Helen Vernet

Helen Monica Mabel Vernet (1876–1956) was the first woman in the history of horseracing in Great Britain to be granted a license that permitted a person "of fit and proper character" to legally carry out business as a bookmaker on a racecourse in accordance with the Betting Houses Act of 1853 and subsequent amendments.

The daughter of Arthur Bryden (d. 1897), a solicitor, of Broxmore House, Whiteparish, Wiltshire by his wife Rosa Matilda, daughter of Sir Arthur Percy Cuninghame-Fairlie, 10th Baronet, in 1896 she married Armyn Littledale Thornton, a stockbroker by profession. Apparently, this was not a happy union from the outset as the marriage ended in annulment. As a result of a marriage annulment rather than a divorce, in accordance with Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, both parties were free to marry again, which Helen in due course did when she married yet another stockbroker, Robert Vernet, in 1905.[1]

Reportedly, as a child she inherited some £8,000 following the death of her father; as a result, when she became of age and with capital of her own, she quickly developed a taste for gambling and a fondness to go racing as often as she could. Unfortunately, Helen Vernet was not yet a skilled enough operator of the kind she was later to become, gradually dissipating most of her inheritance in the process of her activities.[2]

In the days when Tote pool betting was not yet a feature on British racecourses and the rough and tumble of the betting ring was very much a male preserve and socially out of bounds to the opposite sex. Helen Vernet had noticed that many women who like her went racing, also liked to have a bet. The problem was that for those women in the Tattersalls enclosure and grandstand areas wanting to place a small wager the only available bookmakers were located along the rails. And, because entry to such areas on a racecourse was more expensive than to the general public enclosures, bookmakers along the Tattersalls rails were more inclined to accept larger bets. Indeed, when approached, they would often refuse to accept small stakes of less than a Pound in value.[3]

So, following the end of World War I in 1918 and the recommencement of horserace meetings in Britain, she made it known that she was willing to take small bets from female acquaintances who like her, attended local race meetings throughout the English Home Counties. Unfortunately, as word got around and demand for her services visibly increased, her illegal and unlicensed activities soon came to the attention of the authorities – and she was duly "warned off"[4] – being the procedure whereby a person of proven dubious character is banned from attending official racecourse meetings in Britain for a set period of time.

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