Ifrebcricft ipeter S)eIme*lRaC>clttfe 2.53 



the father of Frederick Peter married the daughter of 

 Peter Delme, the dashing and eccentric Squire of Erie 

 Stoke, Wiltshire, and Cam's Hall, Hants. This Peter 

 Delme was a notable sportsman. He kept staghounds, 

 foxhounds, and harriers on what was then thought a 

 scale of great magnificence. He was the best gentleman- 

 coachman of his day, and his three teams of grey, black, 

 and cream were admitted to be unsurpassed by any in 

 England. It was he who taught the Prince of Wales 

 (afterwards George the Fourth) to handle the ribbons, 

 and there were few better whips than Delme's royal pupil. 

 At his big house in Grosvenor Square, Squire Delme 

 had daily laid at 5 p.m. the best dinner that money and 

 a first-rate French chef could provide for any eight of 

 his friends who chose to put their names down, but the 

 eccentric master of the feast seldom sat down with his 

 guests unless some member of the Royal Family signified 

 his intention of dining. 



Some idea of his expenditure on his stables may be 

 gathered from the fact that, after his death, ninety-five 

 horses and ponies were sold at Tattersall's. He married 

 a sister of the Earl of Carlisle, Lady Betty Howard, who 

 was one of the reigning belles at the Court of Queen 

 Charlotte, and whose beauty has been immortalised on 

 canvas by both Reynolds and Romney. One of Squire 

 Delme's feats of driving, by the way, was his annual trip 

 by tandem from London to Castle Howard, the seat of 

 the Earl of Carlisle, a distance of over 300 miles, which 

 he accomplished, with relays, in thirty hours. 



So much for Frederick Peter's grandsire. His father 

 was also a fine horseman and keen sportsman. He was 

 in the loth Hussars, the crack cavalry regiment of the 

 day, of which the Prince Regent was Colonel, and had 



