-») Institution and Early Growth 



waggons, carts, gigs, hacks, and cart-horses, that brought 

 in the concourse ot' people from almost every part of the 

 country, without respect to distance. As for accommodation 

 for sleeping, every town, village, hamlet, and farm-house 

 was filled with pleasure seekers and others attending the 

 races, so that the inhabitants of Egham, Staines, Windsor, 

 Bagshot; Wokingham, and Sunninghill, made carnival 

 during the week, and by exorbitant prices laid in a 

 harvest to last them until the next merry meeting. 



Unfortunately, every bright picture has its dark side, 

 and it would not be a true description of an Ascot 

 meeting in the gay days of George III. were we not to 

 add that after the sport, as the night drew on, every form 

 of vice was freely indulged in, and in a manner the mere 

 repetition of which would shock our present tastes. At 

 the same time this state of things must not be attributed 

 in any degree to the excitement of the races, but rather 

 to the loose state of Society existing during the latter half 

 of the 1 8th century. Nor was this all; footpads and high- 

 waymen infested the public roads, and robberies and 

 murders were frequent. A visit to Ascot in those days 

 meant considerable expense and some risk, for it was no 

 infrequent thing for a successful winner returning to town 

 in his coach with his lady friends to be " held up " by 

 highwaymen, and be obliged to hand over, not only all 

 his winnings, but the jewellery and trinkets of his fair 

 companions. 



George Slingsby, a fairly well-to-do master bricklayer 

 in Windsor, chanced to be a favourite with His Majesty, 

 and it was about this time that he applied to the King for 

 permission to erect a permanent Grand Stand, that would 



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