The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-06-02 00:00:00

THE COACHING CLUB.

Although the brilliantly fine weather of the preced-
ing few days gave place on Saturday in London to a
somewhat over-clouded sky and a sharp wind, an
immense concourse of spectators assembled in Hyde-
park near the Serpentine and in the neighbourhood of
the Magazine for the purpose of witnessing the first
meet this season of the Coaching Club. A few years
ago it was usual to speak of "the coaching revival,'
but the labours of the two great clubs interested in
the furtherance of the four-in-hand driving have been
crowned with so large a measure of success that what
was formerly a revival is now established on the basis
of a national institution. The well-matched and
perfectly-appointed equipages which gathered in
Hyde-park on Saturday have never been surpassed
since coaching took its new hold upon public interest,
and, speaking generally, the skill with which the
teams were handled left nothing to be desired.
Noon was the hour fixed for the meet, but half
an hour after that time elapsed before
the arrival of Mr. George Paulet's drag. This
was drawn by a team of mixed colours, but of high
quality, consisting of two roans, a bay, and a chestnut.
Sir Talbot Constable's coach was admirably horsed
with four chestnuts—a symmetrical team that elicited
favourable comments from the learned in horseflesh
Mr. P ryce Hamilton's bays, and Major Shuttleworth's
black-browns' were equally well matched; and the
same may be said of the chestnuts of Mr. Patteson
Nickalls and the bays of Mr. Trew. Then, in quick
succession, came Mr. Colston'a coach, drawn by a well-
matched quartett of dark browns, and Mr. Crompton
Roberts's bays, which besides being serviceable and
workmanlike in appearance, were driven to perfec-
tion. Colonel Hamilton and Colonel Starkey drove
turn-outs which were greatly admired, and Lord
Charles Beresford, for whom an especially hearty wel-
come was reserved, was again to the fore with a
splendidly-matched team of greys. Mr. James Bruce
and Mr. J. Cook, both of whose drags were horsed
with bays, came on the ground in excellent style and
produced a favourable impression, and the browns of
Mr. Darelli divided with the bays of Major Turner
a good deal of the complimentary criticism
which their arrival evoked. Mr. Sydney Sterns's
bays and chestnuts were all that coach-horses need
be; and while Mr. Hanbury's team went to swell the
number of this favourite colour so strangly repre-
sented, the roans of Mr. Carter Wood did not fail to
attract the notice to which their undoubted merits
entitled them. Sir J. Thursby with a quartett of
bays, Major Allfrey with browns, Colonel Aikman
with three bays and a grey, Mr. L, M. Wynne with
a team of dark browns, and M. W. E. Oakley with a
brown wheeler and three chestnuts, completed one of
the best displays that have ever been brought together
under the auspices of the Coaching Club. In all
, there were 23 coaches on the ground, and shortly
after one o'clock the procession—which in the mean-
time had been formed, Colonel Thursby leading—
started round the park. The drags, after going east-
ward as far as Hyde-park-corner, turned along the
road which runs at the back of Knightsbridge Barracks
into Kensington - gardens, and thence into the
Hammersmith-road. Several of the coaches left the
procession at Queen's-gate, but the remainder crossed
Hammersmith-bridge and went on to the Ranelagh
Club at Barn Elms, Putney.