CHAPTEE III 



THE BEGINNING OF BECKHAMPTON 



In the autumn of 1880 I migrated to Heddington, 

 in Wiltshire, and had various successes there. 

 Beckhampton at that time was in the sale market. 

 I met my solicitor in Calne the day the negotia- 

 tions were going on between the owner, Harry 

 Woolcott, and a man named Weston. I drove up, 

 and asked the owner if he had closed about the 

 property. He said " No," and Mr. Parry, the 

 agent who was doing the business for him, re- 

 marked that as the would-be-buyer, Mr. Weston, 

 had not turned up, " Why not deal with Mr. 

 Darling, and no humbug ? " So he said : 



" Are you prepared to pay a deposit 'i " I said 

 Paying the I was, and I gave him a cheque for 



deposit £5QQ^ ^j^j Beckhampton was mine. 



Beckhampton stable has room for fifty-eight 

 horses. There are fifty- eight boxes, which have 

 been nearly always fuU. The boys in attendance 

 to look after these horses generally number about 

 twenty-nine or thirty, besides the heavier men 



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