Turkey Smart - "A Glorious Has-been"

"A Glorious Has-been"

Undeterred by defeat and a leg injury, Turkey Smart continued to skate competitively into his fifties. 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".

At one match in Mepal in 1878 Turkey Smart and Gutta Percha See (aged 48 and 45 respectively) both won their first rounds. 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. Young Gutty See then lost to his cousin George "Flying Fish" Smart in the final.

Although he usually lost in the early rounds of matches, Turkey Smart was still a force to be reckoned with. In January 1879 he got through three rounds of a match at Littleport, defeating nephew Jarman Smart along the way, only to lose in the semi-final to nephew Young Gutty See. The following day he was beaten by nephew Fish Smart in the second round of a match at Ely. Three days later he was a second-round loser at Swavesey having easily beaten one of Lancashire's best skaters in the first round. Later that year the first British professional championship was held under the auspices of the recently set up National Skating Association. Turkey Smart lost in the first round, but received an ovation from the crowd.

In 1881 Turkey Smart skated in a 1 mile race at Edgbaston Pool, Birmingham, and although coming in behind his fellow fenmen, managed to beat the best of Birmingham by 250 yards.

In his sixties, Turkey Smart was still taking to the ice for exhibition races.