The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-16 00:00:00

THE LATE MR. :OHN GULLY.

We last week announced the death at Durham, at
the age of 80, of this well-known sportsman. Mr.
Gully's life is in itself a romance. Mr. Gully was
born at Bristol in the year 1783. He was brought
up to the trade of a butcher; but Very soon evinced
a handiness in taking care of himself in sundry fistic
tournays with the joskins about home. His fellow
townsman, Pearce, better known as "The Chicken,"
came to see him in " The Fleet," when, to beguile
the time, they put on the gloves for a bout or two.
Gully did so well in this set-to that it came to be
talked about, and ultimately he was liberated by
the payment of the claims against him, and a match
made with The Chicken, the latter staking £6OO to
£4OO. The fight came off, after a disappointment
in the July previous, at Halsham, in Sussex, in Oc-
tober 8, 1805, when, after a very game battle, in
which Gully received some fearful punishment, his
friends interfered, and he was taken away in the
59th round, after one hour and 10 minutes' hard
fighting. Although beaten, Gully was by no means
disgraced, and, in fact, he became not only a still
greater favourite with the public, but on Pearce's
retirement, was c ffered the title of Champion of
England, which, however, he resolutely :declined.
Prior to this Gregson, a Lancashire man, of great
size, and Gully's superior in height and weight, was
bold enough to dispute the Bristolian's pretensions,
and they met on October 14, 1807, in Six-mile Bot-
tom, Newmarket, to contend for 200 guineas.
Thirty•six rounds were fought with equal game-
ness on either part, and with almost equal punish-
ment, but Gully got the last rally, and another
knock-down blow rendered Gregson totally inca-
pable. It was, however, a very near thing, and
naturally enough the beaten man was anything
but satisfied. Another match was consequently
made for two hundred a side, which was decided
on May 10, in Sir John Sebright's park in Hert-
fordshire, but after nothing like the struggle
which signalised the first meeting of the men, as
Gully, from the first had it all his own way, his
science and coolness completely outgeneralling the
wild rushes of his adversary. Seldom has any such
event attracted more interest; and on the Monday
before the fight the good people of Bedfordshire,
when they saw the crowd of strangers invading
them fancied the French had landed, and called out
the volunteers. At the conclusion of this battle
Gully publicly announced his intention of never
fighting again, his left arm having received a per-
manent injury in his first and more formidable en-
counter with Gregson. On leaving the Ring Mr.
Golly was for sometime landlord of the Plough, in
Carey-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields. But another ring
found attractions for him, and he very soon des
voted himself to the business of a betting man,
though not always as a better round, or layer
against horses. Indeed, at the Newmarket Craven
Meeting, in 1810, when Lord Foley's Spaniard was
got at by some of the Dan Dawson crew for the
Claret, Mr. Gully was amongst those who turned
round and laid the long odds on the favourite, upon
whose defeat, it is said, his backer burst into tears,
and declared he was a ruined man. However, in
only two years subsequently, in 1812, Mr. Gully
had horses of his own, Cardenio being the first that
ever ran in his name. He worked on gradually,
still betting round, and at one period residing at
Newmarket with such tackle as Brutus, Truth, Rig-
marole, Forfeit, Cock Robin, and others, until 1827,
when he came prominently to the fore by the pur-
chase of Mameluke, a horse that he gave Lord Jer-
sey 4,000 guineas for after his winning the Derby.
How his new owner backed Mameluke for im-
mense sums for the St. Leger, and how he was
beaten by Matilda after a fearful scene at the post,
where Mr. Gully had himself to flog his horse off,
are now matters of history. But heavily as he had
lost, the first man in the rooms and the last to
leave—never thinking of going, in fact, until every
claim had been satisfied—was Mr. Gully. Sam.
Chifney, it will be remembered, rode the crack
against Robinson on the mare, and Sykes had the
care of the Derby winner at Hambledon. A year
or two subsequent to this Mr. Gully became the
confederate of Mr. Ridsdale, and they opened well
with Little Red Rover, who in 1830 ran second to
Priam for the Derby. Thirty-two, however, was
their great year, when the confederates won the
Derby with St. Giles and the St. Leger with Mar-
grave, John Scott having the preparation of the
latter. Success, however, did not tend to cement
the friendship of the two, and their quarrel came at
last to a personal encounter in the hunting-field,
upon which Mr. Ridsdale brought an action, that
terminated in a verdict, with £5OO damages, against
Mr. Gully, for the assault. This was not by any
means the only serious altercation the latter was
engaged in, as Mr. Osbaldeston once had him" out,"
when the Squire sent a ball through his opponent's
hat ; but " better through my hat than my head,''
said Mr. Gully, as he coolly looked to the bullet's
course. During this era in his history, Mr. Gully
had purchased Upper Hare Park, near Newmarket,
of Lord Rivers, where, as we have said, he for some
time resided ; but he sold this in turn to Sir Mark
Wood, and bought Ackworth Park, near Pontefract,
an accession which somewhat unexpectedly led to
his representing that borough in the Radical inte-
rest for some sessions in Parliament. He was twice
returned, and on the first occasion without a contest.
During his long sojourn here he also figured as a
good man over a country, and as one of the
chief supporters of the Badsworth Foxhounds.
Rarely has any man enjoyed more signal success
in his favourite pursuit; but, as we have said
already, Gully owed much ef this to his fine
judgment, especially noticeable in the way in which
he could reckon up a race horse, or pick out a
young one. Latterly, what with increasing years
) and failing strength, he had gradually declined,
and -having sold Ackworth to Mr. Hill, had lived
fdriothe years at Marwell Hall, near Winchester,
though he had still property in the north, including,
we believe, some coal mines, and hence his death',
occurring at Durham ; while he was buried at Ack-
worth on Saturday last. He leaves a family of five
sons and five daughters,

It was the late Mr. 13 ucklan d, who, if we recollect
aright, when on a visit to Lord Fitzwilliam, tells of
the impression made upon him by the appearance of
a fine handsome gentleman coming up the staircase
with a beautiful girl in green velvet on either arm
—the member for Pontefract with two of his daugh-
ters. But if we do borrow a sketch it shall be from
the pen of a sportsman, and to no other could we be
as indebted as to poor " Sylvanus," who thus por-
trayed Mr. Gully in the very zenith of his career :
" He had permanent lodgings at Newmarket, well
and tastily furnished, and dispensed his hospitality
with no sparing hand. An excellent cook, claret
from Griffiths's, with an entertaining, gentleman,
like host, left little to be desired at the dinner await-
ing us. Mr. Gully is justly esteemed, having raised
himself from the lowest paths of life to the position,
not merely of wealth, but to that of intimacy
amongst gentlemen, on or off the Turf, but still gen-
tlemen in taste, which nought but the undeviating
good manners, and entertaining, unpresuming de-
portment of Gully could for a moment, or rather,
for any length of time beyond a moment, suffer
thorn to tolerate. No man over possessed these
qualifications, gained through innate acutenesss,
groat common sense, and a plastic disposition to
observe and benefit by the chance rencontres with the
courtly patrons of his day to a greater degree, taking
the early disadvantages he had to contend with into
consideration, than John Gully. No man could be
more above pretence, or less shy at any allusions
to his early and not very polished career than
himself. When I dined with him at New-
market, as well as upon subsequent occasions, I
was much gratified by his manly openness and lack
of all sensitive false shame on any occasional appeal
being made to the byegone. He, on the contrary,
entered freely in to many entertaining portions of
his history, answered all my questions con amore,
and with perfect good nature, as to the mode of
training, hitting so as not to injure the hand,
wrestling, and other minutiae of the ring ; passing
the claret and slicing the pine, as if foaled at
Knowsley or Bretby. Ho had a quiet sly way of
joking
on any turf affair, on which, bear in mind,
he was as au fait as Zamiel making a book for the
Derby. The turbot came from Billingsgate by ex-
press, and the haunch from his own park. Moot
purveyed the champagne, Majoribanks the port,

and, as I have befoire*Said, Griffiths the Lafitte. We
had no skulking host be assured, but the most en-
tertaining and liberal one alike." There is a genial
tone about this sketch that tells at once for its truth,
and it would be difficult to give any man a better
character. We ourselires have not attempted to blot
out the earlier chapters in Mr. Gully's eventful life,
feeling as we do that they only add point and force
to the effect of his subsequent career. His position
at every turn and phase of fortune was still a try-
ing one, but no man more fairly earned the respect
he gained. There is a very moral of good manners
in such a man's history.

Improved Dwellings for the Industrial
Classes.

- ~-- -

On Saturday a number of noblemen and gentle-
men were invited by Mr. Alderman Waterlow to
inspect his first block of improved dwellings for the
industrial classes, which he has named Langbourn-
buildings, erected in Mark-street, Paul-street,
Finsbury-square. This first block is intended for
the accommodation of 20 families, and externally it
presents a handsome appearance. The general plan
of the landing may be described as a parallelogram
of 56 feet by 30 feet, divided into four sections
by a party wall in the centre, and two passages
in the middle of each wing. The two centre
sections are set back about three feet from the line
of frontage for the purpose of giving space for a
balcony of that width on each of the upper floors.
Each section comprises one suite of looms to which
access is obtained from the passages leading direct
from the balcony on all the upper floors. The bal-
cony is reached by a fireproof staircase, having a
semi-elliptical form, the entrances to which are by
two doorways in the centre of the building. The
staircase is continued to and gives access to the
roof. The larger lettings, consisting of three rooms
and a washhouse, occupy the end sections of the
building. Leading out of what is called the
" living room," is the washhouse or scullery, which
contains in every case what may be called the ac-
cessories of the dwelling—water cistern, sink, a
small fireplace, washing copper, dust shoot, water
closet, ikc. In each room there is a fireplace, besides
cupboards and a series of shelves, forming very
necessary conveniences. The centre sections, com-
prising the smaller lettings, consist of two rooms
and a washhouse, with the other conveniences
similar to those in the larger lettings. The plan is
the same on each side the party walls, and every
floor or fiat is a repetition of the other. Close to the
ceilings of all the rooms a ventilator is placed,
which communicates with air shafts running
through the centres of the chimney stacks. The
air is thus constantly rarified, and a system of
natural ventilation is produced. Besides this, by
setting open the windows a current of external air
can be at once passed through every room. The
lower panes of the windows are filled in with
ornamental ground glass, so that no window
blinds are necessary. The windows are con-
structed on a somewhat novel principle, being
made to open outwards like ordinary French case-
ments, but the two lower panes are not made to
open, so that the danger of children falling out
is avoided, as well as the disadvantages of the ordi-
nary window sashes. One important point should
be noticed, namely, that all the rooms are eight
feet nine inches in height. Drainage is effected by
means of four-inch stoneware pipes passing from the
top of the building down the corners of the wash-
houses directly to the common sewer. The dust
shaft curries the dust to covered receptacles at the
base of the building, and each shoot is provided with
an iron cover so as to prevent the return of dust and
effluvia. All the rooms are plastered and papered,
and the washhouses are plastered and coloured.
Every tenant has his apartments completely to him-
self, and nothing is used in common but the top roof,
which is flat, as a drying and recreation ground.
One peculiar feature in Mr. Alderman Waterlow's
speculation is this—that he has surmounted what
appeared to be the insuperable difficulty in metro-
politan associations, of building dwellings for the
labouring classes which could be let at a rental
yielding a fair return for the capital invested. These
associations found the minimum expense of building
a " home" amounted to £lBO, whereas Mr. Alder-
man Waterlow has succeeded in building what the
Earl of Shaftesbury calls a more cheerful and attrac-
tive home for the sum of XllO. It may be interesting
to state how Mr. Alderman Waterlow has been able
to accomplish this. It appears that the use of ordi-
nary materials in the place of the artificial stone,
which we are about to describe, would have in-
creased the cost of the building by at least 25 per
cent., and so rendered a good return on it impossible.
This new material possesses the quality of being ex-
tremely hard, durable, and light, as artificial stone.
It is composed of clinkers, culm, hard-broken coke,
and similar rough porous calcined substances, in the
proportion of four parts of these to one part of
Portland cement. Sufficient water is added to these
materials to bring the composition when well
mixed up :to the consistency of ordinary mortar.
It is then placed in moulds or troughs for the pur-
pose of giving to it any desired form, such as lin-
tels, arches, chimney-pieces, stairs, window-dress-
ings and sills, slabs, Sec. In the composition of the
tinted portions of the plan—the fire-proof floors of
the washhouses, balconies, and passages, and in the
making of the flat roof, it is applied in the follow-
ing:manner :—Bare of 3in, by tin. iron are stretched
across the building, from front to back, at distances
of 2 feet apart, and carried into the brickwork of
the wall so as to form ties and bind the building
into a solid mass. Half-inch iron rods, two feet
apart from each other, pass through the iron bars
already described, and beneath the network of iron
thus formed, a temporary layer of boards is placed,
and then the patent material is filled in to a thick-
ness of about four inches. In the course of a day or
two the whole mass sets with sufficient hardness to
allow of the removal of the boards, and after a week
or ten days' exposure to the air it become so hard
and firm that it will stand any amount of pressure.
The chimney-pieces, made of this material, and
painted to resemble Thai ble, looked very tasteful.
A dejeuner, provided by Messrs. Elkington, of the
Freemasons' Tavern, and superintended with his
accustomed courtesy by Mr. Banks,
was served on
the fiat roof of the building. The Lord Mayor was
unable to attend, and in his absence Lord Ebury
took the chair.

The noble CHAIRMAN shortly addrassed the com-
pany, expressing the great gratification he felt after
a careful inspection of the building, and after warmly
complimenting Alderman Waterlo* on the success
he had achieved, he concluded by proposing the
worthy alderman/8 health, which was cordially re-
sponded to,
Mr. Alderman ViTATERLow, in returning thanks,
attributed his success to the cheapness of the new
material of which he had availed himself, and he
hoped men of capital would be stimulated to make
like experiments. He intended to proceed immedi-
ately with building two additional blocks. More
applications, he said, had been made for " homes" in
the present block than he could. possibly accommo.
date. The rents vary from Os. to 6s. 6d. and 7s.
per week.
Lord RADSTOCK, Mr. CHADWICK, and several
other gentlemen addressed the meeting, after which
Mr. SAMUEL MORLEY moved the following reso-
tion :—" That this meeting having inspected Mr.
Alderman Waterlow's model building, and listened
to the explanations afforded, is of opinion that the
very best moral and social consequences, and very
fsir expectations of an ample return for the capital
invested, would result from the erection of such
buildings."
Mr. SCOTT, the City Chamberlain, seconded the
resolution, which was cordially agreed to.

Importing Tea without colour on the leaf pre-
vents the Chinese passing off inferior leaves as in the usual
kinds. Horniman's Tea is uncoloured, therefore, always
good alike. Sold in packets by 2,280 agents.
" TAKE WHAT You LIKE."--At Westminster
Police-eourt, this morning, a gentleman applied for
a summons against a cabman for excess of fare. The appli-
cant, it appeared, had a dispute about the cabby's fare, and
told him to " take what he pleased"—holding in his hand
some silver money. The cabman took 65., which the appli
cant considered an excess, and therefore he wanted a sum-
mons. Mr. Ingram said, when a cabman was told to " take
what he liked," he might urge, in answer to the summons,
a mutual agreement. The complainant, taking that view
of the case, did not persevere in his application.