Part 18

HAMMER-THROWING, a branch of field athletics which consists of hurling to the greatest possible distance an instrument with a heavy head and slender handle called the hammer. Throwing the hammer is in all probability of Keltic origin, as it has been popular in Ireland and Scotland for many centuries. The missile was, however, not a hammer, but the wheel of a chariot attached to a fixed axle, by which it was whirled round the head and cast for distance. Such a sport was undoubtedly cultivated in the old Irish games, a large stone being substituted for the wheel at the beginning of the Christian era. In the Scottish highlands the missile took the form of a smith's sledgehammer, and in this form the sport became popular in England in early days. Edward II. is said to have fostered it, and Henry VIII. is known to have been proficient. At the beginning of the 19th century two standard hammers were generally recognized in Scotland, the heavy hammer, weighing about 21 lb., and the light hammer, weighing about 16 lb. These were in general use until about 1885, although the light hammer gradually attained popularity at the expense of the heavy. Although originally an ordinary blacksmith's sledge with a handle about 3 ft. long, the form of the head was gradually modified until it acquired its present spherical shape, and the stiff wooden handle gave place to one of flexible whalebone about 3/8 in. in diameter. The Scottish style of throwing, which also obtained in America, was to stand on a mark, swing the hammer round the head several times and hurl it backwards over the shoulder, the length being measured from the mark made by the falling hammer to the nearest foot of the thrower, no run or follow being allowed. Such men as Donald Dinnie, G. Davidson and Kenneth McRae threw the light hammer over 110 ft., and Dinnie's record was 132 ft. 8 in., made, however, from a raised mount. Meanwhile the English Amateur Athletic Association had early fixed the weight of the hammer at 16 lb., but the length of the handle and the run varied widely, the restrictions being few. Under these conditions S. S. Brown, of Oxford, made in 1873 a throw of 120 ft., which was considered extraordinary at the time. In 1875 the throw was made from a 7-ft. circle without run, head and handle of the missile weighing together exactly 16 lb. In 1887 the circle was enlarged to 9 ft., and in 1896 a handle of flexible metal was legalized. The throw was made after a few rapid revolutions of the body, which added an impetus that greatly added to the distance attained. It thus happened that the Scottish competitors at the English games, who clung to their standing style of throwing, were, although athletes of the very first class, repeatedly beaten; the result being that the Scottish association was forced to introduce the English rules. This was also the case in America, where the throw from the 7-ft. circle, any motions being allowed within it, was adopted in 1888, and still obtains. The Americans still further modified the handle, which now consists of steel wire with two skeleton loops for the hands, the wire being joined to the head by means of a ball-bearing swivel. Thus the greatest mechanical advantage, that of having the entire weight of the missile at the end, as well as the least friction, is obtained. In England the Amateur Athletic Association in 1908 enacted that "the head and handle may be of any size, shape and material, provided that the complete implement shall not be more than 4 ft. and its weight not less than 16 lb. The competitor may assume any position he chooses, and use either one or both hands. All throws shall be made from a circle 7 ft. in diameter." The modern hammer-thrower, if right-handed, begins by placing the head on the ground at his right side. He then lifts and swings it round his head with increasing rapidity, his whole body finally revolving with outstretched arms twice, in some cases three times, as rapidly as possible, the hammer being released in the desired direction. During the "spinning," or revolving of the body, the athlete must be constantly, "ahead of the hammer," i.e. he must be drawing it after him with continually increased pressure up to the very moment of delivery. The muscles chiefly called into play are those of the shoulders, back and loins. The adoption of the hand-loops has given the thrower greater control over the hammer and has thus rendered the sport much less dangerous than it once was.

With a wooden handle the longest throw made in Great Britain from a 9-ft. circle was that of W. J. M. Barry in 1892, who won the championship in that year with 133 ft. 3 in. With the flexible handle, "unlimited run and follow" being permitted, the record was held in 1909 by M. J. McGrath with 175 ft. 8 in., made in 1907; a Scottish amateur, T. R. Nicholson, held the British record of 169 ft. 8 in. The world's record for throw from a 7-ft. circle was 172 ft. 11 in. by J. Flanagan in 1904 in America; the British record from 9-ft. circle being also held by Flanagan with a throw of 163 ft. 1 in. made in 1900. Flanagan's Olympic record (London, 1908) was 170 ft. 4-1/4 in.

See _Athletics_ in the Badminton library; _Athletes' Guide_ in Spalding's Athletic library; "Hammer-Throwing" in vol. xx. of _Outing_.

HAMMER-TOE, a painful condition in which a toe is rigidly bent and the salient angle on its upper aspect is constantly irritated by the boot. It is treated surgically, not as formerly by amputation of the toe, but the toe is made permanently to lie flat by the simple excision of the small digital joint. Even in extremely bad cases of hammer-toe the operation of resection of the head of the metatarsal phalanx is to be recommended rather than amputation.

HAMMOCK, a bed or couch slung from each end. The word is said to have been derived from the hamack tree, the bark of which was used by the aboriginal natives of Brazil to form the nets, suspended from trees, in which they slept. The hammock may be of matting, skin or textiles, lined with cushions or filled with bedding. It is much used in hot climates.

HAMMOND, HENRY (1605-1660), English divine, was born at Chertsey in Surrey on the 18th of August 1605. He was educated at Eton and at Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming demy or scholar in 1619, and fellow in 1625. He took orders in 1629, and in 1633 in preaching before the court so won the approval of the earl of Leicester that he presented him to the living of Penshurst in Kent. In 1643 he was made archdeacon of Chichester. He was a member of the convocation of 1640, and was nominated one of the Westminster Assembly of divines. Instead of sitting at Westminster he took part in the unsuccessful rising at Tunbridge in favour of King Charles I., and was obliged to flee in disguise to Oxford, then the royal headquarters. There he spent much of his time in writing, though he accompanied the king's commissioners to London, and afterwards to the ineffectual convention at Uxbridge in 1645, where he disputed with Richard Vines, one of the parliamentary envoys. In his absence he was appointed canon of Christ Church and public orator of the university. These dignities he relinquished for a time in order to attend the king as chaplain during his captivity in the hands of the parliament. When Charles was deprived of all his loyal attendants at Christmas 1647, Hammond returned to Oxford and was made subdean of Christ Church, only, however, to be removed from all his offices by the parliamentary visitors, who imprisoned him for ten weeks. Afterwards he was permitted, though still under quasi-confinement, to retire to the house of Philip Warwick at Clapham in Bedfordshire. In 1650, having regained his full liberty, Hammond betook himself to the friendly mansion of Sir John Pakington, at Westwood, in Worcestershire, where he died on the 25th of April 1660, just on the eve of his preferment to the see of Worcester. Hammond was held in high esteem even by his opponents. He was handsome in person and benevolent in disposition. He was an excellent preacher; Charles I. pronounced him the most natural orator he had ever heard. His range of reading was extensive, and he was a most diligent scholar and writer.

His writings, published in 4 vols. fol. (1674-1684), consist for the most part of controversial sermons and tracts. The _Anglo-Catholic_ _Library_ contains four volumes of his _Miscellaneous Theological Works_ (1847-1850). The best of them are his _Practical Catechism_, first published in 1644; his _Paraphrase and Annotations on the New Testament_; and an incomplete work of a similar nature on the Old Testament. His _Life_, a delightful piece of biography, written by Bishop Fell, and prefixed to the collected _Works_, has been reprinted in vol. iv. of Wordsworth's _Ecclesiastical Biography_. See also _Life of Henry Hammond_, by G. G. Perry.

HAMMOND, a city of Lake county, Indiana, U.S.A., about 18 m. S.E. of the business centre of Chicago, on the Grand Calumet river. Pop. (1890), 5428; (1900) 12,376, of whom 3156 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 20,925. It is served by no fewer than eight railways approaching Chicago from the east, and by several belt lines. As far as its industries are concerned, it is a part of Chicago, to which fact it owes its rapid growth and its extensive manufacturing establishments, which include slaughtering and packing houses, iron and steel works, chemical works, piano, wagon and carriage factories, printing establishments, flour and starch mills, glue works, breweries and distilleries. In 1900 Hammond was the principal slaughtering and meat-packing centre of the state, but subsequently a large establishment removed from the city, and Hammond's total factory product (all industries) decreased from $25,070,551 in 1900 to $7,671,203 in 1905; after 1905 there was renewed growth in the city's manufacturing interests. It has a good water-supply system which is owned by the city. Hammond was first settled about 1868, was named in honour of Abram A. Hammond (acting governor of the state in 1860-1861) and was chartered as a city in 1883.

HAMON, JEAN LOUIS (1821-1874), French painter, was born at Plouha on the 5th of May 1821. At an early age he was intended for the priesthood, and placed under the care of the brothers Lamennais, but his strong desire to become a painter finally triumphed over family opposition, and in 1840 he courageously left Plouha for Paris--his sole resources being a pension of five hundred francs, granted him for one year only by the municipality of his native town. At Paris Hamon received valuable counsels and encouragement from Delaroche and Gleyre, and in 1848 he made his appearance at the Salon with "Le Tombeau du Christ" (Musee de Marseille), and a decorative work, "Dessus de Porte." The works which he exhibited in 1849--"Une Affiche romaine," "L'Egalite au serail," and "Perroquet jasant avec deux jeunes filles"--obtained no marked success. Hamon was therefore content to accept a place in the manufactory of Sevres, but an enamelled casket by his hand having attracted notice at the London International Exhibition of 1851, he received a medal, and, reinspired by success, left his post to try his chances again at the Salon of 1852. "La Comedie humaine," which he then exhibited, turned the tide of his fortune, and "Ma soeur n'y est pas" (purchased by the emperor) obtained for its author a third-class medal in 1853. At the Paris International Exhibition of 1855, when Hamon re-exhibited the casket of 1851, together with several vases and pictures of which "L'Amour et son troupeau," "Ce n'est pas moi," and "Une Gardeuse d'enfants" were the chief, he received a medal of the second class, and the ribbon of the legion of honour. In the following year he was absent in the East, but in 1857 he reappeared with "Boutique a quatre sous," "Papillon enchaine," "Cantharide esclave," "Devideuses," &c., in all ten pictures; "L'Amour en visite" was contributed to the Salon of 1859, and "Vierge de Lesbos," "Tutelle," "La Voliere," "L'Escamoteur" and "La Soeur ainee" were all seen in 1861. Hamon now spent some time in Italy, chiefly at Capri, whence in 1864 he sent to Paris "L'Aurore" and "Un Jour de fiancailles." The influence of Italy was also evident in "Les Muses a Pompei," his sole contribution to the Salon of 1866, a work which enjoyed great popularity and was re-exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1867, together with "La Promenade" and six other pictures of previous years. His last work, "Le Triste Rivage," appeared at the Salon of 1873. It was painted at St Raphael, where Hamon had finally settled in a little house on the shores of the Mediterranean, close by Alphonse Karr's famous garden. In this house he died on the 29th of May 1874.

HAMPDEN, HENRY BOUVERIE WILLIAM BRAND, 1ST VISCOUNT[1] (1812-1892), speaker of the House of Commons, was the second son of the 21st Baron Dacre, and descended from John Hampden, the patriot, in the female line; the barony of Dacre devolved on him in 1890, after he had been created Viscount Hampden in 1884. He entered parliament as a Liberal in 1852, and for some time was chief whip of his party. In 1872 he was elected speaker, and retained this post till February 1884. It fell to him to deal with the systematic obstruction of the Irish Nationalist party, and his speakership is memorable for his action on the 2nd of February 1881 in refusing further debate on W. E. Forster's Coercion Bill--a step which led to the formal introduction of the closure into parliamentary procedure. He died on the 14th of March 1892, being succeeded as 2nd viscount by his son (b. 1841), who was governor of New South Wales, 1895-1899.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] An earlier viscountcy was bestowed in 1776 on Robert Hampden-Trevor, 4th Baron Trevor (1706-1783), a great-grandson of the daughter of John Hampden, the patriot; it became extinct in 1824 by the death of the 3rd viscount.

HAMPDEN, JOHN (c. 1595-1643), English statesman, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, a descendant of a very ancient family of that place, said to have been established there before the Conquest, and of Elizabeth, second daughter of Sir Henry Cromwell, and aunt of Oliver, the future protector, was born about the year 1595. By his father's death, when he was but a child, he became the owner of a good estate and a ward of the crown. He was educated at the grammar school at Thame, and on the 30th of March 1610 became a commoner of Magdalen College at Oxford. In 1613 he was admitted a student of the Inner Temple. He first sat in parliament for the borough of Grampound in 1621, representing later Wendover in the first three parliaments of Charles I., Buckinghamshire in the Short Parliament of 1640, and Wendover again in the Long Parliament. In the early days of his parliamentary career he was content to be overshadowed by Eliot, as in its later days he was content to be overshadowed by Pym and to be commanded by Essex. Yet it is Hampden, and not Eliot or Pym, who lives in the popular imagination as the central figure of the English revolution in its earlier stages. It is Hampden whose statue rather than that of Eliot or Pym has been selected to take its place in St Stephen's Hall as the noblest type of the parliamentary opposition, as Falkland's has been selected as the noblest type of parliamentary royalism.

Something of Hampden's fame no doubt is owing to the position which he took up as the opponent of ship-money. But it is hardly possible that even resistance to ship-money would have so distinguished him but for the mingled massiveness and modesty of his character, his dislike of all pretences in himself or others, his brave contempt of danger, and his charitable readiness to shield others as far as possible from the evil consequences of their actions. Nor was he wanting in that skill which enabled him to influence men towards the ends at which he aimed, and which was spoken of as subtlety by those who disliked his ends.

During these first parliaments Hampden did not, so far as we know, open his lips in public debate, but he was increasingly employed in committee work, for which he seems to have had a special aptitude. In 1626 he took an active part in the preparation of the charges against Buckingham. In January 1627 he was bound over to answer at the council board for his refusal to pay the forced loan. Later in the year he was committed to the gatehouse, and then sent into confinement in Hampshire, from which he was liberated just before the meeting of the third parliament of the reign, in which he once more rendered useful but unobtrusive assistance to his leaders.

When the breach came in 1629 Hampden is found in epistolary correspondence with the imprisoned Eliot, discussing with him the prospects of the Massachusetts colony,[1] or rendering hospitality and giving counsel to the patriot's sons now that they were deprived of a father's personal care. It was not till 1637, however, that his resistance to the payment of ship-money gained for his name the lustre which it has never since lost. (See SHIP-MONEY.) Seven out of the twelve judges sided against him, but the connexion between the rights of property and the parliamentary system was firmly established in the popular mind. The tax had been justified, says Clarendon, who expresses his admiration at Hampden's "rare temper and modesty" at this crisis, "upon such grounds and reasons as every stander-by was able to swear was not law" (_Hist._ i. 150, vii. 82).

In the Short Parliament of 1640 Hampden stood forth amongst the leaders. He guided the House in the debate on the 4th of May in its opposition to the grant of twelve subsidies in return for the surrender of ship-money. Parliament was dissolved the next day, and on the 6th an unsuccessful search was made among the papers of Hampden and of other chiefs of the party to discover incriminating correspondence with the Scots. During the eventful months which followed, when Strafford was striving in vain to force England, in spite of its visible reluctance, to support the king in his Scottish war, rumour has much to tell of Hampden's activity in rousing opposition. It is likely enough that the rumour is in the main true, but we are not possessed of any satisfactory evidence on the subject.

In the Long Parliament, though Hampden was by no means a frequent speaker, it is possible to trace his course with sufficient distinctness. His power consisted in his personal influence, and as a debater rather than as an orator. "He was not a man of many words," says Clarendon, "and rarely began the discourse or made the first entrance upon any business that was assumed, but a very weighty speaker, and after he had heard a full debate and observed how the House was likely to be inclined, took up the argument and shortly and clearly and craftily so stated it that he commonly conducted it to the conclusion he desired; and if he found he could not do that, he never was without the dexterity to divert the debate to another time, and to prevent the determining anything in the negative which might prove inconvenient in the future" (_Hist._ iii. 31). Unwearied in attendance upon committees, he was in all things ready to second Pym, whom he plainly regarded as his leader. Hampden was one of the eight managers of Stratford's prosecution. Like Pym, he was in favour of the more legal and regular procedure by impeachment rather than by attainder, which at the later stage was supported by the majority of the Commons; and through his influence a compromise was effected by which, while an attainder was subsequently adopted, Strafford's counsel were heard as in the case of an impeachment, and thus a serious breach between the two Houses, which threatened to cause the breakdown of the whole proceedings, was averted.

There was another point on which there was no agreement. A large minority wished to retain Episcopacy, and to keep the common Prayer Book unaltered, whilst the majority were at least willing to consider the question of abolishing the one and modifying the other. On this subject the parties which ultimately divided the House and the country itself were fully formed as early as the 8th of February 1641. It is enough to say that (v. under PYM) Hampden fully shared in the counsels of the opponents of Episcopacy. It is not that he was a theoretical Presbyterian, but the bishops had been in his days so fully engaged in the imposition of obnoxious ceremonies that it was difficult, if not impossible, to dissociate them from the cause in which they were embarked. Closely connected with Hampden's distrust of the bishops was his distrust of monarchy as it then existed. The dispute about the church therefore soon attained the form of an attack upon monarchy, and, when the majority of the House of Lords arrayed itself on the side of Episcopacy and the Prayer Book, of an attack upon the House of Lords as well.

No serious importance therefore can be attached to the offers of advancement made from time to time to Hampden and his friends. Charles would gladly have given them office if they had been ready to desert their principles. Every day Hampden's conviction grew stronger that Charles would never abandon the position which he had taken up. In August 1640 Hampden was one of the four commissioners who attended Charles in Scotland, and the king's conduct there, connected with such events as the "Incident," must have proved to a man far less sagacious than Hampden that the time for compromise had gone by. He was therefore a warm supporter of the Grand Remonstrance, and was marked out as one of the five impeached members whose attempted arrest brought at last the opposing parties into open collision (see also PYM, STRODE, HOLLES and LENTHALL). In the angry scene which arose on the proposal to print the Grand Remonstrance, it was Hampden's personal intervention which prevented an actual conflict, and it was after the impeachment had been attempted that Hampden laid down the two conditions under which resistance to the king became the duty of a good subject. Those conditions were an attack upon religion and an attack upon the fundamental laws. There can be no doubt that Hampden fully believed that both those conditions were fulfilled at the opening of 1642.