Gentlemen Riders 



It was their last chance, did they but know it ; for so 

 annoyed was Mr. Bass at his hospitaHty being abused in such 

 fashion, that it was never a case of "open house" again so long 

 as he remained at Newberries. During his mastership Lord 

 Maiden lived at Londwater, near Rickmansworth, whose pre- 

 vious tenant had been Mr. Ingram, proprietor of the Ilbistrated 

 News, and at Chorley Wood near there were held the Hunt 

 Steeplechases, the meeting in 1865 being an especially good 

 one. Captain Henry Coventry, fresh from his Grand National 

 victory on Alcibiade, riding for the noble master ; whilst 

 Colonel Harford, "Curly" Knox, and "Freddy" Hobson were 

 also riding there, not forgetting "Jimmy" Templar, now Colonel 

 Templar, the well-known balloonist, just left Harrow, sporting 

 silk for the first time on a hunter of Mr. Jones Lloyd the 

 banker. We can see him now, minus his cap, riding a desperate 

 finish. Lord Maiden was Colonel of the Herts Yeomanry, and 

 we well remember about that time a sporting match taking 

 place in Cassiobury Park between one of his officers, viz. 

 Mr. Sidney Wilson, and the present Lord Ebury, then 

 Captain, the Hon. R. Grosvenor, the latter winning easily. 



It was in Cassiobury Park, too, that, by permission of Lord 

 Essex, Caractacus, belonging to Mr. C. Snewing, who lived 

 close to Watford, did his preparation — or at all events, part of 

 it — for the Derby, which he won. But to return to the subject 

 of our memoir. 



Born to the saddle, so to speak, he may be said to have 

 received his riding education in the Vale of Aylesbury, hunting 

 regularly with Lord Rothschild's Staghounds, the Whaddon 

 Chase, and Old Berkeley Hounds, and with his passion for 

 riding over a country, what more natural than that he should 

 burn to distinguish himself between the flags ? And so well 

 did he shape from the first that his services were soon in 



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