talk
the birth of the westchester cup It was a chance comment after a polo match in 1884 at Hurlingham, writes Nigel à Brassard, that led to the establishment of one of polo’s most prestigious tournaments In the spring of 1886, the American Nathaniel Griswold Lorillard, son of a US thoroughbred racehorse owner, watched a game of polo at the Hurlingham Club. After dinner, he told the English players that the sport was also played in America and suggested Hurlingham send a team to Newport to play a series of matches against the Westchester Polo Club. The English players agreed – on condition the Americans offer a cup and share the travelling expenses of the visiting team and its ponies. Lorillard sent a cable to Frank Gray Griswold, Westchester’s secretary, informing him of the conversation. He replied that all expenses would be met and the club would commission a cup to be emblematic of the first polo championship between the two countries. The members of the Westchester Polo Club
16
donated the necessary funds and Tiffany & Co of New York was commissioned to make a trophy. A London silversmith was later to describe the cup as depicting ‘six figures of polo players, mounted, springing therefrom, the whole being surmounted by a massive three-handled egg-shaped cup, with three panels on it. The first panel contains the inscription “International Polo Challenge Cup, presented by the Westchester Polo Club, USA”, the second bears the arms of England and America, while the third is a representation of a couple of players passing each other in opposite directions. The players are Captain Brocklehurst and Captain Herbert as depicted in George Earl’s picture of a polo match between the Royal Horse Guards and the Monmouthshire Club that was decided at Hurlingham on 7 July 1877. The cup is said to
hurlinghampolo.com
have cost $1,200, or £240.’ The Tiffany & Co archives show the cup was made from 396.3oz of sterling and the manufacturing cost was $840. In August 1886, a Hurlingham team captained by John Watson travelled to Newport, Rhode Island to play the Americans. Thomas Hitchcock, who had played for Oxford University, was chosen to lead the very best American players that made up the Westchester side. The games attracted huge crowds and local newspapers commented on ‘the great applause’ for the English team that showed ‘there was a large body of friends from the old country’. The first game, played on 25 August, was won by Hurlingham 10-4. The visitors, with a score of 15-2, also won the second match, played on 28 August. The games were all played in tremendous sporting spirit, prompting John Watson to state:
