SOME FAMOUS PLAYERS AND PONIES 333 



Polo as well as that of Nestor of Nimrods, so affectionately 

 bestowed on him in his native land. Though at the time a 

 man of sixty, he proved himself as good on the back of a polo 

 pony as he was in the hunting-field. He it was who inaugurated 

 the County Carlow and All Ireland Polo Clubs, institutions 

 which have gone on and flourished ever since. Mr. Horace 

 Rochfort formed one of the team that beat the 8th Hussars in 

 the first regular match ever played in Ireland, when County 

 Carlow sent him, Mr. Robert Watson, M.F.H., his son Mr. 

 John Watson (of present renown), Mr. Stewart-Duckett, and 

 Mr. James Butler, to do battle with Messrs. Gould, Green, 

 Gregg, Paley, and Baldock, when the county team won, and 

 crowned themselves with glory. 



Mr. Geoffrey Hone was another very brilliant player, and 

 so was Major B. Gough, Qth Lancers, better known as ' Goffy,' 

 who was quite at the top of the tree in India, and one of the 

 best ' forwards ' ever seen. Captain Steeds, a familiar figure 

 at the Dublin Horse Show, was another well-known man on 

 the polo ground, and generally owned a smart pony or two 

 which he always made good use of. He had a wonderful pony 

 called Tongs, which he bought for a mere song at a sale in 

 Dublin, on the condition that he should be delivered at his 

 house at Clonsilla, seven miles distant ; for the impression was 

 that he could not be got there. Eventually he reached his 

 future home and 'went to school.' Education was a hard 

 matter, and resulted in a desperate duel ; but Captain Steeds 

 won, and the pony turned out a treasure. The gth Lancers 

 numbered amongst their ranks many other fine players Lord 

 William ('Bill') Beresford, V.C. ; poor < Dick ' Clayton, who 

 was killed at Delhi on Christmas Eve, 1877, whilst playing the 

 game he loved so well ; Chisholme, and * Tim ' Butson, who 

 was killed in action in Afghanistan, were all 9th men, and 

 gloriously kept up the credit of their corps. 



Every one knows the old saying of 'The loth don't dance,' 

 but at any rate the loth Hussars have ever proved that they 

 can ride and play polo, for tradition has handed down many 



