Monday, June 06, 2016

George Whyte-Melville, the author of "Market Harborough"


Despite the presence of the ruined St John a little way out of the village, Boughton has a medieval church. St John the Baptist probably began life as a chapel for Boughton Hall.

Next to it is the village pub, The Whyte Melville.

It is named for the 19th-century Scottish novelist and poet George Whyte-Melville, whom I have run into a couple of times before.

He wrote many novels of the hunting field. One of them, published in 1861, was titled Market Harborough.

And around 1990 I occasionally played chess for Northampton Working Men's Club. They took part in the national club knock out championship, which was something the Market Harborough team did not aspire to.

The building where we played in Northampton was often referred to as "Whyte-Melville" because George had founded it.

Like so many such clubs, it has now closed. The premises are occupied by a pub called The Fox and Quill (which was previously the Goose on Two Streets).

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