292 DRIVING. 



coaches was completed by that to the Ranelagh and Hurling- 

 ham, which made two journeys each way daily, the drive 

 occupying thirty minutes. When all the above-mentioned 

 coaches had finished for the season, another, which has since 

 become famous, was started. This was the Old Times, which 

 last season (1888) ran to Brighton on alternate days. The first 

 proprietors were Sir Henry de Bathe, Mr. Carleton Blyth, Mr. 

 H. Wormald, and Major Dixon ; James Selby (subsequently 

 sole proprietor) and Edwin Fownes, who since 1884 has also 

 been a proprietor, being the professionals, the usual arrange- 

 ment being for each of those concerned to drive one day a 

 week. St. Albans was the destination fixed upon, and since 

 November 4, 1878, when the Old Times made its first 

 journey, it has never been off the road for a single day, except, 

 of course, Sundays and Christmas Days. As will be seen, 

 however, by the record for the years following, it has not always 

 kept to one route. 



On March 25, 1878, the coaching world lost one of its 

 most respected members, Mr. W. H. Cooper * Billy ' Cooper he 

 was always known as, both at B.N.C. and during the time he 

 served in the 8th Hussars. He was taken ill in the previous 

 January, while on a visit to Lord Fitzhardinge, and never re- 

 covered. The esteem in which Mr. Cooper was held at once 

 showed itself by the immediate desire on the part of his 

 friends to place some memorial to him in the church of Stoke 

 D'Abernon, and this eventually took the form of a west win- 

 dow. When the window and design were determined upon, 

 it was resolved that no one should be asked to subscribe, and 

 that subscriptions should be limited to a minimum of 5^. 

 and a maximum of five guineas an arrangement which some 

 imagined would prevent enough money being raised to pay 

 for the window. So far from this being the case, however, 

 Mr. A. G. Scott, who was as closely identified with the 

 memorial as he had been with Mr. Cooper himself during life, 

 found that, after paying 220/. for the window, and n/. for a 

 sketch thereof presented to Mrs. Cooper, there still remained a 



