SPORT AND GAMES Chapter X I V PART I. SPORT ■ ^HE general term * Sport * includes a variety of activities differing materially in their character and aims. They may be roughly ___ classified under two heads : Sport and Games, the distinction lying in the fact that' sport ’ may be taken to connote the association of animal life in some form with the recreative impulses of man, whereas the term ‘ games ’ implies in every case that man is matched against man, the animal element being entirely excluded. In such a sport as cock-fighting, for example, animal is pitted against animal, and, though man has played his part in training the birds for their encounter, in the actual contest man plays no part. In horse racing, though there it is a case of animal matched against animal, man, in that he is in a large measure the controller o f the racing horses, counts for much in the result. In hunting, shooting, fishing, and the like, man directly opposes his prowess and intelligence against the instinct and survival powers of the creature he pursues. In every case the association of man and animal is the distinctive element in the sport. In games, on the contrary, it is man against man in a competitive trial o f skill, and from the fact that games are more easily capable of purely local organisation than sport, the history of sport in Bromley will be chiefly a record o f the doings o f the Bromley clubs which have been formed for the pursuit of various forms of games, though other forms of sport will first claim our attention. H unting In primitive days, so remote as to be beyond the reach o f records, we may yet picture the deer browsing on the common, and wolves lurking in the neighbouring forest in constant conflict with the few human inhabitants. From very early times a systematic warfare against wild and dangerous ani­ mals was waged by the episcopal lords of Rochester from their palace in Bromley. Walter de Merton, Bishop from 1274 to 1277, has been styled, justly or unjustly, “ the mightiest hunter before the Lord,” and in course of time the larger beasts of the chase disappeared from the neighbourhood. Foxes, which still survived, were regarded as vermin, rewards being paid tor their destruction. The preserving of foxes for the purposes o f hunting docs not seem to date farther back than about a.d. 1700. The first recorded pack of foxhounds operating in the Bromley area is the “ Old Surrey,” whose range extended to the outskirts o f London itself. The kennels indeed at one time were said to have been situated in Ber­ mondsey. The Old Surrey country was very extensive, a meet at Peckham Rye being followed by a meet at the Fox Inn on Hayes Common. Bromley itself was only incidentally connected with the pack, though a few Bromley 310 Bromley, K ent men were members1 _ nfo m the e nHunt. Of these Mr.about William xg Mortimer,was a originallyicuJ s a Lewisham n y M s W ' ^ of (he Hunti thlough Bromley figure as he f<?df £ >{ ^ Valley>» in Glass Mill Lane. Associated with streets from his > Harry Nicholl from Lewisham, and other local him m the management ™ Han, Oiarles F. Devas, of a id lfe W Hiae Haycock, of Blackhead,, Hoootaiy sometimes the historian of an Old Surrey tun. “ A ll these worthies,’’ writes Mr. Philip Norman, “ have long joined the majority, but there are still a few living who knew them and cherish their memories.” Famous among Bromley sportsmen and muscular Christians was the Rev. Henry Smith, D.D., who became Vicar of Bromley in 1785. His qualifications for the sacred office strike a modern mind as anomalous, for his reputation as a Doctor o f Divinity was enhanced by the further reputation of being able, in company with his Parish Clerk, to consume more alcohol, without showing signs of intoxication, than any other two men in the parish. Dr. Smith, in association with a few farmers of the neighbourhood, of whom Tom Soane of Milk Street was the leading spirit, started a pack o f harriers, each member being responsible for providing three or four hounds. The Vicar’s hounds are said to have been kept in a stable at the College. Various hand-gates in the grounds behind “ The Rookery ” were originally put up to accommodate Dr. Smith, who dearly loved a horse, and was a fine horseman, his connection with horses being strengthened by his marriage to the daughter of James Wilson, proprietor o f the Bell Inn. An unlucky contretemps, however, brought his career with the harriers to an end, for one day his Bishop (Horsley) happening to see the Doctor make a wonderful leap into the high road, and urge the pack in full cry, was not appreciative, and forbade a continuance of such unclerical exploits. In comparatively recent years a pack of harriers was privately maintained by Mr. Henry Lubbock, whose hounds used to meet at cockcrow in order to permit Mr. Lubbock to put in a decent appearance in Lombard Street in the course o f the morning. At these early meets Mr. Tom Nickalls, then a resident at Bromley Common, and afterwards Master of the Surrey Stag Hounds, brother of Sir Patteson and Conrad Nickalls, was sometimes to be seen— a famous family rendered more famous by the prowess of Guy and Vivian Nickalls (sons of Tom) upon the river, and of Sir Patteson’s sons upon the polo field. 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'au~*.*£, f r r Sport 3” Horse Racing The history of Bromley as itself a racing centre, officially recognised as such, is brief, extending only from 1864 to 1875. But from time to time, over a period of two hundred years, Bromley Common seems to have been the scene of horse races. An advertisement in the County Journal for July 27th, 1734, announces a three days’ meeting “ on Bromley Common in Kent, the 26th, 27th and 28th of August next.” Purses of twenty-five, fifteen, and ten guineas were to be run for on the respective days under prescribed conditions : “ A ll the horses that run for the above said Purses are to be kept in the Parish of Bromley aforesaid seven days before running, and to be entered at M r. John Maclatcheys at the Queen’s Head in Bromley six days before running, or to pay double entrance fee at the post.” From this it may be inferred that the Common was regarded as a suitable place for such races, and that they were occasionally held there. But no regular and recognised race-course was constructed there till 1864, when Mr. William Pawley of the White Hart, in association with Messrs. Bridden and Verrall of Croydon, laid down a course on the Common, and held authorised race meetings four times a year. These meetings, which were officially styled “ The Bromley Races and Steeplechases,” were two- day meetings in February, April, October, and December.