A Hundred Years Ago.
(FROM THE _SPORTING MAGAZINE_ OF 1806.)
FOOT RACE.—The foot race between Lord Edward Somerset and the Hon.
Edward Harbord took place on Friday morning the 16th (May) in Lord’s
Cricket Ground. The space to be run was nearly one hundred yards.
Lord Edward had the start of Mr. Harbord, and maintained the advantage
for about sixty yards, when Mr. Harbord gained upon and crossed him. In
passing they ran against each other, and in consequence, as it was
supposed, of the _rencontre_, Lord Edward fell. Mr. Harbord came in
first, of course, but a dispute arose respecting the cause of Lord
Edward’s fall, which was not decided till after a long conference
between three gentlemen to whom the matter in question was referred.
Lord Frederick Beauclerk was chosen umpire, and his decision was as
follows: That on account of the accident which happened the race was
void; but Mr. Harbord is allowed the power of calling upon Lord Edward
to run the race over again any time within the next six months, upon
giving his lordship six weeks’ notice. The bets were six to four in
favour of Mr. Harbord.
* * * * *
EPSOM RACES.—On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the metropolis poured
forth an incredible number of its inhabitants to Epsom Races, nor was
the surrounding country less liberal in contributing to the aggregate of
visitors. The gradation of rank in those from London was from the Prince
of Wales down to the donkey racer; and from the country, the peer to the
ploughboy.
The Derby Stakes on Thursday was won by Sir F. Standish’s Paris, bought
by Lord Foley, beating Lord Egremont’s b. c. Trafalgar, Lord
Chichester’s gr. c. and several others. Very severe running by the three
named; Paris won by half a neck. The £50 Plate on the same day was won
by Mr. Ladbroke’s Prospero.
On Friday the Oak’s Stakes was won by Mr. B. Craven, who named the Duke
of Queensberry’s b. f. Bronze, which beat Lord Egremont’s b. f. Jerboa,
Mr. Lake’s b. f. Rosabella, and Sir F. Standish’s b. f. by Sir Peter
Teazle. There were eight others started, but the judge could only place
the first four. A young man who was run over by one of the horses during
the race for the Oaks on Friday, died on Saturday.
* * * * *
That woodcocks breed in this country is now ascertained beyond any
possibility of doubt ... a couple of young ones about half-grown were
caught by a countryman in a wood called Shrub Wood, in the parish of
Caversham, Oxon, and exhibited as a curiosity to many inhabitants of
Reading; a third was seen, but could not be taken. The plumage exactly
resembled that of the old birds, and the bill was proportionate to their
growth. A gentleman very liberally and handsomely rewarded the
countryman for carrying them back, and turning them loose into the wood
from which they had been taken, as there was not the least probability
of their being raised by any other means.
* * * * *
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM YORK, APRIL 30TH: “This day a long-depending
match against time was decided between Mr. Harrison and Mr. Ray. Four
hundred guineas to one hundred that Mr. H. did not drive one of his
horses, with himself and another person, in a chase from London to York
in forty-eight successive hours. This he performed with apparent ease in
forty-six hours and fifty minutes, having started from London at six
o’clock on Monday morning, and arrived at York ten minutes before five
on Wednesday. He offered to take the same bet, to go from York to London
in the same time, and start this day week, with the same horse.”
The Sportsman’s Library.
Sir Walter Gilbey has issued a new and revised edition of the suggestive
pamphlet[16] which appeared soon after the close of the South African
War, when the enormous losses sustained among the horses were still
fresh in the mind of the country. The main objects of Sir Walter’s
scheme are, to secure a sufficiency of the best of the three-year-old
horses that come into the market each year for the Army, and house them
in specially organised depôts, to be handled and trained until old
enough to be issued as cavalry, artillery and transport remounts; and to
create the nucleus of a staff of officers to whom the difficult and
delicate task of buying horses may be entrusted in time of emergency.
The scheme suggested appears to us eminently feasible, and also one that
could be put to the test of practical experience at insignificant cost
to the national exchequer. Sir Walter does not urge that his scheme in
its entirety, involving the creation of ten depôts near various selected
centres in the kingdom, should be adopted at once. He suggests that
three or four of these depôts, each capable of receiving 400 horses,
should be established and given a few years’ trial. This is sound
business, and inasmuch as the capital cost of each depot is only
£25,000, while the Army estimates each year, nowadays, fall little short
of thirty millions of money, there is nothing in the scheme that need
alarm the most economically minded war minister. As Sir Walter points
out, recent years have seen a vast increase in mechanical traction,
whereby great numbers of horses of a very useful class for military
purposes have been done away with; the sources of supply formerly made
accessible by the registration system have been thus much reduced; and
the question of Army remounts, always a difficult one, is likely to
become even more difficult in the future. We are quite of Sir Walter’s
opinion that the step taken by the authorities in paying “market price”
for horses means little more than a reduction in the standard of
quality. Five-year-olds, fit to carry our cavalry and draw our guns, are
not to be had for an average price of £43 16s. 8d. If our troops are to
be properly mounted we must give them the best; and Sir Walter’s scheme,
whereby young horses may be bought and kept at the public charge for a
year or two, is, in our judgment, the best means of getting the best
that could be devised.
Few men in England have wider experience of hounds and hunting than Mr.
Richardson; he mentions, incidentally, in his brief preface, that he has
learned what he knows in “nearly half of the English hunting countries.”
He has, therefore, strong claims to be heard when he puts pen to paper.
His book[17] is a small and unassuming production, but it contains a
vast amount of sound advice, delivered in a straightforward,
sportsmanlike fashion that lends it weight. The tone of the whole book
appeals to us; the author has the gift of writing in a direct and
intimate strain which conveys to the mind of the reader that he
personally, and he only, is being addressed. And inasmuch as the book
was penned for the guidance of boys, girls, and hunting novices of
larger growth, this method is peculiarly appropriate. Mr. Richardson
seems to have kept an eye on the rising generation as it appears at the
covert-side and in the wake of hounds, and his observations on conduct
and deportment are very much to the point. The chapters headed
“Threefold Duties” and “Duties to the Field” might fitly form a sort of
Saturday Catechism in which indulgent parents should require their
offspring to be letter perfect before they are allowed to go out with
hounds. Admirably practical, too, are the observations on “Costume and
Equipment.” Mr. Richardson is a martinet in the matter of hunting dress,
and requires that “every boy and girl and every man and woman who hunts
should be as neat as a pin all over.”
We also find ourselves very much in accord with him concerning the
observance of hunting etiquette in the so-called “provinces” by
comparison with the more fashionable shires. In the latter we have more
than once seen the man who, for the public weal, dismounted to open a
gate, left behind, if not nearly carried away by the crowd while
endeavouring to regain his saddle, and we have never seen a similar
proceeding in a “provincial” country. Again, we are in accord with him
when he affirms that “four-fifths of the hunters in the kingdom are,
when in really good condition, quite fit enough to hunt twice a week.”
Of course, as the incipient solicitor said, “It all depends,” but we are
of Mr. Richardson’s opinion that the large majority of hunters could not
only do more than they are usually asked to do, but would be much better
off with more work than they get in the orthodox three days a
fortnight—always provided they are _fit_.
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