[2] William Archer was a short, squat man, who had taken a stud of English horses to Russia in 1842, and the year after Fred was born won the Grand National on Little Charlie.

He was largely illiterate when he left home but attended a night school run by Mrs Dawson during his early years there.

Dawson demanded the same discipline of Archer as he did of other apprentices, making him stand to attention for visitors the same as any other lad.

Aged 12, he was allowed to ride in the Newmarket Town Plate on 14 October 1869, on a three-year-old filly called Honoria.

His first win was a steeplechase at Bangor-on-Dee in either 1869[8] or 1870[10] on a horse called Maid of Trent for an old pony-racing acquaintance of his family.

His first official win under Jockey Club rules was in a two-year-old nursery handicap at Chesterfield on 28 September 1870 on a horse called Atholl Daisy.

When Jem Snowden rode against him for the first time, however, he commented, "Tha cassn't ride for nuts".

For the Cesarewitch Handicap, he failed to make a riding weight of 6st 1 lb, putting up 3 lbs overweight and losing by a neck.

She was small, at 15.1 hands (61 inches, 155 cm), leading the Duke of Portland to say she "looked like a polo pony" with Archer's long legs round her.

She won the Yorkshire Oaks in August as well but was prevented an attempt at the Triple Crown when she broke down going for a second race at York two days later.

[4] By the 1880s, his annual income was around £10,000 (equivalent to about £1.2 million in 2020[13]), made up of retainers, gifts from owners and gamblers, and nearly £2,500 in riding fees.

It had been presumed that the filly had not stayed the distance when losing the Great Yorkshire Stakes at York, so she was sent off at odds of 40/1 for the Leger.

In fact, Archer had not wanted to ride Dutch Oven in the race at all, preferring the John Porter-trained Geheimniss.

It has been suggested that this was prompted by a suspicion that Archer pulled Galliard in the Derby, being beaten into third by St Blaise and Highland Chief.

Archer was accused of not showing the same will to win that he had on Bend Or or Iroquois, and Highland Chief was trained by his brother Charles, which seemed to be circumstantial evidence of his guilt.

He had only two rides, but both won Jovial for Tom Green in the High-weight Selling Handicap and Laverock for Matt Dawson in the Sixth Great Yorkshire Foal Stakes.

He made shrewd investments of most of his income,[16] but the squandering of much of a reputed £250,000 fortune (equivalent to £32.7 million in 2020[19]) by the time of his death challenges the perception of acquisitiveness, which may have been partly cultivated.

He is reputed to have asked bystanders for coins he could put in his breeches to increase his weight when he was short a few pounds for his race, only never to return them.

He was also known to throw a ball for colleagues each winter, and once, before a trip to America in November 1884, he left a blank cheque for his friend Herbert Mills, in case he was in need.

In 1879, The World newspaper wrote: "a very large income, the unbounded confidence of employers and public might help to turn less ordinary heads, but Fred Archer quietly goes his own way and studies diligently to improve his calling".

[4] And after his death, George Lambton said, "Even when quite a boy he was courted and flattered by every kind of man and woman, and early in life he became the idol of the public... and yet he never suffered from that prevalent and disagreeable complaint, 'swollen head'.

I think the shrewd, hard common sense of Mat Dawson, for whom he had the greatest affection and respect, was a great help to him.

[6] One contemporary newspaper described him as "all jockey, from the button of his cap to the tips of his spurs, and rode irrespective of the odds.

His racing weight was 8st 10 lb in later years, and to keep to it he used Victorian Turkish baths, abstained almost totally from solid food, and used alkaline medicines to purge.

[3] A Newmarket doctor, JR Wright, created a special purgative which became known as "Archer's Mixture", which he drank by the sherry glass.

[4] In October 1886, he had to lose 6 lbs over two days for his first and, ultimately, only ride in Ireland: Cambusmore for Lord Londonderry in the Lieutenant's Plate at the Curragh, a race he won easily.

He still undertook engagements at Brighton and on the first day at Lewes on the Thursday, but here he is reported to have "taken a chill" which "developed into fever of a typhoid character", forcing him to return home.

He left a fortune of £66,662 (equal to about £9.2 million today) to his only daughter, the inheritance being looked after by trustees during her minority.

In London, special editions of the evening newspapers were issued, with crowds queuing in Fleet Street to buy them, and omnibuses stopped to allow commuters to read the billboards.

[14] Archer's life has been fictionalised in two books: The Tinman's Farewell by Michael Tanner[18] and Just One More Smile by his great-granddaughter Diana Foster.