From 1744 to 1746 Thomas Leigh raced three full brothers - two bay geldings Foxhunter (1739) and Surly (1740), and a bay colt Bauble (1741) - all said to be out of the chestnut mare called Miss How[e] and got by the Coles Foxhunter, which was out of the Rutland Brown Betty and a son of the Darley Arabian.

In the history of thoroughbred breeding, however, Lord Leigh will be remembered as owner of two full sisters Diana and Charming Molly. Descendants of these mares make up one of the branches of Bruce Lowe's Family 13.

Their pedigree is also stated indirectly in Sir James Lowther's manuscript Stud Book started in the mid-1750s (D\Lons\L9\2\4, Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle). Sir James had a mare described as a full sister to Lord Leigh's Diana and Molly, and his records indicate that her sire was Whitefoot.

Although the contemporary records mentioned above clearly state these 3 sisters to have been sired by Whitefoot, the sire of Lord Leigh's Diana and Charming Molly is given as Second in the General Stud Book. Mr Weatherby offered the following discussion in his Preface to An Introduction to a General Stud-Book (1791):

"The Editor cannot persuade himself that this work will be able, in any considerable degree, to promote the so much wished for purpose of preserving entire the Pedigrees of our most valuable Horses; but he feels happy, that it has been in his power, by his own researches, and the aid of Friends, to correct some few material errors that have obtained, for a long series of years; of which he will here only instance Lord Leigh's Diana and Charming Molly, both connected with some of the best horses, even of the present day, who, from the authority of Mr Cheney [sic], have ever been considered and reported as daughters of the Godolphin Whitefoot, whereas (as appears by a certificate under the hand of the Breeder) they were in reality got by Second. A few modern alterations have here been obliterated, and the ancient accounts restored, where there was sufficient reason to believe they had been incorrectly varied: and many names have also been inserted, which were originally given by the owners, and dropped by the purchasers, apparently for no purpose, but which has often caused confusion."

An Introduction to a General Stud-Book (1791) gave the following pedigree of these mares:
   DIANA (Lord Leigh's) - Mr Hanger, 1740, Own sister to Charming Molly.
   CHARMING MOLLY (Ld Leigh's) - Mr Hanger, 1741, She was own sister to Diana, got by Second, dam (Mr Hanger's brown mare) by Stanyan's Arabian, out of Gipsey; Gipsey was bred by Sir R Milbanke, and got by King William's No-tongued Barb - Makeless - Royal Mare.

Two other horses from this family are also mentioned in this edition:
   SPANKER - (Mr Pengree's), 1758, By Antelope, out of Ld Leigh's Charming Molly.
   FORTUNE - (Lord G Sutton's), 1762, got by Blank, out of a full sister to Lord Leigh's Diana.

DIANA (A BROWN MARE - FOALED IN 1740,) Bred by Mr HANGER, and sold to Lord LEIGH.
DIANA was got by Second (son of Childers); her dam was a Brown Mare of Mr Hanger's. got by the Stanyan Arabian; grandam, called Gipsey, (bred by Sir Ralph Milbanke) by King William's no-tongued Barb; great grandam by Makeless, out of a Royal Mare.
   In 1745, DIANA won the Maiden Plate of £50 at Guildford, beating 7 others; and 50gs at Burford, beating Mr Cornwall's Nestgull. In 1746, She won £50 at Warwick, beating Mr Southcote's Dunkirk, Mr Greville's Sultan, &c. and £50 at Burford, beating, at four heats, Mr Greville's Grantham, Mr Dutton's Rat, Lord Portmore's Silverlocks, &c. - The first heat was won by Rat; and the Judge could not determine weather Diana or Silverlocks was second; the second heat was won by Grantham, from Diana; the third heat by Diana from Silverlocks; who also won the fourth from Grantham. In 1747, She won £50 at Warwick, beating Mr Wass's Jenny Cameron, Sir Harry Harpur's Merryman, &c and £50 at Chipping-Norton, beating Mr Wilabore's Bald Peg, and Mr Fugger's Poker.
   DIANA was the dam of the Duke of Ancaster's Polly, (Guardian and Polydamus' dam); of Lord George Sutton's Fortune; of Sir Charles Sedley's Sophia, (Jessica's dam), all by Blank. --DIANA was also grandam of Javelin, Polydore, Dido, Little Henry, &c.

CHARMING MOLLY (a Brown Mare, foaled in 1742) also bred by Mr HANGER, and sold to Lord Leigh. - She was own sister to DIANA. --In 1746, CHARMING MOLLY won the Maiden Plate of £50 for four-year olds, at Stockbridge, beating Mr Rogers's (afterwards Lord Portmore's) Highlander, and 6 others. --In 1747, [p 84] She won £50 at Warwick; 50gs at Lichfield; 70gs at Burford; and £50 at Reading. --In 1748 She won the Gold Cup at Chester; £50 at Nottingham, beating the famous Babram, at one heat; £50 at Peterborough, beating Ld Byron's Maidenhead, the Duke of Ancaster's Badger, &c and £50 at Warwick. --In 1749, She won £50 at Warwick, beating the Duke of Ancaster's Blank, &c also £50 at Chipping-Norton, beating Mr Howe's Diana and Mr Fisher's Poker.

Papers from the Earl of Antrim's Stud published by C M Prior in his book The Royal Studs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1935); page 182, give the record of Charming Molly's produce, as follows:

Pond's racing calendar for 1755 also calls into question the attribution of Lord Rockingham's 1751 ch f Pretty Polly, by Old Starling, to Charming Molly; Pond wrote, "Pretty Poll, three years old, the Marquis of Rockingham's, was got by Starling; her dam by Second, out of the Dam of Lord Leigh's Molly and Diana."

Two documents of interest can be found in the Stratford Record Office: (1) Inventory of Lord Leigh's horses taken after his death, on Jan 12th, 1749/50, Stoneleigh Abbey, and (2) a similar list with buyers of his horses, with prices achieved, dated Jan 29th, same year. While no pedigrees of the horses are given, some familiar names occur which allows us to fill out the histories of the horses in question.

A brown mare Diana is listed as sold to Mr Corker for [22 1 0] and a brown mare Molly, probably Charming Molly, as sold to Mr Edward Stevens for [27 6 0].

There was also a brown Whitefoot mare that was sold for even more money than these two very well known mares [35 14 0]. She was purchased by Ld Eglintowne [Eglinton], and it is probable that she was the dam of his bay colt, by Spinner, mentioned in Pond 1753 & 1754: "The Earl of Eglintowne's bay Colt, got by Spinner, his Dam by White Foot, against Thomas Duncomb's Esq; bay Colt, got by Regulus, out of a Roundhead Mare, on Friday in Easter Week 1755, over the Beacon Course, for forty Pounds, play or pay, and fifty Guineas bye, wt nine Stone." Mr Duncomb's colt won - see the ad for Young Regulus in Heber 1755 ("He beat Lord Eglintown's Bay Colt, got by Spinner, a Match over the Beacon Course at Newmarket in April Meeting, 1755, for forty Pounds, Play or Pay, and fifty Guineas bye, which was the only Time he ever started"); Lord Eglinton also raced a "bay horse" 5 years old, later that year, so probably the same. Since the Spinner colt was born in 1750, it is likely that the Whitefoot mare was in foal to Spinner when sold to Lord Eglinton.

To support this it can be seen that a horse named Spinner was also among Lord Leigh's horses sold in Jan 1750, and that he was sold to Mr Edward Stevens (who bought Smiling Molly, too) for a small sum [7 7 0]. A note in Cheny's 1746 Calendar identifies this horse as Lord Portmore's Spinner (that won the Ladies Plate of 80gs at Oxford in 1733): "Hautboy ... also got Grey Hautboy, Sire of Bay Bolton, Lamprie, Bell's Painted Lady, and the Dam of the Portmore Spinner, now Lord Leigh's". The small price for Spinner must be the result of his age (23) and the fact that he had not proved very successful in the stud.

The unnamed brown Whitefoot mare appears to be the Whitefoot Mare entered in GSB, i, 1891 (page 221) who produced 1 foal for Lord Eglinton, followed by 6 for Sir James Lowther. Sir James Lowther's manuscript stud book (D\Lons\L9\2\4, Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle) seems to have been the source of the GSB entry for this mare, since it mentions the purchase of the 1757 b c by Janus from Lord Eglinton as well as the births of the succeeding 5 foals exactly as given in GSB; there is no mention in either of the 1750 Spinner colt.

It is clear from an ad in Pond 1757 and several editions of Heber starting in 1758 that Lord Chedworth owned a Whitefoot mare out of Silverlocks and that he bred at least one foal from her. According to Lord Godolphin's records as published by C M Prior in The Royal Studs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1935) this mare was a 1737 bay, sold to Mr Poole in 1740. Since Lord Chedworth bred at least 5 or 6 foals from his Diana, it is possible that she was the 1737 bay mare by Whitefoot, bred by Lord Godolphin.

AARON (a bay horse - foaled in 1747)
Bred by Lord CHEDWORTH; sold to Mr Benjamin ROGERS, and afterwards to Mr SMITH.
AARON was got by Lord Portmore's Whitenose, (sire of Mr Fenwick's Duchess), out of Lord Chedworth's Diana ...AARON generally measured under 14 hands.
DIANA (dam of AARON) was a Bay Mare, and foaled in 1737. --She was also bred by Lord CHEDWORTH; and got by Whitefoot, page 64. - In 1743, DIANA won the Hunter's Purse at Burford, beating 7 others. --In 1744, She won 60gs for hunters, at Burford, beating 3 others. --And in 1745, She also won, at the same place, the 80gs Purse, for hunters, beating 2 others. --DIANA was also the dam of Mr Rogers's bay mare, Diana, (foaled in 1752) and was own sister to AARON.

As if there are not already enough Diana's to confuse us, in Cheny 1747, Lord Chedworth is recorded as having raced yet another Diana, although she can be distinguished as a different mare based on age:

We can only guess, but perhaps Mr Weatherby saw a certificate of the breeder (Mr Hanger) involving the Second mare (dam of Pretty Poll) and concluded that she was a full sister to Lord Leigh's Molly and Diana. Later the compilers of GSB, vol. 1, 1891, perpetuated another error by following Pick in stating that Pretty Polly was out of Ld Leigh's Charming Molly, which was not possible, since she was in Ireland at that time.

Pretty Polly's pedigree appears in Pick's Turf Register, vol. I (1803) [p 394] as:
PRETTY POLLY, (dam of CORIOLANUS) a Chesnut Mare, foaled in 1751, and bred by Lord Rockingham. --She was got by the Duke of Bolton's Starling, her dam, Charming Molly, (the dam of Sir J Moore's Hackney*, &c.) by Second, and was own sister to Lord Leigh's Diana, page 83.
* HACKNEY, (a Bay Horse, foaled in 1756) bred by Lord ROCKINGHAM, and sold to Sir John MOORE, Bart and got by Lord Cullen's Arabian.

R193/15 is a note from Dan: Corker, dated at Lichfield 3 Feb 1752, in which he details the fees arising from a journey to Wentworth House for an in-foal mare received from John Hawkes.

R193/21 is a letter from Gabriel Hanger regarding this same mare.

My Lord
Your servant came to me in London to know the Pedigree of a Mare I sold to Mr Hawks of Staffordshire which I could not then recollect. He bought two of me both got by Second, Out of my Brown Mare which was got by Stanyan's Arabian at Hampton Court, out of Gipsey, who was bred by Sr Ralph Millbank and was got by King William's Black barb wthout a Tongue out of Sr Ralph's black Mare who was bred by Mr Darcy and was got by Makeless out of one of his best Royall Mares. The Oldest is 5 years old & the Brown one 4 this Grass. If your Lordship has occasion for another filly I have a very fine one out of the same Mare & got by Marksman a Son of Lord Godolphins Arabian 3 years old now, as promising as any thing can be which I intend to dispose of as I understand / nothing about training. I sold three fillys out of this same mare to the late Lord Leigh two of which proved so good that my Lord told me he was offerr'd five hundred pounds for them I mention this only for your Lordship information of the breed. The three filly's were got by Whitefoot.
I am your Lordships / Most Obedient and Very / Humble Servant
Dryffield [near] Cirencester
In Glostersher June 17th 1752 Gabl Hanger

R193/50 is a sheet of paper, labeled "Bellina", including what appears to be a description of this mare:

A ^ Bay ^ filly rising five 14 hands 2 [a fraction] got by Second out of the Dam of Ld Lee's Molly & Diana, bred at Hampton Court got by Stanyer's Arabian. Her dam by the Black tongueless Barb of King William's - great grandam Gipsy Sr Ralph Milbanke's got by Mackeless. - dam of Hartleys Blind Horse & Othello. Drogheda / in foal by old Starling price 120 G

If written early in 1752, as were the other 2 items, the resulting foal would have been Pretty Polly (1752).

According to the evidence in early records discussed here it can be concluded: