In the grounds of Conington he made the first lawn
tennis ground in the county, and persuaded one of his neighbours, who was my father, to do the same. This was about the year 1875. The courts we made were narrow at the waist, the net was almost as high as a Badminton net ; and some say, though I think wrongly, that Badminton was the origin of lawn tennis. Our posts were in two parts with a slot in the middle and they were held up, like a tent, by guy ropes. I well remember a very ponderous clergyman, new to the game but full of zeal, smashing one to smithereens. The racquets were of all sorts, shapes, sizes and weights. My father (who unlike his neighbours took the ball near the top of the bound) played with a crooked headed racquet, with a cork-lined handle, into which was let a considerable lump of lead. The whole weighed eighteen ounces. Other racquets had polished wood handles and much smaller heads. Others again were flat with a thin bit of stuff wrapped round them and very light.
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