CHAPTER XLIV 



HOW POLO CAME TO ENGLAND 



One day in the spring of the year 1869 three young 

 subalterns of the loth Hussars at Aldershot found time hang- 

 ing heavily on their hands when one of them stumbled upon 

 an article in the Field which interested him. It was the 

 account of a game played among the Manipuris, a hill-tribe 

 on the borders of Tibet, then unknown to the bulk of 

 Englishmen, though the name is familiar enough now by 

 reason of the massacre of 1891, when Colonel Skene and 

 Messrs Quinton, Grimwood, Cossins, and Melville were 

 treacherously murdered. There can be few who do not 

 remember the romantic escape and heroic courage of Mrs 

 Grimwood, the wife of the murdered Resident, and the 

 splendid gallantry of Lieutenant Grant and his handful of 

 Gurkhas, fitly rewarded by the Victoria Cross. The 

 description of this game moved the languid interest of the 

 subalterns. " By Jove ! it must be a goodish game. I 

 vote we try it," said the biggest of the three, " Chicken " 

 Hartopp, whose fame as a devil-may-care rider is still green 

 in both the Quorn and Meath countries. So three chargers 

 were saddled, and, with crooked sticks and a billiard-ball, 

 they made the first attempt to play polo in England. It 

 could scarcely be called a success, but all three saw that there 

 were possibilities in the game if played on ponies such as 

 the Manipuris used. The next step was the purchase of 

 seventeen ponies of all sizes and shapes. And then the game 

 caught on like fire among the officers of the lOth, who 

 speedily inoculated their brothers of the 9th Lancers with 

 their enthusiasm for the new game. The first regular 

 match played in this country was between teams of those 

 regiments, eight a side. The fame of this " hockey on 



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