A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



of the Army Polo Committee in 1902 the 

 Hurlingham Polo Committee was reconsti- 

 tuted on a more representative basis, and now 

 includes three members from the County Polo 

 Association, two from the Army Polo Com- 

 mittee, and one each from the Ranelagh and 

 Roehampton Clubs. 5 



In 1886 a team sent by the Hurlingham 

 Club won the cup offered by the American polo 

 players for competition at Newport, U.S.A. 6 



Among the most notable players have been 

 Captain F. Herbert, Mr. Kenyon Slaney, 

 Mr. E. H. Baldock, Mr. Algernon Peyton, 

 nth Hussars, Mr. (now Captain) Wyndham- 

 Quinn, i6th Lancers, Mr. W. Ince Anderson, 

 Col. Duncombe and Mr. Miller ; 7 while Mr. 

 J. R. and Mr. W. H. Walker are not only bril- 

 liant players but also breeders of polo ponies. 8 



The Wembley Park Polo Club, recently 

 founded, is the only other club in Middlesex. 



SHOOTING 



As has been mentioned, shooting in Middle- 

 sex, owing to the absence of any large estates 

 and the small amount of game preservation, is 

 not of sufficient importance to require a de- 

 tailed notice. An exception must, however, 

 be made in the case of one form of this sport 

 with respect to which the county, though not 

 the originating centre, has long occupied a pro- 

 minent position, namely, pigeon shooting. 



In the early days of pigeon shooting, which 

 came into vogue about 1790,' 'The Old 

 Hatte,' at Ealing an inn three centuriesold 10 

 appears to have been the chief rendezvous for 

 the sport in Middlesex. 11 Its head quarters, 

 however, till the middle of the last century, 

 were at the Red House Club at Battersea, 

 which was frequented among others by Lord 

 Winchilsea, Lord Huntingfield, Sir Richard 

 Sutton, Mr. Osbaldeston and Captain Ross, 

 who won the club cup, value 200 guineas, 

 in 1828 and in 1829. As late as 1840 it is 

 described in Colburn's Kalendar of Amusements 

 as taking ' the lead in the quantity and quality 

 of this sport.' 12 



The system of handicapping appears, how- 

 ever, to have been then unknown and it was 

 not until 1856, six years after the closing of 

 the Red House Club, that it was introduced 

 by Mr. Frank Heathcote, in order to place 

 L'ood and bad shots on something like an 

 equality. 13 It was adopted in some matches 

 shot at Purdey's grounds at Willesden, the 



' Polo and Riding (Badminton Library), 357, 359, 

 360. 



* Poh (Badminton Library), 279-80. 

 ' Ibid. 256-7. 



8 Ibid. 340. 



9 Lord Walsingham and Sir Ralph Payne-Gall- 

 wey, Shooting (Badminton Library), 343. 



10 Edith Jackson, Annals of Eating. 



11 Shooting (Badminton Library), 356. 



11 Chamber fs Encyclopedia (ed. 1 90 1), Art. ' Pigeon 

 Shooting.' 



handicap running from 30 to 24 yds., and sub- 

 sequently at the Old Hornsey Wood House. 14 

 Among the most noted shots of those days 

 was General Bullock Hall, of Six Mile Bottom 

 near Newmarket. He then commanded the 

 ist Life Guards, among whose officers were 

 Lord Leconfield, Mr. R. de Winton, Captain 

 (now General) Bateson, and several other shots 

 almost equally good. A match for a large 

 sum of money, shot at Hornsey Wood during 

 this period, between General Bateson and Sir 

 F. Mullock, at twenty-five birds each, 25 yds. 

 rise, and won by the former, attracted an im- 

 mense attendance, over twenty coaches being 

 on the ground. 16 



A fresh impetus was given to the sport by 

 the foundation in 1860, by Lord Stormont 

 and other well-known shots, of the Gun Club, 

 where many of the most important develop- 

 ments in the science of gun-making have been 

 tested. Among the most celebrated matches 

 at the club were those between Dr. Carver, 

 the well-known American shot, and Lord 

 Walsingham, and between the former and 

 Mr. Heygate, and those in which Capt. 

 Bogardus, another famous American marksman, 

 shot against Mr. Dudley Ward and against 

 Captain Shelley. 16 



A few years after the establishment of the 

 Gun Club the spread of London northward 

 obliged Mr. Frank Heathcote to abandon the 

 Old Hornsey Wood House, and in 1867 he 

 rented the Hurlingham Estate at Fulham 

 for 700 a year. This action was followed 

 shortly afterwards by the formation of the 

 Hurlingham Club, which purchased the 

 property for ,20,000. It achieved such 



Ibid. 



14 Shooting (Badminton Library), 343. 



15 Ibid. Another notable match at Hornsey Wood 

 was that between Lord Aveland and Mr. Reginald 

 Cholmondley. 



11 Shooting (Badminton Library), 343-4. 



266 



