A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



Gifford, well known as a master of foxhounds 

 before he took an interest in coursing. After 

 lying dormant for some years the meeting 

 was revived in 1906, a new club having been 

 formed, of whom Mr. F. T. Rawlins is the 

 secretary. A meeting took place during the 

 autumn of 1906, but does not call for any 

 special remark. The Berkeley meetings held in 

 the eighties, and known as the ' Berkeley (Open) 

 and Yeomanry" meetings, took place by per- 

 mission of Earl Fitzhardinge on the large 

 meadows adjoining the River Severn, near the 

 villages of Cambridge and Stonehouse, not far 

 from the town of Berkeley. The meeting 

 generally extended to two days, and being 

 within easy reach of Gloucester was usually 



well patronized. The Kingscote meetings, aban- 

 doned in the early 'nineties, were for some 

 years held over the estate of Sir Nigel Kings- 

 cote, K.C.B. ; these were never of the same 

 importance as the two mentioned. 



Many good coursers at one time lived in the 

 county. Among these, who lived in Chelten- 

 ham or its neighbourhood, were Dr. T. J. 

 Cottle, Messrs. Jas. Leighton, Wm. Theyer, 

 and C. J. Chesshyre. 



Other noted members and good supporters of 

 the Club were Lord Uffington, Messrs. J. H. 

 Elwes, F. Cripps, E. Bowley, E. Reece, Chas. 

 Randell, and H. Hay wood, the two last-named, 

 with Lord Uffington, being three most suc- 

 cessful coursers in those days. 



RACING 



Gloucestershire held an important place in the 

 early days of both Flat Racing and Steeplechas- 

 ing. From time immemorial there has been 

 racing on the great down lands in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Burford. In the reign of Charles II 

 Bibury, head quarters of the oldest Racing Club 

 in England, was another Newmarket, and the 

 meetings held there were visited by the king on 

 at least three occasions. In 1681 the New- 

 market Spring Meeting was transferred to Bibury; 

 at that time Parliament met at Oxford, only 

 thirty miles away, and Bibury was a conve- 

 nient resort for racing legislators. The spread of 

 railways eventually deprived the place of its 

 prominence as a racing centre, and the club was 

 removed to Stockbridge and later to Salisbury, 

 after it had held its meetings at Bibury and 

 Burford for 150 years. Nimrod, in his Life of a 

 Sportsman, gives the following account of the 

 Bibury Meeting in the reign of George III : 



Those were Bibury's very best days. In addition 

 to the presence of George IV, then Prince of Wales, 

 who was received by Lord Sherborne for the race 

 week at his seat in the neighbourhood, and who every 

 day appeared on the course as a private gentleman, 

 there was a galaxy of gentlemen jockeys who alone 

 rode at this Meeting, which has never been equalled. 

 Among them were the Duke of Dorset, who always 

 rode for the Prince ; the late Mr. Deln6 Radcliffe ; 

 the late Lords Charles Somerset and Milsington ; 

 Lord Delamere, Sir Tatton Sykes, and many other 

 ' first raters.' I well remember the scenes at Burford 

 and all the neighbouring towns after the races were 

 over. That at Burford ' beggars description ' ; for 

 independently of the bustle occasioned by the 

 accommodation that was necessary for the Club who 

 were domiciled in the town, the concourse of people 

 of all sorts and degrees was immense. 



The old Sweating House still stands on the 

 Downs near Aldsworth. 



A successful meeting was held for years on 

 the top of Cleeve Hill, where the Gloucester- 

 shire Stakes were run annually. 



In more recent times Cheltenham, at that day 

 one of the fashionable watering-places of Eng- 

 land, was a resort for some of the keenest patrons 

 of steeplechasing. Colonel Charretie, a very 

 well-known figure in the sporting world, who 

 made the Plough Hotel his head quarters, won 

 the Cotteswold Handicap at Northleach in 1841 

 with Black Prince. Races were held here 

 annually from 1840. The Colonel was a great 

 match-maker, and always ready for a bet of any 

 kind. In 1842 he made a bet that he would 

 win a shooting match, the Imperial Steeplechase 

 at Cheltenham, and play the Duke of York at 

 the Assembly Rooms the same evening. He did 

 not win, as his horse Napoleon, which he rode 

 himself, was beaten by Mr. Robinson's Imperial 

 Tom, at lost. 7 Ib. and 13 st. respectively. 



It was with Napoleon in 1833 that the 

 Colonel made his celebrated match with Squire 

 Osbaldeston's Grimaldi, over a six-mile course 

 near Dunchurch. Captain Becher rode Napo- 

 leon, and the squire his own horse. During the 

 race both horses fell into a river which had to be 

 crossed, and Mr. Osbaldeston, first ashore, even- 

 tually won by a length and a half; but was 

 disqualified for going the wrong side of some 

 flags. Colonel Charretie, however, anxious to 

 avoid unpleasantness with his friends decided 

 that the stakes should be drawn. The Colonel 

 ran second in the Derby of 1843 with Gorham- 

 bury. 



Mr. Fothergill (' Fog ') Rowlands was another 

 well-known Gloucestershire supporter of steeple- 

 chasing. He lived at Prestbury near Chelten- 

 ham, and was one of the best gentlemen riders 

 of his day. To the efforts of Mr. Rowlands we 

 owe the National Hunt Steeplechase, which he 

 and his friends started as an experiment in 1859. 

 The same complaints were being made in the 

 fifties about the decadence of steeplechasing that 

 we hear at this day. The regular steeplechaser 

 was beginning to oust the old ' Cocktail ' who 



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