9 6 



Avho was called the 4< setter-to." The rules, 

 given on page 108 (Appendix B), bear 

 evidence of comparatively modern remodelling 

 in their reference to this official 



LAST DAYS OF COCKING 



After Queen Victoria's accession in 1837, a 

 tide of opinion against cock-fighting set in, and 

 as a public spectacle it ceased to be fashion- 

 able. One of the last mains fought publicly in 

 London, so far as some search has revealed, 

 took place in Battersea Fields in the year 1840, 

 Lord Berkeley being one of the cockers, and 

 William Gilliver, son of Joseph, the other 



This was in some sort an evasion of the Act of 

 1833, "For the More Effectual Administration 

 of Justice in London" ; a law which made an end 

 of houses for bear-baiting and cock-fighting 

 within five miles of Temple Bar, and neces- 

 sarily put an end to public cocking in London 



The Racing Calendar of 1840 contained the 

 last cocking report published in that work ; it 

 refers to a main fought at the Liverpool July 

 Meeting between Tom Hines and Potter, son 

 of Paul Potter, who died in 1833, 5 sovereigns 

 a battle and 200 sovereigns the main. Only 

 the feeders' names are given, but this must not 



