Darwin, like many of his contemporaries at Christ's, occasionally visited Newmarket, about twenty-five miles away, to watch the horse races held there. In the words of Francis Darwin, Charles' son, they were “by no means discouraged” from doing this by Mr. Shaw, the Senior Tutor, “who was himself generally to be seen on the Heath on these occasions”. E.T. Vaughan, one of Darwin's fellow students at Christ's, recalled Mr. Shaw when writing for the Christ's College Magazine in 1893:
Mr Shaw...had not been distinguished either as a scholar or a mathematician, but was a man of good sense, a gentleman, easy-going in all things, himself a constant visitor to Newmarket, and, I believe, an excellent judge of a horse. He was supposed to be an insatiable devourer of the novels in the University Library, and to have a very quick and true ear for music. Under his indulgent sway the College had not done particularly well in the Senate House, but was well filled in point of numbers; most of the men were gentlemen, who shared their tutor's love of Newmarket, and spent their money freely both there and elsewhere.