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Timed auction
Lot location
London
An important early international polo tournament gold winner's medal awarded by the Argentine Polo Association for the River Plate Open Championship played at Hurlingham in 1907 and won by Western Polo Club,
stamped 18k., the obverse engraved with a crest and inscribed PREMIO PRESIDENTE DE LA REPUBLICA, CAMPEONATO DE POLO, RIO DE LA PLATA, HURLINGHAM, 1907 , the reverse design with polo pony, mallet & ball and laurel, inscribed WESTERN POLO CLUB, inscribed S.R. MALLET, H.H. DRYSDALE, R. LEARED, J.A. CAMPBELL, weight 19gr.
This international tournament was played from 1893 to 1895 twice a year at Hurlingham and Canada de Gomez and then annually at Hurlingham from 1896 until 1927 and was the predecessor of the Campeonato Abierto Argentino de Polo ("the Argentine Open") which has since been played at Palermo.
As engraved on the 1907 medal the tournament was won by the team from Western Polo Club made up of John Argentine Campbell, Richard Leared, Henry Howard Drysdale and Stanley Mallet. For some reason the Argentine Association of Polo records and apparently the engraving on the trophy itself show the team as Western Camps and with the name of Eduardo Lucero rather than Mallet as the fourth member of the team (although, it should be noted that, discrepancies in the early records of the AAP are not unusual). Western Polo Club beat Gee-Bungs by 8 goals to 3, to win the championship.
The current vendor contacted Dr. Horace Laffaye, the world's pre-eminent polo historian, and asked if he could throw any light on this discrepancy. "Within days of my request, Horace had checked the newspaper The Standard of 16th September 1907 and discovered that it was Stanley Mallet that had played as the No. 3 of Western and had scored four goals. So a mystery has been solved and the name of Stanley Mallet is added to the list of those players that have won the Argentine Open - the world's most prestigious polo tournament."
The patron of the Western team was John Argentine Campbell son of John Campbell from Glasgow. Campbell was born on 20th October 1877 in Argentina. He was sent to school at Fettes in Scotland and then went on to Cambridge University. At Fettes he was school captain, played as a forward in the rugby XV and at Cambridge he was awarded a blue for rugby, cricket and athletics. Later he went on to play rugby for Scotland in an international against Ireland at Lansdowne Road in 1900 and cricket for Argentina against Lord Hawke's MCC XI in the 1911/12 season. Campbell was one of the early 20th Century polo players who were thought to be British in Argentina and Argentine in Britain.
Campbell was a very talented polo player. When a handicap list was first published in Argentina, Campbell was one of the four top rated players with a handicap of 9 goals. He was the estanciero of the Estancia El Jabali (Wild Boar) near Carlos Casares in Buenos Aires Province. The foreman at the ranch was Eduardo Lucero who may well on occasion have played as a member of the Western team.
Campbell's team mates were Henry Drysdale, Stanley Mallet (his brother in law) and Richard Leared.
Drysdale was a member of another prominent Argentine family from Scotland, he was born in August 1877 in Buenos Aires the son of Joseph Drysdale from East Lothian, Scotland. He qualified as a physician in London and volunteered in the First World War and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was killed during the conflict. Stanley Robert Mallet was also an estanciero. He was a 7 goal player. In 1909 he won the Junior Championship at Roehampton, the Ostend Cup and the Prix International. He won the Copa Anchorena in 1910 with the Hurlingham team and the Open Tournament at Media Luna in 1912. During the First World War he served as a Captain in the Inniskilling Dragoons.
Richard Leared was also an estanciero in Buenos Aires Province. He played at Media Luna Polo Club, the third oldest extant polo club in Argentina. Leared donated the trophy for the Media Luna Open Tournament.
Campbell won the River Plate Open Championship in 1907 and 1909 and his pony Old Boy won the Lady Susan Townley Cup for the best playing pony in the 1909 championship. The cup had been presented by Sir William Townley (British Minister to Argentina 1906-10) in honour of his wife and is still awarded to the best playing pony in the Argentine Open. Old Boy and India owned by Harold Schwind and Diamond owned by Frank Balfour - all winners of the Lady Susan Townley Cup were taken to England to play.
In 1912 Campbell was one of the members of Harold Schwind's team El Bagual (Wild Horse) that visited England and triumphed in the Whitney Cup and the Social Clubs' Tournament at Hurlingham and the Novices Cup at Ranelagh. TF Dale in Polo at Home and Abroad wrote about the phenomenon of Argentine bred polo ponies and commented on "the success gained by Messrs Traill, Campbell, Lynch-Staunton and Schwind is still fresh in the memory of all interested in polo, and the Argentine ponies played by them were undoubtedly as good as any of the best they met in some of the highest class polo of the season."
In August 1914 with the outbreak of war Campbell wrote to Lewis Lacey:
Dear Lewis
I have just heard that war is declared between England and Germany. Although possibly it may seem foolish, I would prefer not to play public polo while our people are at it over there; so I hope you will allow me to stand out. I feel that if one can go in for games at this time we shouldn't be here but should be on the way to the other side. What I do hope is that the Almighty, on whom that big German emperor is always calling, will give the Germans such a hiding that they won't rise up for another 100 years!
Yours, J.A. Campbell
PS Will you tell [Capt. Samuel] Casares and [Dr Lindsay] Holway I am very sorry not to play with them. Samuel Cesares, Lindsay Holway, Lewis Lacey and Carlos Lacey playing as El Palomar won the 1915 Polo Association of the River Plate Open Championship.
With the outbreak of the First World War Campbell soon joined up in the 17th Lancers as a Lieutenant and went on to serve with the 6th Dragoons (Inniskilling), Mhow Brigade and the 1st Indian Cavalry Division. On 1st December 1917 he was reported missing in action in France and he died of wounds in a German Hospital and was buried at the Honnechy British Cemetery.
Rather poignantly the polo team mates Campbell and Drysdale are both commemorated on a memorial plaque to the fallen of the First World War at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Buenos Aires.
The auctioneer on behalf of the current vendor is greatly indebted to Dr Horace Laffaye for much of the detail about early 20th Century polo in Argentina and in particular for solving the mystery of the fourth man in the 1907 Western Polo Club victorious team.
Timed
Venue address
Administration Office
P.O. Box 47519
London
N14 6XD
United Kingdom
Timed Internet Auction of Polo Art & Memorabilia in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first polo match played in England in 1869
Polo Art & Memorabilia
Auction dates
Starts:
29 Jun 2019 09:00 BST
Ends from:
15 Jul 2019 19:00 BST
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To be sold by timed internet auction.
Bidding starts Saturday 29th June at 9am
Auction closes on the evening of Monday 15th July
ORDER OF SALE
Asian Origins Lots 1 to 3
Trophies & Medals Lots 4 to 21
Decorative Objects Lots 22 to 37
Equipment Lots 38 to 47
Memorabilia Lots 48 to 71
Books Lots 72 to 89
Photography Lots 90 to 104
Artworks: Prints Lots 105 to 142
Artworks: Drawings Lots 143 to 167
Artworks: Watercolours Lots 168 to 198
Artworks: Oil Paintings Lots 199 to 234