About this Item
This copy is in fine, unmarked condition bound in tan cloth covered boards with brown titling to the spine and the upper board. This copy is bright, tight, white and square, the pages are uncut. A dust wrapper is not called for. International postal rates are calculated on a book weighing 1 Kilo, in cases where the book weighs more than 1 Kilo increased postal rates will be quoted, where the book weighs less then postage will be reduced accordingly. This large book measures 30cms tall by 24cms wide and weighs in at a little over 2 Kgs. George Osbaldeston (26 December 1786 ? 1 August 1866), best known as Squire Osbaldeston, was an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament but who had his greatest impact as a sportsman and first-class cricketer. In 1812, under pressure from his mother and the local aristocrat and Whig power-broker William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, Osbaldeston stood as a Whig parliamentary candidate for East Retford. He won one of the two seats, despite the machinations of his agent, who, claiming he had not been paid his fees, accused his own candidate of electoral malpractice, resulting in a trial. He had little interest in politics, and rarely attended the House. Osbaldeston excelled at sport, and rowed at his various schools, at Oxford and into middle age. He was particularly famous for his racing abilities, in flat, steeplechase, endurance and carriage races. In 1826, he won a celebrated steeplechase for a purse of 1,000 guineas on his horse, Clasher, against Dick Christian riding Clinker, a horse owned by Horatio Ross. On one occasion, in 1831 at Newmarket, he rode 200 miles (320 km) in 8 hours and 42 minutes, using 28 horses. On another occasion he wagered 100 guineas with Paul Methuen that he could drive a stage-coach from St. Paul's churchyard to Greenwich in an hour with a full complement of passengers. Osbaldeston won his bet, although the coach was loaded with a number of hefty Life-Guardsmen and despite being sent back from the bottom of Ludgate Hill for a false start. His last race was at the age of 69, and he also bred racehorses. A noted shot at the Old Hat and Red House clubs, Osbaldeston there used a gun with a bore of 1½ inches. Sir Richard Sutton recorded that he once shot 98 pheasants with 100 shots. He brought his marksmanship to the track; on one occasion, when the notorious gambler Lord George Bentinck fired his pistol in the air while watching a race, Osbaldeston responded by shooting Bentinck cleanly through the hat as a warning. Above all though, his passion was fox hunting. He had his own pack of hounds from the age of 16, and was later master of nine hunts, notably the Atherstone (1815?17), the Quorn (1817?21, 1823?27), and the Pytchley (1827?34). He was regarded by contemporaries as one of the best sportsmen of his generation, and became something of a folk hero in later hunting circles. Ref WWW 1.
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