Henry Thomas Bloomfield #2

Henry Thomas Bloomfield was the son of Martha Saffron and William Bloomfield born the 31st of October 1847 in Tasmania, Australia. From what I have discovered Henry was the youngest son. Henry and an older brother John came to NZ together, and lived and worked around the Greymouth and Charleston areas. Greymouth is on the Westcoast of the South Island of NZ. Charleston just up the coast a bit.
Henry was riding in Greymouth when he was fatally injured. It was March 1869 when Henry was riding a horse called 'Gamester' at the Omoto Racecourse on the first day of the race meeting.  As they approached a hurdle, Henry's horse hit the hurdle with his front legs causing Henry to be thrown over the hurdle and the horse then followed rolling on him. Other jockeys reported Henry standing up, but then staggering and falling to the ground. An autopsy revealed Henry's liver had burst and he had died within minutes of being injured.  His brother who was working in the gold fields in Charleston came to Greymouth to take care of the funeral arrangements. The newspapers of the day wrote how the procession moved through the city and how the merchants all closed their doors and everyone stood in respect to the fallen jockey as the procession passed by. I think the saddest thing I read was how his brother walked alone behind the carriage as the chief mourner. After reading the description of the funeral, I thought about Henry's family in Tasmania and how awful for them to lose him so young (21 years).  I tried to find out about Henry's Australian family and discovered by chance that John Bloomfield is mentioned in a book as having been in the gold fields of NZ before returning to Australia to make his fortune. Man was I stoked to find that reference. Any genealogist worth their salt will tell you ... 'get two sources to confirm a fact'. Henry's family included William, John, Robert, Margaret, Joseph and Ambrose. I think there is a missing child in there born about 1854. Still have a way to go on the Bloomfield family tree but it's falling into place slowly.
As for Gamester the horse - he was ridden the next day in the Hurdle Handicap. It seems he was none the worse for the fall, he won the race.
The day before he died, Henry attended the funeral of one of his close friends Samuel Finlay who was killed when a block of cement fell and killed him a few days earlier in Charleston.
The reason the funeral procession of Henry Bloomfield doesn't leave my mind is because my family moved to Greymouth while I was in my last year of high school.  I played hockey and one Saturday during a game the ref suddenly blew the whistle (I of course was looking for the infringement but couldn't see one) then I watched with growing respect as every girl on the field and the spectators turned to pause, remove their hats and quiet the children running around as a funeral procession passed by. As soon as the cars were gone, the game was back on. I'd never experienced that before and it made me think that small town values were long gone from some places in my country. How sad.