Martin Becher

Martin William Becher (1797 – 12 October 1864) was a former soldier and steeplechase jockey in whose memory the Becher's Brook obstacle at Aintree Racecourse is named.

Becher first served in the military during the Napoleonic Wars and was stationed in Belgium at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, though historical claims that he saw active service in the battle are thought to be without foundation.

Upon being released from service, Becher took a commission as a captain in the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, but the few demands placed upon him within this role allowed him a great deal of time to pursue his passion of cross-country riding.

During his riding career, Becher won almost every race of note during the 1820s and 1830s including the Aylesbury Chase, Cheltenham Steeplechase, Leamington Chase and Great St Albans. It was the last of these races that inspired him to put the idea of a great cross-country chase to racecourse owner and friend William Lynn. Becher was a regular visitor to Liverpool and Lynn's racecourse at Aintree, famously winning there with the horse with which the public most readily associated him, Vivian.

On one occasion the pair discussed a 'Great Chase of the North' with the result that Lynn staged the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase in 1836. Fittingly, Becher not only took part but won the race upon a local horse, The Duke, in the lilac and white colours of Mr. Sirdefield.

The event would go on to become known as the Grand National, although Becher's victory in 1836 was disregarded by future generations as merely a precursor to the first official running in 1839.

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