Francis 'Titch' Mason was born on the 4th of April 1879 at 14 Carlyle Street in Wavertree, Liverpool the first son of Thomas, a coal merchant from Shrewsbury, Shropshire and his wife Sarah Ann who was from the small village of Tarbock, near Knowsley. The family moved to Moreton, Wirral and at just twelve years old Frank was apprenticed to the horse stables of Mr. John Gubbins of Telscombe, Sussex. He then spent some time riding in Ireland where, only two weeks after his 14th birthday, he rode the first of more than 720 winners of his career on 'Vandal' at The Curragh on the 18th of April, 1893 and he was also the Irish jump racing Champion Jockey in 1900.
In Britain, he became one of the top jump jockeys of his era, and was Champion Jockey in 1901 (with 58 winners), in 1902 (67 winners), in 1904 (54 winners), in 1905 (73 winners), in 1906 (58 winners) and in 1907 (59 winners). He rode five winners in a day on two occasions, at Lingfield in 1903 and Manchester in 1905. After several years of coming very close, none closer that second place in 1904, he steered his horse 'Kirkland' to a three-length victory with the pair finishing in the top four for the third year running in 1905. He was paid £300 not to ride for two weeks before the Grand National, to ensure that he would be fit and free of injury and won the race by three lengths for owner and Liverpool manufacturer, Frank Bibby. He also won the Grand Sefton Chase at Aintree on three occasions (1898, 1902, 1908), the Stanley Chase (1899), the Champion Chase (1902), the Lancashire Chase (1905), the Imperial Cup (1910), and the Welsh Grand National (1910). Frank was down to ride the one-eyed Glenside in the 1911 National but one week before he broke his leg and Jack Anthony took the ride and won easily. He retired in 1913, but returned to the saddle in 1919, winning the Liverpool Hurdle on St Tudwal. Breaking his thigh when South Lodge fell in the Valentine Chase at Aintree on the 9th of April 1919 ended his career.
Frank married Vera Broughton at The Holy Innocents Church, Fallowfield on the 10th of July, 1907 and they had five children, Vera Letitia (born 1909), Emma (born 1910), Thomas Kirkland (born 1911), Lillian (born 1912), and Frank (born 1914). Between 1912 and 1914 Frank had taken a break from riding and switched to the training of racehorses. He doesn’t appear to have been very successful at this as he had to wait until March 1913 for his first winner and in 1914 he relinquished his trainer’s license and returned to riding until he finally retired in 1919. Frank and Vera first set up home in Little Saughall, near Chester but later the family moved, to be closer to his parental home, 'Kirkland', Pasture Road, Moreton, Wallasey, named after his Grand National winner. He invested some of his winnings in building many of the shop premises on the Cross at Moreton in the shape of a horse shoe, adding the names of some of his winning horses to the frontages. Frank was a pillar of the community and always held Moreton in high regard. He died in 1969 in Moreton, aged 90 and the following year, his daughter scattered his ashes at the start of the Grand National course at Aintree, in the presence of the owner, Mirabel Topham.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2026/07/merseyside-for-sport-john-rimmer.html
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