At the close of a visit game is offered to those of the shooters to whom it is known that it will be acceptable. The head game-keeper is usually instructed to put up a couple of brace of pheasants and a hare. But in some houses even this custom is not followed, and the whole of the game killed, with the exception of what is required for the house, finds its way into the market, both the local market and the London market.

The first three weeks of September gives a hostess little anxiety on the score of finding amusement for the ladies of the party, as so many aids out of doors are at her command at this season of the year. This is a great advantage, as although some few ladies possessing great strength of nerve have taken up shooting as an amusement and pastime and acquit themselves surprisingly well in this manly sport, yet ladies in general are not inclined for so dangerous a game, and find entertainment in strictly feminine pursuits, while even those intrepid ladies who have learnt how to use their little gun would never be permitted to make one or two of a big shooting party, even were they so inclined.

Occasionally, when the birds are wild and sport is slack, a sort of picnic luncheon is held in the vicinity of a keeper’s lodge, under the shade of some wide-spreading trees, when the ladies join the party; but keen sportsmen despise this playing at shooting, and resent the interruption caused by the company of ladies at luncheon, and prefer to take it in the rough and smoke the while. Thus ladies generally have luncheon in the house at the regulation luncheon hour, and are not rejoined by the gentlemen until the day’s shooting is over, between five and six o’clock. Every day of the week is not thus given up to shooting, and there are few owners of manors who would care to provide five days’ consecutive sport for their guests, and two days’ hard shooting is probably followed by what is called an idle day.

On these off days in September the hostess often gives a garden-party, or takes her guests to one given by a neighbour at some few miles distant, or she holds a stall at a bazaar and persuades her guests to assist her in disposing of her stock, or she induces her party to accompany her to some flower-show in which she takes a local interest; or the host and one or two of the best shots start early after breakfast to shoot with a neighbour, and the remainder of the guests drive over to a picturesque ruin, where they picnic, and return home in time for the eight o’clock dinner. If the owner of a mansion has a coach the whole party is conveyed on it, otherwise all the carriages are brought into requisition, from the barouche to the T-cart, while saddle horses are provided for those who care to ride.

– Manners and Rules of Good Society: or, Solecisms to be Avoided by Member of the Aristocracy (1888)

It is not often in England that we are favoured with such a week of glorious weather as we were favoured with for Ascot, and the attendance and the frocks, therefore, at the famous meeting were, of course, even greater and more noticeable than usual. I must confess I enjoyed Ascot, or rather Ascot week, immensely. The garden-party meeting is such a splendid excuse for delightful house – parties, which necessitate a whole week’s absence from London. There is so little strain on one to know which horse is going to win, for at Ascot, of course, everyone knows that the favourite is a certainty (except when there are Bachelor’s Buttons and the like knocking out such national favourites as Pretty Polly), and, altogether, Ascot is such a thing of beauty that it seems just a little more of a joy each year.

Noticeable Gowns

Most of the dresses, not embroidered with flowers which put Nature to shame, were inset, or incrusted, or whatever they call it, with lovely Irish lace, and judging by the quantity of this latter to be seen, I should think Ireland ought to be making a pretty penny by its manufacture. Gorgeous geranium pinks and emerald greens contrasted with the French gowns of black lace and smoke-grey worn by some of the most elegantly dressed women, while the white linens and muslins worn on the previous days were conspicuous by their absence. The King was looking simply full of health and spirits every day—and how lively and well he is looking.

The Blots on the Picture

The men, of course, as usual, had the distinction of throwing up, by their sombre attire, the fairy-like garb of the women. Few followed the King’s example by indulging in a while or grey high hat, and so they just suffered in dark frock coats and high hats, sustained only by the thought of their heroism, and borrowing sometimes the tiny fans which all the women carried. On Thursday, there was, to everyone’s relief, very little sun, though this did not deter the feminine portion from proving to the world that they had with them the very latest cry in petal-like sunshades, or Lord Rosebery from clinging to his blue glasses. So far as I could make out, there were no girls present on Cup Day! At last, only a stray one here and there, and even these were so submerged, as it were, by the flaunting magnificence of their married sisters, that they were scarcely noticeable. Most of the women, beautiful and elegant and exquisitely turned out as they were, looked what one might call experienced, and certainly none of the shy gaucherie of youth was to the fore. All the clubs, of course, dispensed hospitality right and left, the Ladies’ Army and Navy being not the least among them.

The Bystander, June 27, 1906

The history of the Ascot is traced back to 1711, when Queen Anne developed a taste for horse-racing and commanded that a racecourse be laid out over the Common at Ascot. Shortly thereafter, an announcement was made that the Queen would present a challenge plate worth 100 guineas. The London Gazette printed an official statement:

“Her Majesty’s Plate of 100 guineas will be run for round the new heath on Ascot Common, near Windsor, on Tuesday, the 7th August next, by any horse, mare, or gelding, being no more than six years old the grass before, as just be certified under the hand of the breeder, carrying 12 stone, three heats, to be entered the last day of July, at Mr. Hancock’s, at Fern Hill, hear the Starting Post.”

The races were actually postponed until the 11th of August, when Queen Anne inaugurated the Ascot with a drive in state from Windsor Castle. Ever since then, the royal influence on the Royal Ascot has been quite marked, and has made the races one of the highlights of the London season.

Beverley Glick recounts the rise of Ascot into what we see today:

The first four-day Royal Meeting took place in 1768 but Royal Ascot week as we now know it started to take shape with the introduction of the Gold Cup in 1807, when the roots of today’s Royal Enclosure dress code first emerged.

Regency dandy Beau Brummell, a close friend of the Prince Regent, decreed that men of elegance should wear waisted black coats and white cravats with pantaloons. Over the years, this evolved into the wearing of morning suits for men and equally formal clothes for ladies, who must still wear hats in the Royal Enclosure.

It was racing fan George IV who commissioned a two-storey stand with surrounding lawn to be built in 1822; access was by royal invitation only.

Three years later, the King introduced the Royal Procession, and the sight of the Royal party driving up the centre of the racecourse continues to be one of the defining images of Royal Ascot and the summer season.

The Gold Cup remains the feature race of the third day of Royal Ascot and is traditionally the busiest day of the week. It has been known as Ladies’ Day ever since 1823, when an anonymous poet described the Thursday of the Royal Meeting as: “Ladies’ Day, when the women, like angels, look sweetly divine”.

In the 19th century it was common for a small fortune to be spent by the most fashionable society ladies on dresses commissioned solely for Royal Ascot, with their most extravagant outfits saved for parading on the day of the Gold Cup.

In the 1860s, the Duchess of Marlborough found Ascot week “very tiring… fortunes were yearly spent on dresses selected as appropriate to a graduated scale of elegance which reached its climax on Thursday; for fashion decreed that saved one’s most sumptuous toilette for the Gold Cup day”.

The Gold Cup is Ascot’s oldest surviving race, and today’s winning owners still receive a gold trophy which becomes their property.

Another Royal Ascot tradition can be traced back to the very earliest meetings. In the 18th and early 19th centuries there are accounts of wealthy race-goers turning up with entire carriages devoted to champagne, wine and cigars and even portable ice-houses to transport them in.

The more modern tradition of the picnic in the car park came with the arrival of the motor car at Ascot in 1912. Even today you can catch sight of butlers, candelabra and silver service at some of the more lavish picnics in number 1 and 2 car parks.

The tradition of extravagant parties during Royal Ascot week continued until the First World War but the relative austerity of subsequent decades saw such lavish excess come to an end.

Sources:
The London Season by Louis T. Stanley
Homepage of the Royal Ascot

Jack Johnson

By the turn of the century, the color line in sports was firmly in place, but the charismatic and controversial Jack Johnson smashed this line with a firm one-two to the jaw. Though boxing had long roots, it was a fairly new sport to Americans in the 1880s, and though banned in many states, one law which was standard across the board was to deny black boxers the right to spar with white opponents. To circumvent this rule, many African-Americans traveled to France, where mixed-race bouts were not illegal, which is where solid contenders such as Johnson, Sam Langford, and Joe Jeannette built their reputations. This law was relaxed to an extent in the late 1890s, but black boxers were still barred from fighting for the world heavyweight championship. Jack Johnson refused to accept this restriction, and he worked hard to prove his mettle, winning at least 50 fights against both white and black opponents in 1902, and beating “Denver” Ed Martin over 20 rounds for the World Colored Heavyweight Championship in 1903.

These strides were thwarted by the the retirement of world heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries, who refused to fight a black boxer; but Johnson warmed up to his inevitable victory by fighting former champion Bob Fitzsimmons in July 1907, and knocking him out in two rounds. Johnson changed his target, stalking the current champion Tommy Burns around the world for two years, taunting and teasing him in the press for a match. Finally, in 1908, Burns agreed to fight Johnson in Australia for $30,000. The spectacular fight was watched by 20,000 people and lasted fourteen rounds before the police stepped in to halt the fight and award the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World to Johnson on a referee’s decision as a T.K.O.

The furor of Jack Johnson’s victory rang across the world, inciting Jack London to call out for a “Great White Hope” to take the title away from Johnson. For the next two years, Johnson was pitted against a bevy of “great white hopes,” whom he beat roundly and soundly. In response to the public’s demands, Jim Jeffries emerged from a six year retirement to be that “Great White Hope”:

“I feel obligated to the sporting public at least to make an effort to reclaim the heavyweight championship for the white race. . . . I should step into the ring again and demonstrate that a white man is king of them all.”

The fight took place on July 4, 1910 in front of 20,000 people, in a ring built especially for the match. The fight was fraught with racial tension, and newspapers across the world, and even movie cameras, were deployed to Reno to record the “Fight of the Century.” After fifteen rounds, during which Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first time in his career, the match was stopped, whereupon Johnson was declared the victor and winner of a cool $65,000. This win, upon which so many blacks and whites had pinned their respective hopes, sparked enormous race riots across the country, though some “riots” were merely attempts by white residents to suppress the celebrations of black Americans over the victory. The footage of the fight was shown across the world, though some cities and states banned its showing, but ultimately, Congress passed a law banning the distribution of prizefight films across the state lines in 1912.

Further Resources:
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (PBS Film)
Jack Johnson Boxing Record
Jack Johnson (Online Exhibition)
The life and battles of Jack Johnson, champion pugilist of the world (eBook)

Also important was a rider’s posture, position of the legs in the side-saddle, and the position of the hands whilst holding the reins.

Riding astride was considered rather scandalous in the 1900s, but by the end of the decade, it was grudgingly accepted–as was the use of breeches only–as necessary for sports such as polo, as well as rides across “uncivilized” terrain, such as the American West, or the far-flung corners of the British Empire.

Further Reading:
Riding and Driving for Women by Belle Beach (1912)
Side-Saddle Lady Museum

The Skiing Party, Wengen, Switzerland by Sir John Lavery

For much of the nineteenth century, it was customary for Society to spend the winter months in warmer climes such as the Riviera, where the capricious weather of England or Russia was forgotten amongst the charms of sun, warmth and gambling. Some time during the mid-1890s, as the craze for outdoor sports gripped English and Continental society, a few intrepid sportsmen took up skiing. The sport was not wholly unfamiliar, as Switzerland was a somewhat popular destination for invalids and others on the European spa tour, but the concept of sports created solely for the winter season was largely unknown in England. Skiing, however, did not become overwhelmingly popular until the late 1900s, when Society discovered the Swiss Alps. To the horror of the French, wealthy Europeans and Americans deserted the Riviera by droves, to patronize such places as St Moritz or Davos or Caux, to learn to ski, to ice-skate, or to toboggan down the slopes. Almost overnight, the quiet invalid resorts nestled amongst the snowy downs of the Swiss Alps transformed into smart, chic places where society could mingle with their like against a background no different than that of Paris or Vienna.

Further Reading:
Switzerland in Winter by Will & Carine Cadby
The Exploration of the Alps by Arnold Lunn
Edwardian Promenade by James Lavery
Belle Epoque: Paris in the 1890s by Raymond Rudorff

Golf’s overwhelming popularity was sparked by the obsession of the Anglo-Scots politician, Arthur Balfour. Though he came to the game late in life and was actually never a very good player, he nonetheless destroyed the image of golf as being an old man’s game and replaced it with the image of a sport suitable for relaxation for a busy man. The other influence for the avid playing of golf was the sheer skill shown by Scottish players in the 1880s and 1890s, whose methods were then adopted by American and English golf players. Fittingly, in Scotland all classes of people continued to play golf, whereas in England and especially America, it became aligned with the idle rich. By the turn of the century, there were hundreds of golf links dotting the British and American landscapes, and in the latter country, the rise of golf coincided with the development of the country club.

Between the years 1894 and 1914, the “Triumvirate”–Englishman J.H. Taylor, Scotsman James Braid, and Channel Islander Harry Vardon–dominated the open championships, raising the bar for sportsmanship to inhuman levels. This also translated to the skill level of women. Ladies played golf in Scotland but it spread more rapidly in England and especially in London where, in 1893, the Ladies Golf Union was formed. The best women golfers at the beginning of the century were in Northern Ireland, chief among them May Hazlet and Rhona Adair, who won five English and nine Irish championships between 1900 and 1908. Dorothy Campbell (Mrs. Hurd) was equally a dynamo, winning the Scottish women’s championship three times and the British twice. She then moved to America where she won the American National twice and the Canadian Open three times. The most important women golfers of the Edwardian era were Lottie Dod and Cecil Leitch. Dod came to golf from a background in tennis, where she had won the women’s singles lawn tennis championship at Wimbledon five times. She was also an international hockey player and the best woman archer in Britain, making her a pioneer figure in British women’s sport. Leitch played golf from childhood and set a new standard of iron play for women.

The development of the sartorial side of golf arose after the sport spread beyond Scotland. When American players first came to play on British courses they caused a great degree of interest by appearing on the links without their coats and vests and played in nothing but shirtsleeves and suspenders. The old guard looked upon this attire with disapproval, believing the correct garb in which to play golf was a heavy tweed suit. A middle ground was reached, though Americans continued to play coatless, with a pair of tweed knickerbockers, golf coat with pleats to allow movement, and a tweed cap. Ladies were warned in their golf books from donning “mannish” attire as ties, bloomers and caps, but the majority conformed to notions of femininity and went out to play in heavy tweed skirts, straw boaters and thick, sprigged boots. Despite this, many saw golf as an emancipator for “none of the pre-golf pasttimes led their devotees so far afield or brought them together in such numbers as golf has done.”

Further Reading:
Edwardian England, 1901-1914; ed by Simon Nowell-Smith
Ladies’ Golf by May Hazlet
The Book of Golf and Golfers by Horace Gordon Hutchinson

Not only were there a whole brand-new set of gears, levers and wheels to be concerned with, but motoring etiquette. It was this lackadaisical approach to etiquette that led to many English and American farmers, fed up with the noise and havoc wreaked by the automobile, to await their quarry with pick-axes and pitchfork. Many newspapers, periodicals and fiction of the day detailed the accidents and almost-accidents which befell early motorists, such as when Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, upon taking her new motorcar for a trial run, accidentally drove backwards and knocked over a passing man, and then proceeded to drive over him twice more before he got away and she got out of the car. To us today, it seems inconceivable that handbooks detailed the exact methods of turning a corner, or how to start from rest, or how to drive backwards, but it was all new and unfamiliar to all early motorists.

According to S.F. Edge and Charles Jarrott, whose entry on how to drive a motor was part of Alfred Harmsworth’s massive anthology, Motors and motor-driving, when starting for a drive, “there are many points which require to be thought over when starting for a drive, so as to make sure that everything is in order and that the necessary spare parts are carried.” This list included:

• A large screw wrench.
• Small pocket wrench.
• Long screwdriver.
• Small screwdriver.
• Pair of cutting pliers.
• Pair of gas pliers.
• Two files, medium size.
• Coil of copper and steel wire.
• Oil-can with long nozzle.
• Small cold chisel.

The next steps were to first turn on the petrol, secondly, to switch on the ignition, next to “see that the lever to the commutator is retarded as far as possible. (This is done to make certain that no back-fire will occur),” then to on lubricator. The final step was to start the engine, though it was imperative that speed lever was in the out-of-gear notch, or there was a chance the car would go by itself.

The authors go on to describe the interior of a Panhard, whose

wheel steering and single level are on the right-hand sides, giving the speeds forward and reverse. On taking a position in the driver’s seat with one foot on each side of the steering column, each foot lightly resting on the two driving pedals, it will be found that the left pedal when pressed down disconnects the engine from the driving mechanism, whilst the right one also does this, but at the same time applies a powerful brake to arrest the motion of the vehicle. Slightly to the right of the right-hand pedal will be found a smaller pedal set somewhat higher than the other two. This is called the accelerator pedal, and its function is to hold out the governor of the engine and cause it to run at a greatly increased velocity, and so force the vehicle to exceed its regulated speeds. The change-speed lever is on the right hand, and by its side is another notched lever which applies a band brake to each of the rear-wheel hubs.

Once the novice acquainted themselves with the layout of the motorcar, they were ready to drive:

First Speed—First place the left foot on the left pedal, press this down as far as it will go and hold it there. Then take off the side-brake lever, move the speed lever forward one notch—that is, to the first or low speed—and slowly lift the left foot until you feel the engine beginning to move the car. Immediately it does this, if only for a yard or two, press the left pedal down again, so as to get thoroughly accustomed to the feeling of the car moving forward with its own power and yet stopping immediately the pedal for disconnecting the power is pressed down.

Second Speed—First get the vehicle running as fast as possible on the first speed, then press down the left pedal quickly, push the speed lever firmly into the second forward notch, and lift up the left pedal gently as when starting. You are now on the second speed, which you will no doubt observe is considerably faster than the lower speed…Remember that with a motor-car the driver controls the vehicle, and in this it differs from a horse-drawn vehicle, in which the driver is often at the mercy of the animal, to be pulled here, backed there, or upset altogether, should this chance to please the noble quadruped.

Third Speed—You obtain this under exactly the same circumstances and in exactly the same way as set out in the explanation of changing from the first to the second speed…When this stage is reached, it will be found very much better to take four or five drives of ten miles each, with half an hour or an hour’s stoppage between, rather than one continuous drive of forty or fifty miles. Much more rapid progress will be made in this way, and the mental and physical strain is then not noticed, whereas if one long ride is attempted straight off, the novice, when he gets down from the car, will feel uncomfortably tired and exhausted… When one is thoroughly familiar with steering with one hand on the second speed, then higher speed can be attempted.

How to Change Speed properly—In changing speeds there are various things to be avoided, and the learner will very quickly realise that it is most difficult, if not well nigh impossible, to change speed without withdrawing the clutch; which operation is performed by pressing down the left pedal. In any case if he does succeed in the attempt, it will be at the expense of a great deal of noise and damage to the teeth of the gear-wheels. Under all circumstances the teeth are made to engage with one movement, and if at the beginning it is found that when attempting to change speed a grinding noise is heard, it is best to stop the car completely and not persevere, but change the speed quietly with the car standing stationary…The clutch-pedal must be pressed down firmly and decisively without haste or any violent force.

Driving Backwards—To turn in a narrow road where the reverse is required also calls for some knowledge of handling the car when running backwards, and in the event of the car running backwards when ascending a steep hill the vital importance of being able to steer it safely is obvious. The new Motor Act does not encourage practice in driving a car backwards but skill in this direction is always desirable. It is often impossible to get out of a hotel yard without driving backwards, and it is far from dignified to have to push a car out because one dare not try to drive backwards.

Going round Corners—Always keep to your right side, remembering that in all probability you will find some other vehicle coming towards you from the opposite direction. It will generally be found that as the road slopes towards the gutter, the outside wheels of the carriage will be higher than the inside. The illustration shows how, when encountering a bend or corner the view round which is not interrupted by hedges or other obstacles, a driver—being certain that there are no other persons or vehicles beyond the corner—may take advantage of the banking of the road, and avoid great deviation from the straight course, by cutting across to his wrong side, and hugging close to the angle of the corner.

Descending Steep Hills—When travelling down steep hills it is very easy to be deceived, as the nature of the district may make the gradients look very much less than they really are. A very striking example of this occurred in the Thousand Miles Trial of the Automobile Club, 1900, when the Hon. C. S. Rolls, in driving from the ‘ Cat and Fiddle,’ was evidently so deceived by both the gradient and the corner that he actually threw his mechanic off the car, owing to the vehicle travelling at much higher rate than was allowed for, and the gradient keeping the car running at a great speed right up to the comer. The present writer himself, who was just behind Mr. Rolls at the moment, to a certain extent met with the same difficulty.

A good driver was also aware of the dangers of motoring, of which the authors considered the greatest dangers to be other people, “not because they are there, but because of their indecision…They suddenly hear the motor approaching, and although their safest plan is to remain where they are, they make wild dives in any and every direction, with the result that, unless one has the car completely under control and ready to stop at a moment’s notice, a bad accident may happen. It is a good rule when meeting with undecided wayfarers to make up one’s mind the way one wants to go and continue in that direction; at the same time keep your brakes well in hand, so that if necessary you can pull up dead and avoid striking them.”

Also, horses: “A swerving horse which swings round at the last moment is another danger to be guarded against, and on approaching any horse it is always well to assume—as is too often the case —that it is not under the control of the person driving it; either he is intent on looking at the motor, or very likely he cannot drive. It is advisable to slow down to the pace at which the car can be pulled up immediately a horse shows signs of wanting to monopolise the whole of the road. This danger is very much increased if the horse is attached to a cart with a long piece of timber projecting at the back, as a very small movement of the animal may completely block the road.”

And not looking behind one’s motor when driving at high speeds. However, the side-slip was the bane of the motorist’s existence: “Under certain conditions all roads in towns become exceedingly greasy and slippery to a rubber tyre, so much so that if the brakes are applied the carriage, instead of stopping, merely travels on with the wheels locked, and on greasy asphalt will go almost as far in this fashion as with the wheels revolving.” Night driving was also cautioned: “when driving at night one should never travel at a speed greater than that which affords time to pull up after seeing any object clearly by the light of your lamps. Of course if two acetylene lamps are used one can travel up to twenty-five miles an hour in perfect safety, the road being sufficiently illuminated to give plenty of time to stop; but if ordinary oil or candle lamps are used, eight or ten miles is the limit of safety. In very foggy weather it is best to turn one lamp sideways so as to indicate the side of the road. The offside lamp pointing forward should be covered with a handkerchief, to diffuse the light and cause less refraction from the fog in front.”

As the automobile became less the province of the wealthy and the sporting type, laws were enacted which regulated driving speeds, automobile safety mechanisms, and also enforced both driver’s licenses and license plates for cars. All of which went a long way to increasing the safety of the road. Granted, despite being over one hundred years removed from the early days of motoring, we have yet to remain entirely safe on the road, but the act of driving and learning to drive is done with as much consideration and care as our Edwardian counterparts put into this new machine.

Further Reading:
Behind the Wheel: the Magic and Manners of Early Motoring by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu & F. Wilson McComb
Motors and motor-driving Ed. by Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe
Audels answers on automobiles, for owners, operators, repairmen by Charles Edwin Booth