HARROW Harrow is famous for its swimmers, and its swimming-pond, termed the duck-puddle,' is one of the finest open-air baths in England. All the boys are obliged to learn to swim, except, of course, those forbidden to bathe by the doctor, and the masters take a very great interest in the progress made.
The bath itself is almost unknown to swimmers outside Harrow School, as it is of course kept entirely for the use of the boys ; but when the famous ex-water-polo champions of England, the Nautilus team, played- an exhibition match there, the members were charmed with the appearance and appoint ments of this famous open-air bathing-place.
According to the Rev. B. H. Drury, the old' duck-puddle was just past the stile at the entrance of the third field from the present duck-puddle, as you go eastward towards Woodcock, or Woodcote, Hill ; a pond of oblong figure, divided in the middle by a bank reaching nearly across from side to side, one division being deeper than the other. It was fed by a ditch, and was called the dyke.' This same watercourse afterwards supplied the 'new' duck-puddle.
From a copy of the Harrovian,' kindly sent us with much other valuable information by Mr. A. F. Hort, M.A., the treasurer of Harrow School Bathing-place, we have gleaned some very interesting details about the history of the spot which retains the quaint and time-honoured title of duck puddle.' It appears that early in the nineteenth century Dr. George Butler, then head-master, took great interest in the matter, and through his agency a new bathing place was provided. The Rev. J. E. Gray, who entered the school in t8t r, says, The paling was then good, the benches good and new, and the shrubs so juvenile as scarcely to be a hiding-place from passers-by along the lane.' The bath was then rarely cleared, but when this was done the fence was removed in order that the mud might be thrown into the adjoining field.
This bath was allowed after a time to get out of order, and many of the boys found pleasure in the Brent, at Perivale, as well as in other cleaner waters. In 1825 a fatal
accident occurred in the bath to the son of Sir C. Lemon, who apparently succumbed to an attack of apoplexy when in the water. This, we believe, is the only tragic event that has happened in Harrow bathing place—a fact which speaks volumes for the care exercised when the boys are bathing.
The Rev. B. H. Drury relates a laughable incident which occurred about this period : I remember (says Mr. Drury) one occasion when there was great excitement among the lower boys in our house, caused by the report brought up from Billy Warner (a well-known and not altogether reputable character of those days) that, the water being off, the mud was full of eels. After two o'clock bell, we ransacked the kitchen for dinner-forks, and, so armed, ran down to the scene of our expected sport, and rushed into the mud, sticking in the forks wherever we suspected the eels were lying. I do not re member that we even speared one.
It would appear, moreover, from the Contio of 1826 that, in addition to eels, there was plenty of frogs and water-rats to be found in the pool. The writer of the article in the Harrovian' says, Surely the newts of to-day are but degene rate representatives of such progenitors.' The sides of the bath were at this time of earth, and the bottom consisted of mud. There were no sheds, and many of the boys bathed in the canal for preference ; but, as an old Harrovian aptly remarks, The fact that the canal was out of bounds added zest to the bath.' The son of Sir Robert Peel learnt to swim in the duck puddle at Harrow, and the knowledge there gained served him in good stead in after-life, when shipwrecked by night in the Mediterranean. The great Sir Robert Peel was himself an Harrovian, and had Lord Byron for form-fellow and friend. It is more than probable that Byron here gained that ability as a swimmer of which he was so proud.