ABSTRACT
This conclusion chapter presents some closing thoughts covered in the preceeding chapter of this book. The social and cultural meaning of non-work activities is a key element in any understanding of British society between 1800 and 1914. The key factor was the linkage between race meetings and the upper-class, landed group who found racing and the matching of their thoroughbreds and the associated betting a pleasurable pursuit. British society need to take more account of racing, both as a major source of employment and as a central leisure activity. It was a highly-adaptable leisure form, capable of offering different satisfactions to different individuals and groups. Horseracing appears to have survived and flourished despite being associated with activities such as drinking of alcohol, prostitution and betting which ran counter to leisure reformist values. The management of racing by the Jockey Club, an elite of upper-class noblemen, politicians and statesmen, who appeared to have a large measure of control over the sport.
