A HISTORY OF SURREY 



pursuit. On the Surrey commons the case 

 was different. The game was a strange and 

 weird importation. It was not in the least 

 understood, and where there was a faint 

 glimmering of knowledge among small sec- 

 tions of the population, the spirit revealed 

 was as a generd rule frankly hostile. The 

 public considered it to be the correct thing 

 to ' field ' the golfer's ball. Obliging mothers 

 of hopeful sons would invite their boys to 

 pick up the ball lying near the hole on the 

 putting green and run back with it 150 yards 

 to the player who, for a moment, had con- 

 gratulated himself that a splendid shot from 

 a difficult lie had met with its reward. That 

 excess of polite considerateness could be 

 borne ; but it was less easy, in a resigned 

 spirit to contend against the stolid assertion 

 of those who claimed the right to pitch the 

 miniature family wickets on the best kept 

 putting green, who turned a wilfully deaf ear 

 to warning cries of * Fore,' and who met the 

 gentle remonstrances of the golfers with a 

 threat to call the police. The local authori- 

 ties were petitioned to suppress golf as a 

 dangerous game, and ridicule was heaped 

 upon the pastime of the golfer by cataloguing 

 his golf clubs as implements of ' horse den- 

 tistry.' The time soon came, therefore, when 

 golf on the public commons in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of London was controlled by 

 the local authorities. First a by-law was 

 passed making it obligatory on the part of 

 a single or foursome to employ a fore-caddie, 

 bearing a red flag, to go ahead and warn the 

 public in the line of the flight of the ball. 

 That system, however, did not work quite 

 successfully. There were always contuma- 

 cious members of the public to foment a real 

 or fancied grievance about the sacrifices 

 which were being exacted from the people 

 in order to minister to the privileged amuse-, 

 ment of a small band of golfers. A steady 

 stream of complaints and memorials poured 

 in to the County Council, with the result in 

 time that the playing of golf on the commons 

 was limited either to certain days of the week 

 — as is the case at Wimbledon — or to certain 

 hours in the morning — as is the case now on 

 Clapham, Tooting, and Streatham Commons. 

 The golfers were thus compelled to go 

 farther afield. The game on the public 

 commons had at best been only tolerated 

 and the growth of suburban London with the 

 rapid extension of the tramway system 

 brought such crowds of visitors to the com- 

 mons at holiday times and on Saturdays as 

 to make the game intolerable to the players 

 and a danger to the public. The first Par- 

 liamentary Tournament was played over 



Tooting Bee Common, and in one of the 

 matches which Mr. Balfour played one 

 Saturday afternoon a large crowd assembled 

 to see him play. The people were much 

 more intent upon scanning a distinguished 

 public man at close quarters than in following 

 the intricacies of a game about which they 

 knew nothing and cared less : and all un- 

 wittingly, of course, they seriously incom- 

 moded the players. 



In addition, however, to the drawback of an 

 ever-increasing crowd, the ' jerry-builder ' was 

 busy converting surrounding estates into small 

 towns. The finely-wooded estates surround- 

 ing Clapham and Tooting Commons were cut 

 up into rectangular lengths of streets of work- 

 ing-class houses, the youthful inhabitants of 

 which made the commons their football and 

 cricket ground. 



The two clubs that still play over Wimble- 

 don Common may be fitly looked upon as the 

 pioneers of the widespread popular movement 

 in favour of golf which has increased year by 

 year throughout the whole of the county. 

 By a regimental Order issued from the head- 

 quarters of the London Scottish volunteers 

 on 2 May 1866 it was stated, ' The command- 

 ing officer has sanctioned the formation of a 

 London Scottish golf club, and has appointed 

 the foUovving committee — Private A. G. 

 Mackenzie, Lieutenant Fisher, Private Dud- 

 geon, and Private Usher ; Armourer-Ser- 

 geant Kerr, Treasurer. Subscription is 5/. 

 a year, payable on St. Andrew's Day.' This 

 Order was signed by Captain and Adjutant 

 S. Flood Page. The golf club stood pre- 

 cisely on the same footing as the curling and 

 other regimental clubs. All resolutions of 

 the golf club were submitted to the com- 

 manding officer for approval. After a time 

 this authority seems to have been disputed, 

 and alterations were made in the constitution 

 of the club in its relation to the regiment. 

 In 1871, when the regiment added to the 

 shooting accommodation of the Iron House 

 for the convenience of golfers, a meeting was 

 held, with the Earl of Wemyss in the chair, 

 at which an agreement was drawn up stating 

 that the London Scottish Golf Club became 

 tenants of their rooms at the Iron Hotue at 

 the rent of ;£io per annum. The Command- 

 ing Officer was to be President of the club, 

 and all rules, by-laws, and arrangements of 

 the club were subject to his approval. It 

 was out of the internal dissensions created by 

 the military government of the club that a 

 couple of years later the Royal Wimbledon 

 Golf Club was formed at the Wimbledon end 

 of the Common, the London Scottish playing 

 from the Iron House at the Putney end. 



522 



