Mr. William Charles Baldwin 



ffarington's hounds, attired in the little red coat made specially 

 for him, and which is still in existence, he and his pony crossed 

 the Lostock, then in flood, over a single plank, in so doing 

 pounding the field. At sixteen he was sent to Liverpool to 

 learn business in the shipping office of Messrs. Brown Shipley 

 and Co. How he acquitted himself at the desk is doubtful, 

 but at Huguenin's gymnasium, he was dubbed "The Pocket 

 Hercules," from the weights he could lift. His jumping powers 

 too were extraordinary, and for years he could seldom see a 

 gate — spiked or not — it made no difference — without having a 

 shy at it. 



One of his sporting bets at the time was that he would 

 walk with some fellow clerks from Birkenhead to Chester, a 

 distance of sixteen miles, and jump every gate on each side of 

 the road they came to, forfeiting half a crown when he failed, 

 and winning the like sum when he succeeded. And that the 

 gates en route were not made that could stop him, is adduced 

 from the fact, that on arrival at Chester the enterprising Billy 

 Baldwin v/as seventeen half-crowns to the good. Runs with 

 the Royal Rock Beagles, and an inordinate love of bull 

 terriers, soon brought his office life to a close, and leaving 

 Liverpool he was packed off to Perthshire to learn farming. 



In 185 1, the perusal of Gordon Cumming's book on lion 

 hunting led to a strong desire on his part to go and do like- 

 wise, and as nothing ever stopped him when his mind was 

 made up, he forthwith started for South Africa, where he 

 remained for ten years ; the privations and dangers he 

 experienced during that period, being most graphically 

 described by him in a book entitled " African Hunters," 

 published by Bentley in 1862, and which ran into three 

 editions. 



In 1864, Mr. Baldwin settled down near Tarporley in 



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