SHOOTING
As has been mentioned, shooting in Middlesex, owing to the absence of any large estates
and the small amount of game preservation, is
not of sufficient importance to require a detailed notice. An exception must, however,
be made in the case of one form of this sport
with respect to which the county, though not
the originating centre, has long occupied a prominent position, namely, pigeon shooting.
In the early days of pigeon shooting, which
came into vogue about 1790, (fn. 9) 'The Old
Hatte,' at Ealing-an inn three centuries old- (fn. 10)
appears to have been the chief rendezvous for
the sport in Middlesex. (fn. 11) Its head quarters,
however, till the middle of the last century,
were at the Red House Club at Battersea,
which was frequented among others by Lord
Winchilsea, Lord Huntingfield, Sir Richard
Sutton, Mr. Osbaldeston and Captain Ross,
who won the club cup, value 200 guineas,
in 1828 and in 1829. As late as 1840 it is
described in Colburn's Kalendar of Amusements
as taking 'the lead in the quantity and quality
of this sport.' (fn. 12)
The system of handicapping appears, however, to have been then unknown and it was
not until 1856, six years after the closing of
the Red House Club, that it was introduced
by Mr. Frank Heathcote, in order to place
good and bad shots on something like an
equality. (fn. 13) It was adopted in some matches
shot at Purdey's grounds at Willesden, the
handicap running from 30 to 24 yds., and subsequently at the Old Hornsey Wood House. (fn. 14)
Among the most noted shots of those days
was General Bullock Hall, of Six Mile Bottom
near Newmarket. He then commanded the
1st Life Guards, among whose officers were
Lord Leconfield, Mr. R. de Winton, Captain
(now General) Bateson, and several other shots
almost equally good. A match for a large
sum of money, shot at Hornsey Wood during
this period, between General Bateson and Sir
F. Mullock, at twenty-five birds each, 25 yds.
rise, and won by the former, attracted an immense attendance, over twenty coaches being
on the ground. (fn. 15)
A fresh impetus was given to the sport by
the foundation in 1860, by Lord Stormont
and other well-known shots, of the Gun Club,
where many of the most important developments in the science of gun-making have been
tested. Among the most celebrated matches
at the club were those between Dr. Carver,
the well-known American shot, and Lord
Walsingham, and between the former and
Mr. Heygate, and those in which Capt.
Bogardus, another famous American marksman,
shot against Mr. Dudley Ward and against
Captain Shelley. (fn. 16)
A few years after the establishment of the
Gun Club the spread of London northward
obliged Mr. Frank Heathcote to abandon the
Old Hornsey Wood House, and in 1867 he
rented the Hurlingham Estate at Fulham
for £700 a year. This action was followed
shortly afterwards by the formation of the
Hurlingham Club, which purchased the
property for £20,000. It achieved such
success under the management of the Hon.
D. J. Monson that for several years prior to
1891 it had its full complement of 1,500 members under the presidency of his late Majesty, King Edward, then Prince of Wales.
Of these, however, only 200 were shooting
members, many of whom took no part in
pigeon shooting. The sport therefore gradually ceased to be carried on under the favourable conditions it had enjoyed at Hornsey
Wood and the Gun Club, and owing to the
greater popularity of polo, it has now been
driven from the scene where it may be said to
have attained its zenith.
The best shots at Hurlingham and the Gun
Club during recent years have been Lord
Hill, Lord de Grey, Captain Shelley, Mr. Berkeley Lucy, Mr. Dudley Ward, Mr. Aubrey
Coventry, Captain Aubrey Pullen, Mr. H. J.
Roberts, and Lord de Clifford. (fn. 17)