SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN mains between cocks belonging to gentlemen of different districts. We read of mains at the Harrow inn, Barnet, between the cocks of the gentlemen of Barnet and those of the gentlemen of Hatfield for stakes of the value of two guineas a battle and twenty guineas on the odd. Royston Heath was a favourite place for ' cocking,' as it was always called in the last century, for cocks belonging to the gentlemen of the Hertfordshire side of the town against those of the gentlemen of the Cambridgeshire side. Indeed it would be impossible to under- stand the social life of the period without taking into account the universal popularity of cock- fighting. Often the stakes took the form of a fat hog or fat ox, and the technicalities of the sport read something like this : ' No one cock to exceed the weight of 4 pounds 10 ounces when fairly brought to scale, to fight in fair repute, silver weapons and fair main hackles.' * Another important main upon which large sums of money depended was fought at Colney Heath in 1796 between the gentle- men of Barnet and the gentlemen of St. Albans for five guineas a battle and twenty guineas on the odd. Mains were often fought at the ' Fighting Cocks ' inn, St. Albans. BULL-BAITING This was apparently a favourite sport in Hertfordshire. At St. Albans there was a bull- ring in the sixteenth century near the market place, 1 and among the miscellaneous accounts in the rolls of quarter sessions for this county for 1776 we find that the chief constable made a charge ' for attending to prevent a bull-baiting which was publicly cried to be at the Earl Cowper's Arms in the parish of Hert- ingfordbury on the day after Christmas last.' BOB GRIMSTON No history of sport in Hertfordshire would be complete without some reference to the Hon. Robert Grimston, son of the first Earl of Verulam, generally known as Bob Grim- ston, born 1816, died 1884. In his nursery days he is described as not exactly a thorough going pickle of a boy, but as one of determined will and deep thought, who having once taken a thing into his head could not be persuaded to relinquish it in spite of all that nurse or governess might say or do. And so he was through life. No sport or pastime came amiss to him. From early youth he had taken part in all kinds of sport at his Gorhambury home, but it is as a rider and as a devotee of Harrow School cricket that his name will be best known to posterity. He began riding matches across country when only a boy at Harrow, and as he grew older many were the races he rode, and mpny were the bad falls he took. However he managed to live through them all and rode hard up till the last year of his life. A friend of the Dowager Lady Verulam, who often visited her in London, used to say that at one time in Bob Grimston's career the following announcements had become of 'almost weekly occurrence : ' If you please, 1 Irani. St. Albant A. and A. Soc. (1893-4), p. 15. my lady, Mr. Robert has been brought home on a shutter again.' Bob Grimston hunted chiefly in the Aylesbury country, but he served his apprenticeship with the Hertford- shire Hounds, and many of his exploits took place in the Harrow country on the borders of Hertfordshire. His broad-brimmed black hat, worn well at the back of his head, tied under his chin with a black ribbon, his long jack boots and determined though kindly face presented a picture not easily forgotten. Mr. Grimston spent nearly every afternoon during the school cricketing term at Harrow, and was if possible more of a Harrow boy in his latter years than he was in his former. He had an intense love of Harrow and of all that concerned its history, traditions, masters and boys ; and many well known cricketers owe him a debt of gratitude for having ' dis- covered ' and encouraged them when only lower boys at the school. One verse of a beautiful memorial poem written by the well known Harrow master, Mr. E. E. Bowen, sums up the sterling worth of his character Well played. His life was honester than ours ; We scheme, he worked ; we hesitate, he spoke ; His rough hewn stem held no concealing flowers, But grain of oak. 8 Fragments of Two Centuries, by Alfred Kingston (Royston, 1893). 371
