the age of 29. His wife Helen Rose, daughter of trainer Mathew Dawson, for whom Archer was was stable jockey from 1874 until his death, had died in childbirth two years before. The couple had already lost their first child.