SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN trians, most of them in tight breeches and boots, and keepers in full uniform leading the greyhounds in slips. Undergraduates from Cambridge, at the end of the eighteenth century, were apparently in the habit of coursing in the Royston neigh- bourhood without asking the leave of the occupiers of the land, for we find an adver- tisement in the Cambridge Chronicle of 1787 commencing, ' We poor farmers round Roy- ston do most humbly beg the favor of the Cambridge gunners, coursers and poachers to let us get home our crops,' etc. The last remaining coursing club in the county is the Watford Club, which has now changed its name into the Mid-Herts Cours- ing Club. They course in the parishes of Aldenham and Shenley ; but the Club is now reduced in numbers, and no greyhounds of note have of late years run at these meetings. PUGILISM The most celebrated prize fight that ever took place in Hertfordshire was between John Gully and Bob Gregson for the championship of England. Gully's career was an extra- ordinary one. Born at Bristol in 1783 and brought up as a butcher, he came to London to try his fortune, but soon found himself imprisoned in the Fleet for debt. Here he was ' discovered ' by a prize fighter named Pearce, who arranged his discharge simply in order to fight him. Gully made a good show, and was so successful as a prize fighter that he was able eventually to dub himself cham- pion of England. Upon this Bob Gregson, of Lancashire, threw down the gauntlet, and a fight was arranged to take place between the two in Buckinghamshire. The Marquis of Buckingham however, being at that time Gustos Rotulorum of the county, interfered, and gave notice that he intended to stop the fight. Early in the morning of May 8, 1808, the day fixed for the contest, a council of war was held between Lord Stanley and Major Morgan on the one side, who had brought Gregson over in their coach, and Mr. Akers on the other, who had driven Gully to the rendezvous with his team of thoroughbred blacks. It was decided to accept the offer of Sir John Sebright, who placed his park at Beechwood in Herts at the disposal of the combatants. The ring was pitched at twelve o'clock, the inner ring being 24 feet, whilst an outer roped space of 48 feet square surrounded it. Each spectator had to pay 3 guineas. In the annals of pugilism it is not easy to find record of a greater field day for the ' fancy.' Besides the great event two other battles were to take place in the same ring. The excitement prior to the event was tremendous. Every one, from the Prince of Wales downwards, was anxious to hear the latest intelligence from the training quarters. Both men were fine specimens of humanity and were equally matched in height and strength. For a long time the battle was so even that no one could 369 tell which was likely to win, but eventually the cool-headed scientific Gully proved too clever for Gregson, and in the seventeenth round held Gregson's head in chancery and dealt him such a succession of blows that his face was cut to ribbons and one of his eyes completely closed up. Notwithstanding this punishment Gregson fought pluckily until the twenty-fourth round, when Gully dealt him a blow that threw him senseless on the ground. After this fight Gully, the champion of Eng- land, retired from the prize ring and turned his attention for a short time to the public house business. Later on he became a success- ful bookmaker and owner of racehorses, many of which were trained by Tommy Coleman, Gully himself being a frequent resident at the Turf Hotel at St. Albans kept by that cele- brated trainer. In 1832 a horse of Gully's won the Derby, but this distinction was not the last in his varied career, for he was returned as Member of Parliament for Ponte- fract, and lived till he was eighty, respected by all who knew him. The magistrate and the constable did not in those days interfere very much with prize fighting, the result being that elaborate arrangements were openly made both for the convenience of the combatants and for the comfort of the spectators. Royston Heath was very often the scene of these battles, and Sir Peter Soame, a gentleman of the Privy Chamber of King George III.'s household, was an ardent promoter of the sport. At his house at Heydon many a roistering gathering of the sporting fraternity took place, and he himself was always ready to have a fight even with the best of the pugilists. On one occasion a local butcher known as the 'fighting butcher' called at Sir Peter's house to demand payment of a small sum of money. Sir Peter went down into the kitchen and asked the butcher if he cared to fight for the money he owed him. The butcher consenting, the money was deposited, B B
