The Hon. Henry Fitzwilliam 



to his rider, he would in all probability have won, but for 

 having been wrongly bitted, as a consequence of which 

 he fell during the race, when looking as dangerous as 

 anything. 



Those who are not personally acquainted with the jump 

 in question should examine Mr. Sturgess' representation of it 

 in the engravings just mentioned, and, having done so, will be 

 of opinion, we fancy, that its looks do not belie its name, and 

 that, taking it altogether, Punchestown's " Big Double " is not 

 exactly the sort of place one would expect to be taken in a " fly." 



That is, however, the manner in which the Hon. Harry 

 Fitzwilliam negotiated this celebrated obstacle, when sporting 

 silk at Punchestown in his salad days, with the result that his 

 name will go down to posterity as the only rider to ever 

 accomplish this daring feat of horsemanship. 



From time immemorial a passion for horse and hound has 

 been the leading characteristic of the Fitzwilliam family, and 

 that the subject of our memoir was no exception to the rule 

 is plain from the fact that, almost immediately after going up 

 to Cambridge in i860, he was appointed Master of the Drag, 

 in conjunction with the present Lord Rothschild. 



Previous to his arrival, there had been no racing at 

 Cambridge for a good many years, and to the Hon. Harry 

 Fitzwilliam and a few personal friends, is due the credit of 

 once more "setting the ball a-roUing" by the institution of 

 flat racing in Fulbourne Valley and steeplechasing at Hunt- 

 ingdon and Cottenham ; and as at that halcyon period he was 

 able to get into the saddle comfortably under nine stone, 

 their originator was enabled to sport silk at the meetings in 

 question on his own horses and those of his friends to his 

 heart's content. 



In 1 86 1 Lord Rothschild and Mr. Fitzwilliam gave a 



193 o 



