SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



trians, most of them in tight breeches and 

 boots, and keepers in full uniform leading 

 the greyhounds in slips. 



Undergraduates from Cambridge, at the 

 end of the eighteenth century, were apparently 

 in the habit of coursing in the Royston neigh- 

 bourhood without asking the leave of the 

 occupiers of the land, for we find an adver- 

 tisement in the Cambridge Chronicle of 1787 

 commencing, ' We poor farmers round Roy- 



ston do most humbly beg the favor of the 

 Cambridge gunners, coursers and poachers to 

 let us get home our crops,' etc. 



The last remaining coursing club in the 

 county is the Watford Club, which has now 

 changed its name into the Mid-Herts Cours- 

 ing Club. They course in the parishes of 

 Aldenham and Shenley ; but the Club is now 

 reduced in numbers, and no greyhounds of 

 note have of late years run at these meetings. 



PUGILISM 



The most celebrated prize fight that ever 

 took place in Hertfordshire was between John 

 Gully and Bob Gregson for the championship 

 of England. Gully's career was an extra- 

 ordinary one. Born at Bristol in 1783 and 

 brought up as a butcher, he came to London 

 to try his fortune, but soon found himself 

 imprisoned in the Fleet for debt. Here he 

 was ' discovered ' by a prize fighter named 

 Pearce, who arranged his discharge simply in 

 order to fight him. Gully made a good show, 

 and was so successful as a prize fighter that 

 he was able eventually to dub himself cham- 

 pion of England. Upon this Bob Gregson, 

 of Lancashire, threw down the gauntlet, and 

 a fight was arranged to take place between 

 the two in Buckinghamshire. 



The Marquis of Buckingham however, 

 being at that time Gustos Rotulorum of the 

 county, interfered, and gave notice that he 

 intended to stop the fight. Early in the 

 morning of May 8, 1808, the day fixed for 

 the contest, a council of war was held 

 between Lord Stanley and Major Morgan on 

 the one side, who had brought Gregson over 

 in their coach, and Mr. Akers on the other, 

 who had driven Gully to the rendezvous with 

 his team of thoroughbred blacks. It was 

 decided to accept the offer of Sir John 

 Sebright, who placed his park at Beechwood 

 in Herts at the disposal of the combatants. 

 The ring was pitched at twelve o'clock, the 

 inner ring being 24 feet, whilst an outer 

 roped space of 48 feet square surrounded it. 

 Each spectator had to pay 3 guineas. In the 

 annals of pugilism it is not easy to find record 

 of a greater field day for the ' fancy.' Besides 

 the great event two other battles were to take 

 place in the same ring. The excitement 

 prior to the event was tremendous. Every 

 one, from the Prince of Wales downwards, 

 was anxious to hear the latest intelligence 

 from the training quarters. Both men were 

 fine specimens of humanity and were equally 

 matched in height and strength. For a long 

 time the battle was so even that no one could 



369 



tell which was likely to win, but eventually 

 the cool-headed scientific Gully proved too 

 clever for Gregson, and in the seventeenth 

 round held Gregson's head in chancery and 

 dealt him such a succession of blows that his 

 face was cut to ribbons and one of his eyes 

 completely closed up. Notwithstanding this 

 punishment Gregson fought pluckily until the 

 twenty-fourth round, when Gully dealt him a 

 blow that threw him senseless on the ground. 

 After this fight Gully, the champion of Eng- 

 land, retired from the prize ring and turned 

 his attention for a short time to the public 

 house business. Later on he became a success- 

 ful bookmaker and owner of racehorses, many 

 of which were trained by Tommy Coleman, 

 Gully himself being a frequent resident at the 

 Turf Hotel at St. Albans kept by that cele- 

 brated trainer. In 1832 a horse of Gully's 

 won the Derby, but this distinction was not 

 the last in his varied career, for he was 

 returned as Member of Parliament for Ponte- 

 fract, and lived till he was eighty, respected 

 by all who knew him. 



The magistrate and the constable did not 

 in those days interfere very much with prize 

 fighting, the result being that elaborate 

 arrangements were openly made both for the 

 convenience of the combatants and for the 

 comfort of the spectators. Royston Heath 

 was very often the scene of these battles, and 

 Sir Peter Soame, a gentleman of the Privy 

 Chamber of King George III.'s household, 

 was an ardent promoter of the sport. At 

 his house at Heydon many a roistering 

 gathering of the sporting fraternity took 

 place, and he himself was always ready to 

 have a fight even with the best of the 

 pugilists. 



On one occasion a local butcher known as 

 the 'fighting butcher' called at Sir Peter's 

 house to demand payment of a small sum 

 of money. Sir Peter went down into the 

 kitchen and asked the butcher if he cared to 

 fight for the money he owed him. The 

 butcher consenting, the money was deposited, 



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