Charles James Apperley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles James Apperley (1777 – May 19, 1843), English sportsman and sporting writer, better known as Nimrod, the pseudonym under which he published his works on the chase and on the turf, was born at Plasgronow, near Wrexham, in Denbighshire, North Wales in 1777.
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[edit] Youth [1]
Apperley was educated at Rugby School before joining the Ancient British Light Dragoons in 1798. He served with the regiment in Ireland, and in 1801 married Winifred Wynn of Peniarth, daughter of a Caernarvonshire landowner.
[edit] Sporting activities and literary career
Between the years 1805 and 1820 Apperley devoted himself to fox-hunting. From 1813 to 1819 he was the agent for his brother-in-law's estates and lived at Tŷ Gwyn, Llanbeblig. In about 1821 he began to contribute to The Sporting Magazine, under the pseudonym of "Nimrod", a series of racy articles covering horse races, hunt meets and other sporting events nationwide with reference to the personalities of prominent, influential and conspicuous characters he knew or met at such events which helped to double the circulation the magazine in a year or two. His writing style gives a great insight into Regency England and the often larger than life characters that peopled it. The proprietor of The Sporting Magazine, Mr Pittman, bought for Nimrod a stud of hunters, and defrayed all expenses of his tours, besides giving him a handsome salary. The death of Mr. Pittman, however, led to a law-suit with the proprietors of the magazine for money advanced, and Apperley, to avoid imprisonment in England, had to take up his residence near Calais (1830), where he supported himself by writing. He died in London.
[edit] Works
- Nimrods German Tour (1828) (first edition of Nimrods German Tour from Sporting Magazine in 1829-1830. Publishing company:Godewind Verlag, Germany 2006.) ISBN 978-3-939198-70-3
- Remarks on the Condition of Hunters, the Choice of Horses, &c.(1831);
- The Chase, the Turf, and the Road (originally written for Quarterly Review), (1837)
- Memoirs of the Life of the Late John Mytton (1837)
- Nimrod's Northern Tour (1838)
- Nimrod Abroad (1842)
- The Horse and the Hound (a reprint from the seventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica) (1842)
- Hunting Reminiscences (1843)
[edit] References
- Template:/reflist
[edit] See also
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
