George Samuel Ford (1790–1868) was a bill discounter (money lender) and solicitor who took interest in the financial affairs of many gentlemen of the period including the Lords Lichfield, Chesterfield, Suffield and the Count d'Orsay.
Over a period of 20 years he slipped deeper into debt and borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates to avoid insolvency.
Gibbs was eventually forced into bankruptcy, and this resulted in public exposure of the bill discounters' activities – including those of Ford.
Ford's attendance at the track made him an easy point of contact for those who had suffered losses in the betting market.
At this period bankruptcy laws applied only to traders, whereas non-traders in debt were classed as insolvent, subject to imprisonment and seizure of their belongings.
Huntingtower did spend a period in Debtors' prison, but admitted at a later bankruptcy hearing (9 August 1844) that if he had acted on Ford's advice earlier, he would not have been placed in such an unfortunate position.
[10] Lord Brownlow Thomas Montagu Cecil (2nd son of the Marquis of Exeter) was another of Ford's clients to end up in jail for debt.
[11] Sir Robert Juckes Clifton: Before he came of age in 1847, his gambling and horse racing activities placed him in debt to Ford and, like Cecil, was forced to live abroad.
[14] During cross examination in the Lord Huntingtower case, Ford admitted that he had been tried and found guilty of extorting money in 1832.
[15] This referred to a case where he and the keeper of a gaming house, John Aldridge, allegedly attempted to obtain money from a person they said had forged a cheque.
In 1841 he was also the owner of a Newmarket property called Fidget Hall, a stud farm just beyond Bury Hill that was later renamed Moulton Paddocks.