Turkey Smart

Turkey Smart’s reign as champion of the Fens began in 1854 when, in a 2-mile race at Welney, he took the title from Larman Register of Southery.

A month’s cold spell in early 1855 saw Turkey Smart winning 13 matches at Outwell, Salter’s Lode, Welney, Benwick, Mepal, March, Deeping, Ely, Peterborough and Wisbech in front of crowds of thousands.

His prize money for that month's skating came to £58 15s and a leg of mutton – the equivalent of about 2 years’ average earnings for an agricultural worker.

Turkey Smart continued his winning streak until 1861, when, hampered by a scythe injury to his leg, he shared the title with his brother-in-law and main rival on ice William "Gutta Percha" See.

An editorial in the Times, written 26 years after Turkey Smart’s death and looking back to the golden age of Fen skating in the last decades of the nineteenth century, described him as "a glorious has-been".

In the second round they were drawn against each other and Gutta Percha See won in a close finish, only to be beaten by his 16-year-old son George "Young Gutty" See in the semi-final.