Robert Dover

Robert Dover (1575 - 1641) was an English captain and attorney, known as the founder and for many years the director of the Cotswold Games, which he originated as a protest against the growing Puritanism of the day. These sports, which were referred to by contemporary writers as 'Mr Robert Dovers [sic] Olimpick Games upon the Cotswold Hills, consisted of cudgel playing, wrestling, running at the quintain, jumping, casting the bar and hammer, hand-ball, gymnastics, rural dances and games and horse-racing, the winners in which received valuable prizes. They continued from about the year 1604 until three years after Dover's death. Revived after the Restoration, they continued until 1852 and were again revived in 1963.

References

*1911