288 THE QUORN HUNT 



towards Frisby, and when near the Leicester road 

 Mr. Davenport's horse — he was then, by the way, Mr. 

 Davenport Bromley — galloped into a "grip," turned a 

 complete somersault, and threw its rider very heavily upon 

 his head. He was picked up in an insensible condition, 

 but afterwards came round and was taken home. 



The readers of a well-known sporting paper were also 

 horrified about this time to hear of a fatal accident which 

 was stated to have occurred while the Quorn were hunt- 

 ing near Willoughby, to a certain Sir B. Hichens, who 

 was said to have been well known for many years with the 

 Quorn hounds. With great attention to detail, it was stated 

 that his horse, a young thoroughbred chestnut, became 

 unmanageable when the hounds found, and eventually 

 running away with his rider, took a five-barred gate, and 

 then collided with a plough which lay in his track. The 

 horse, the account went on, did not perceive it ; a fearful 

 fall resulted, and the unfortunate gentleman, after being 

 picked up in an insensible condition, was taken to a farm- 

 house, never rallied, and died in a few hours. The horse 

 was killed on the spot by one of the iron handles of the 

 plough entering his body. Meantime everybody was 

 asking who Sir B. Hichens was. Nobody in the Quorn 

 country had ever heard his name, and as a matter of fact 

 no such person existed, the whole thing being a stupid 

 hoax. 



The spring of 1864 was memorable from the fact that 

 the first Grand National Hunt Steeplechase was run 

 over the Melton Mowbray country, the stewards being 

 the Duke of Beaufort, the Marquis of Hastings, Lord 

 Coventry, Lord Grosvenor, Lord Grey de Wilton, Lord 

 Walter Scott, the Hon. G. Fitzwilliam, Mr. George Lane 

 Fox, Mr. Clowes, Mr. W. W. Tailby, Mr. B. J. Angell, 

 and Mr. G. Craven ; while the judge was Mr. R. Johnson. 

 Four years previously " Fog " Rowlands, as Mr. Fother- 

 gill Rowlands, of turf celebrity, was commonly called, 



