Sport

Sport, like now, was big-business in eighteenth-century Britain. Country pursuits such as hunting and shooting often led to a mass exodus in summer to country retreats for gentry folk, and horse-racing in places such as York drew people into towns for weeks at a time. Animal-baiting, boxing and fighting were less genteel sports, yet were hugely popular and could draw large crowds. And just like today, a huge amount of money was ploughed into betting and gambling on sporting results. Discover what our eighteenth-century sporting ancestors got up to in these articles here!