SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



won by the cock on which the odds were laid, 

 and he was immediately taken away. If the 

 wager were taken, then the hander continued 

 counting as if no such bet had been laid, and 

 the cock refusing ten times was the losing cock. 

 If a cock was taken away without the hander 

 counting ten times ten, the cock so taken away 

 lost the battle. 



At Manchester on 15 March 1753 and follow- 

 ing days Sir Lynch Cotton fought Mr. Robert 

 Stansfeld a cock match for i o guineas and 1 00 

 guineas the main, which main consisted of four- 

 teen battles, nine of which were won by Sir L. 

 Cotton, and five by Mr. Stansfeld.' 



On the same day and at the same place there 

 was a main between Lord Strange and Mr. Wil- 

 liam RatcliflFfor loguineas abattle and 20 guineas 

 the main. This main consisted of thirty-three 

 battles, seventeen of which were won by his lord- 

 ship and sixteen by Mr. Ratcliff.* There is 

 also a record of a cock-fight at Newton when 

 on 14 June 1753 Mr. Peter Lcgh fought 

 Mr. Basil Eccleston a main of cocks, which was 

 won by Mr. Legh by one battle, but the number 

 of battles is not recorded.' There is an interest- 

 ing old poster, dated 9 and 10 May 1791, in 

 the possession of the Free Reference Library in 

 Manchester which announces : — 



A Welch main of cocks to be fought at Salford Pit 

 for £^z by 32 cocks. None to exceed 4 lbs. 8 02s., 

 and to weigh on Saturday, 29th December, 1 791, and 

 to fight on Monday 31st and Tuesday 1st January, 

 1792 ; to pay 5/- when they put down their names ; 

 remainder when they weigh in. Fighting is to com- 

 mence at nine o'clock in the morning, and to fight all 

 day by daylight ; and to be drawn by ticket on the sod 

 which fight together, and no more than ten minutes 

 are allowed to spur in. 



' Cocking ' was esteemed a noble sport even in 

 the nineteenth century, and a great main was 

 arranged between the thirteenth Earl of Derby, 

 who had the celebrated Potter as feeder, and 

 Mr. Henry Bold Hoghton, with Woodcock as 

 feeder.* This fight commenced on Tuesday, 

 9 June, and ended on 20 June 1829 in a 

 win for Mr. Hoghton. The terms of the match 

 were for 10 guineas a battle and 200 guineas the 

 main ; the wager standing good for thirty-five 

 mains and five byes. Monday in each week was 

 a blank day, and on Saturday, 1 3 June, the scores 

 stood as follows : — Potter, 14 mains, 2 byes ; 

 Woodcock, 7 mains, i bye. The match 

 aroused widespread interest, as may be seen by 

 the following extract from Bell's Life of 2 1 June 

 1829 : — 



To such decisive conclusion had the knowing ones 

 come respecting this main on Thursday night, Potter 

 for Derby being 7 ahead, that 20 to i was often laid 

 and as often went abegging. On Friday Woodcock 



' Heber, Historical List of Horse Matches, etc. in 

 17 S3- * Ibid, vol iii. 



' Ibid. " Collecting, 1907, p. 9. 



had the lead in the day's fighting, however he still 

 had six battles out of the remaining seven to get to win 

 the main on Saturday, and the odds ran exceedingly 

 high against him ; but strange to say, he was success- 

 ful, thereby proving his superior skill as a feeder, or his 

 better judgment in selecting the birds ; it being the 

 third or fourth time he has beaten Potter in succession ; 

 the odds being at starting always 6 to 4 against him. 



This fight was an interesting one, as it practically 

 represented a battle between the counties of Lan- 

 cashire and Cheshire ; Potter being the Lancashire 

 and Woodcock the Cheshire feeder. 



Cocking as a rule took place at the same time 

 as the various race meetings. The places at 

 which these meetings were held were en fete for 

 the week, and as the races did not usually last 

 for more than three days, with a day intervening 

 between each, cocking was indulged in on the off 

 days. Accounts of these fights were duly recorded 

 in the sporting magazines of the day, from one 

 of which the following extracts are taken' : — 



Preston. — During the races a main was fought be- 

 tween the Earl of Derby (Potter, feeder) and J. Whites 

 Esq. (Gilliver, feeder) for 10 guineas and 200 guineas 

 the main. Potter won by five mains. At Lancaster 

 a main of cocks was fought between the gentlemen of 

 Lancashire and the gentlemen of Yorkshire for 

 10 guineas a battle and 200 guineas the main. The 

 gentlemen of Lancashire won by seven mains. 



The Newton Races were well attended this year. 

 The main of cocks (11 battles for 1 o gs. each, and 

 100 gs. the main) remains undecided, from a dispute 

 that arose during the ninth battle, each side having 

 previously won four. One of the cocks was killed, 

 and while counting him out, the other ran away. 

 Each party claiming, and neither giving way, the main 

 was not proceeded with. 



Young cocks were called ' stags,' and a bird 

 having attained two years was held to be at his 

 best for fighting purposes. In fighting a match, 

 the number of cocks to be shown on either 

 side was agreed upon, and the day before the 

 match the cocks were shown, weighed with the 

 greatest nicety, and matched according to their 

 weights. Their marks were also carefully set 

 down in order to prevent any trickery in changing 

 the birds after they had been weighed. The 

 cocks which were within an ounce of each other 

 were said ' to fall in ' and were matched, those 

 which did not ' fall in ' were matched to fight what 

 were called ' byes.' Those which fell in came 

 into ' the main.' The main was fought for a 

 stake upon each battle and a certain amount for 

 ' the main,' that is for the winner of most battles 

 in the main ; the ' byes ' had nothing to do with 

 the ' main ' and were usually fought for smaller 

 sums. If the numbers of the results of the battles 

 fought were equal, so that the main could not 

 be decided, it was usual to separate two or more 

 cocks of equal weight which were matched 

 to fight, and to give or take an ounce either way. 



' Sporting Magazine, 1 8 2 5 , p. 53. 



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