SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



mains between cocks belonging to gentlemen 

 of different districts. We read of mains at 

 the Harrow inn, Barnet, between the cocks 

 of the gentlemen of Barnet and those of the 

 gentlemen of Hatfield for stakes of the value 

 of two guineas a battle and twenty guineas 

 on the odd. 



Royston Heath was a favourite place for 

 ' cocking,' as it was always called in the last 

 century, for cocks belonging to the gentlemen 

 of the Hertfordshire side of the town against 

 those of the gentlemen of the Cambridgeshire 

 side. Indeed it would be impossible to under- 

 stand the social life of the period without taking 

 into account the universal popularity of cock- 



fighting. Often the stakes took the form of 

 a fat hog or fat ox, and the technicalities of 

 the sport read something like this : ' No one 

 cock to exceed the weight of 4 pounds 10 

 ounces when fairly brought to scale, to fight 

 in fair repute, silver weapons and fair main 

 hackles.' * 



Another important main upon which 

 large sums of money depended was fought at 

 Colney Heath in 1796 between the gentle- 

 men of Barnet and the gentlemen of St. 

 Albans for five guineas a battle and twenty 

 guineas on the odd. 



Mains were often fought at the ' Fighting 

 Cocks ' inn, St. Albans. 



BULL-BAITING 



This was apparently a favourite sport in 

 Hertfordshire. At St. Albans there was a bull- 

 ring in the sixteenth century near the market 

 place, 1 and among the miscellaneous accounts 

 in the rolls of quarter sessions for this county 



for 1776 we find that the chief constable 

 made a charge ' for attending to prevent a 

 bull-baiting which was publicly cried to be at 

 the Earl Cowper's Arms in the parish of Hert- 

 ingfordbury on the day after Christmas last.' 



BOB GRIMSTON 



No history of sport in Hertfordshire would 

 be complete without some reference to the 

 Hon. Robert Grimston, son of the first Earl 

 of Verulam, generally known as Bob Grim- 

 ston, born 1816, died 1884. 



In his nursery days he is described as not 

 exactly a thorough going pickle of a boy, but 

 as one of determined will and deep thought, 

 who having once taken a thing into his head 

 could not be persuaded to relinquish it in 

 spite of all that nurse or governess might say 

 or do. And so he was through life. 



No sport or pastime came amiss to him. 

 From early youth he had taken part in all 

 kinds of sport at his Gorhambury home, but 

 it is as a rider and as a devotee of Harrow 

 School cricket that his name will be best 

 known to posterity. 



He began riding matches across country 

 when only a boy at Harrow, and as he grew 

 older many were the races he rode, and mpny 

 were the bad falls he took. However he 

 managed to live through them all and rode 

 hard up till the last year of his life. 



A friend of the Dowager Lady Verulam, 

 who often visited her in London, used to say 

 that at one time in Bob Grimston's career 

 the following announcements had become of 

 'almost weekly occurrence : ' If you please, 



1 Irani. St. Albant A. and A. Soc. (1893-4), p. 15. 



my lady, Mr. Robert has been brought home 

 on a shutter again.' Bob Grimston hunted 

 chiefly in the Aylesbury country, but he 

 served his apprenticeship with the Hertford- 

 shire Hounds, and many of his exploits took 

 place in the Harrow country on the borders 

 of Hertfordshire. His broad-brimmed black 

 hat, worn well at the back of his head, tied 

 under his chin with a black ribbon, his long 

 jack boots and determined though kindly face 

 presented a picture not easily forgotten. 



Mr. Grimston spent nearly every afternoon 

 during the school cricketing term at Harrow, 

 and was if possible more of a Harrow boy in 

 his latter years than he was in his former. 

 He had an intense love of Harrow and of all 

 that concerned its history, traditions, masters 

 and boys ; and many well known cricketers 

 owe him a debt of gratitude for having ' dis- 

 covered ' and encouraged them when only 

 lower boys at the school. One verse of a 

 beautiful memorial poem written by the well 

 known Harrow master, Mr. E. E. Bowen, 

 sums up the sterling worth of his character 



Well played. His life was honester than ours ; 

 We scheme, he worked ; we hesitate, he spoke ; 

 His rough hewn stem held no concealing flowers, 

 But grain of oak. 



8 Fragments of Two Centuries, by Alfred Kingston 

 (Royston, 1893). 



371 



