Page:Jubilee Book of Cricket (Second edition, 1897).djvu/400

378 in the Gentlemen v. Players matches. He stood 6 feet 6 inches in height, was an ardent sportsman and fox-hunter—in fact, a mighty "Nimrod" in his early days. Mr Kingscote was one of the promoters of the great cricket contests in 1827 between England and Sussex.

The principal founders and cultivators of cricket subsequently in the county were the Grace family.

At Long Ashton, in Somerset, Dr Henry Mills Grace was born in 1808. He inherited the instincts of a sporting family, and as a young man was so fond of cricket that he and a few enthusiasts used to practise on Durdham Downs, Bristol, in the early hours of the morning—say from five to eight in the glad summer, when the light is best, the air sweetest, and the sun least powerful. His devotions, at this portion of the day, did not trench upon the time required for his medical studies. In 1831 Dr H. M. Grace married, and took up his abode at Downend House, about four miles from Bristol, where he pursued the self-denying vocation of a country medical practitioner. On January 31, 1833, the first of the famous brothers Grace was born. He was named Henry, and as a schoolboy showed himself particularly fond of cricket. The child was not chided for his taste, for were there not cricketers on the maternal side of the family as well as on the paternal? Indeed, Dr H. M. Grace, an athlete of 5 feet 10 inches, weighing 13 stone, was deeply interested in the physical education of his boy, and laid out a cricket-pitch in front of Downend House. It was not the regulation length, but it served the purpose of the doctor, who amused both himself and his son, while the country-people looked on and admired until they became inoculated with a passion for the noble game. The rustics desired a club for Downend, and asked the village doctor to form one.

Although the responsibilities of this worthy gentleman were increasing, for Alfred Grace was born on May 17, 1840, and Edward Mills Grace on November 28, 1841, the head of the family responded to the invitation. But Downend could not support a club of its own, and so another suburb of the city, Mangotsfield, was included, and a club established under the name of "The Mangotsfield," who played on a public open space called Rodway Hill, which was conveniently situated for both villages. There a wicket was prepared and cricket seriously studied. Within a year another club, with such an ambitious title as West Gloucestershire, was formed in the same neighbourhood. This was due to the co-operation of a number