William C. Marshall

Who was William C. Marshall?

William Cyril "Bill" Marshall DFC SCM was a Thoroughbred horse racing trainer and owner who had the distinction of being the only person to have saddled winners from stables on four different continents.

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Bill Marshall was raised on a farm near Chichester where he developed his love of horses. In his early teens, he left home and made his way to Australia where he worked as a jockey for a short time before turning to training. While still only seventeen years old he headed to South Africa where he operated his own stable for a few years until the outbreak of World War II. Marshall returned to his native England and joined the Royal Air Force. In the war, Marshall, while flying back from a mission over France, realised that he was going to be very late for a date in Buckinghamshire. He was supposed to land at Tangmere, in Sussex, but diverted to Marlow, where his date awaited him in the Compleat Angler Inn. His daredevil act of flying his Spitfire under Marlow Bridge and performing a roll impressed his girlfriend, but not an air commodore who happened to be in the bar. A report was filed, but Marshall escaped a court martial because it was wartime. As a pilot, he fought in the Battle of Britain thence served with 253 squadron in North Africa before returning to England to serve in the famous 91 'Nigeria' Squadron. By the time the war ended, Marshall had been shot down twice and was the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross as well as mentioned in dispatches. Discharged from the military, Marshall remained in England and began training National Hunt horses then Thoroughbreds for flat racing.