[2] In his youth, the family moved 10 miles north to the village of Bildeston, where they got to know a local horse breeder by the name of Wilson.

Wilson had been responsible for breeding the renowned horse, Smolensko, winner of the 1813 2,000 Guineas and Derby and the young Flatman began to spend a lot of time there, formulating ideas of becoming a jockey.

[3] He attended a local clergyman's school as a child, but when his father ran into financial hardship in 1825 and he had to quit, he was prompted to move to the home of horseracing in Newmarket.

[1] With all his belongings wrapped in a handkerchief and slung over his shoulder Flatman hiked from his home to Newmarket – a scruffy 15-year-old, 4 stone (25 kg) stripling[2] looking for work.

[6] This debut was a high-profile one, riding Lord Exeter's Golden [2] (or Gold[7]) Pin in the 1829 Craven Stakes, the first important race of the season at Newmarket.

[3] In the race, Golden Pin finished unplaced behind Zinganee,[7] but of greater long term consequence was the arrival of the young Flatman on the Newmarket scene.

Yet, despite the profile and wealth of some of these patrons, Flatman never took a retainer from Cooper during his time at the yard and took no more than 20 per annum from Colonel Peel.

[10] His first big race win came not for Cooper, but for James "Tiny" Edwards on the 1834 Goodwood Cup winner Glencoe I.

The following year, his career took another step forward when he won the first of what would become ten Classics, the 1,000 Guineas, on the Charles Greville-owned Preserve.

However, it was actually a losing ride on Ascot in the 1935 Derby, going down to Mundig by only a short neck, that "lifted Flatman into the first rank of jockeys".

Prominent jockeys of earlier times such as Arthur Pavis, Patrick Conolly and John Chapple were no longer around to compete, the former two having met with early deaths.

[3][6] His profile was such that he began to be in demand at northern racecourses like Manchester and Newcastle, riding for Malton-based trainer John Scott.

[1] In a manner more akin to his modern day counterparts than some of his contemporaries, he would regularly travel up and down the country to take rides.

On one occasion in 1840 he won the Chester Cup one day and rode at Newmarket next, a remarkable logistical achievement given the transportation of the time.

By 1854, both Wells and Charlton had headed him, and from then on Flatman gradually fell out of favour until in his final year of riding in 1859, he won only fifteen races.

However, he did take part in one of the most famous races of the century, the so-called Great Match between Voltigeur and The Flying Dutchman at York in May 1851.

[5][6] At York, unlike at Doncaster, he made the running, and held the lead into the straight, but in the final furlong dropped his whip, and The Flying Dutchman pulled ahead to win by a length.

[1] The epitaph on his headstone in All Saints Church, in Newmarket states that he was "known to be honest, sober, discreet and plain living."

[14] His daughters on the other hand all died young – one through an accident, the other two in the wreck of the Princess Alice when it collided with another boat on the River Thames in September 1878.

[15] His brother Edward Flatman (c1807-1884) settled at Chantilly in France and rode four winners of the Prix du Jockey Club.