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FOX-HUNTING
RECOLLECTIONS

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FOX-HUNTING
RECOLLECTIONS

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BY

Sir REGINALD GRAHAM, Bart.

SECOND IMPRESSION

LONDON

EVELEIGH NASH

1908

\^ N V 1 ' J

/^?>j/ Impression . . . October igoj
Second Impression . . . January rgo8

CONTENTS

CHAP.

T. EARLY DAYS .

II. THE BEAUFORT HUNT .

III. THE BURTON HUNT

IV. THE COTSWOLD HUNT .
V. THE NEW FOREST HUNT

VI. THE TEDWORTH HUNT

VII. THE HURWORTH HUNT

VIII. NORTON CONYERS

IX. SIR BELLINGHAM GRAHAM, BART.

X. ATHERSTONE PYTCHLEY QUORN

INDEX . . .

PAGE

I

II

22

35
46

79

lOI

125
149
168
201

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

SIR REGINALD GRAHAM, BART.

THE EIGHTH DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BEAUFORT

COLONEL MILES, ON BLUE PILL

LADY BLANCHE SOMERSET ON VIOLET

LORD HENRY BENTINCK

MR. HENRY CHAPLIN, M.P.

THE REV. JOSEPH PITT, VICAR OF RENDGOMB

COLONEL MARTIN POWELL .

HOUND SHOW AT PETERBOROUGH .

MR. THOMAS ASSHETON SMITH

LORD ALGERNON ST. MAUR

LADY GRAHAM ....

THE HALL AT NORTON CONYERS

Frontispiece
13
15
18
22
24
43
65
67
So
89
123
127

VISCOUNT ANDOVER (AFTERWARDS EARL OF SUFFOLK) AND
SIR REGINALD GRAHAM, BART.

SIR BELLINGHAM GRAHAM'S TREACLE

SIR BELLINGHAM GRAHAM, BART., ON THE BARON

146

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

CHAPTER I

EARLY DAYS

How I envy the facile pen which let us into the
secrets of Market Harborough, and told us of
Tilbury Nogo^ that unsuccessful man so admirably
described by George Whyte - Melville. What
would I not give for the ever-pleasant pencil with
which the Druid jotted down the plain, un-
varnished words of Dick Christian, as that veteran
hero personally conveyed him in a one-horse gig
along the bridle roads of Leicestershire ? Classic
names are these, recalling to many of us the old
days, and that sensation of screaming delight
with which we once galloped for a start. To-day,
such musings are all in vain, for it is at a snail's
pace, and in chastened mood, that I approach my
formidable task.

Memoirs are often prefaced by unnecessary
reference to parentage and pedigree ; this at least
shall not be laid to my charge. Was not that old

2 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

lady justified in her bitter reproof to a young man
overfond of allusions to his family ? *^ Don't talk
to me of ancestors/' she said; ''I once kept a
grandmother myself ! " Let it be sufficient to
record that 1835 was the year of my birth at Norton
Conyers, in the North Riding of Yorkshire ; that I
was educated at the Royal Military College, Sand-
hurst, gazetted at the age of seventeen to the
14th Regiment (then the Buckinghamshire, now
the West Yorkshire), joined them at Limerick,
passed a year in Ireland, and at the end of that
period was ordered with the regiment to Malta.
The detachment with which I went sailed in
an old troopship of about seven hundred
tons, by name the AUpore, and it took fifteen
days on the voyage from Cork to Gibraltar
(think of that in these days of swift military
transport).

Malta was but a brief halting-place on the way
to the Crimea, and we landed at Balaclava the
first week of November 1854. The 14th was
soon moved to the front, and posted to the Third
Division, commanded by General Sir Richard
England. Our chief duty for many months to
come was in the trenches day and night, and my
most vivid recollection of that dreary time is
snow, everlasting snow, throughout the bitterly
severe winter of 1854-55. Owing to our hasty

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 3

departure from Malta we, like the rest of the
army, were ill-provided with suitable clothing,
and I remember the joy with which I received at
last a fur coat and a pair of long brown boots sent
out from England, ready-made and not exactly a
perfect fit ; but to me at that time they were
beyond all price. I kept well, and was as happy
as the day was long (the days were rather long in
the trenches) ; but soon after Sebastopol was
evacuated by the Russians on the 8th September
1855, I had a very bad turn of Crimean fever, and
was sent down to the hospital at Scutari, where
my head was shaved, and for some weeks it seemed
doubtful how matters would end for me. Our
chief interest in hospital was to watch for Florence
Nightingale as she passed through the wards with
a gentle word for all, — a weary time until I im-
proved and was invalided to England towards the
end of 1855. My Crimean experience was at the
age of from nineteen to twenty, and, looking back
to such distant times, it seems to me nowadays as
if those scenes had been in another world, and I
feel myself a veritable Rip Van Winkle as I muse
upon those far-off days and wonder how many
officers still survive who landed at Balaclava with
the old Fighting Fourteenth on that November
day in 1854.

February 1856 found me gazetted to the Rifle

4 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Brigade as Captain at twenty years of age, and
almost the youngest Captain in the British Army.
I joined the depot of the 2nd BattaHon at Alder-
shot, and my chief remembrance of that spot is
in complete contrast to that of the Crimea :
eternal field days instead of the trenches, and
perpetual dust instead of snow. Upon the whole
I much preferred Crimean life.

Another recollection of that period is the
enthusiasm about pugilism which animated a few
young officers in various regiments then stationed
in the camp at Aldershot. Willingly was I
enlisted in that select circle, prominent among
whom was a Second Lieutenant of the 6oth Rifles,
now a distinguished General ; also two officers of
that famous regiment the i6th Lancers, who are
still flourishing ; there may have been a few others
whose names are now forgotten. Many prize-
fights within reach did we attend, and more than
once we left by a night train to assist early the
following morning at what Bell's Life was
wont to term '' A Merry Mill in the Midlands.''
Cock-fighting was also to be seen at that time,
more especially in the neighbourhood of Hendon,
a battle-ground well known to some of us. These
Corinthian pursuits, which were in favour full
fifty years ago, have long since been extinguished
— such tastes and attractions are to-day obsolete

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 5

as the history of Tom and Jerry — and extinct as
Pierce Egan himself.

Early in 1857 I was appointed aide-de-camp
to General Sir Richard England, who commanded
the troops in the district of the Curragh of Kildare,
and was there until 1858, when I was ordered to
join the 4th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade at
Chichester, a new battalion just raised and
organised by Colonel Elrington, a very smart
Rifleman. From Chichester Barracks some of us
used to hunt with Colonel Wyndham's hounds
(Squires was his huntsman), in what afterwards
became the Goodwood Country. Colonel Wynd-
ham was created Lord Leconfield in 1859, died
in 1869, and was succeeded by his son Henry
Wyndham of the ist Life Guards (a lifelong friend
of mine), who became the second Lord Leconfield
and reigned at Petworth as M.F.H. until his
lamented death in 1901. Sheppard, his hunts-
man, was one of the best in his profession, and a
particularly nice man.

The 4th Battalion was ordered out to Malta,
and landed there in August 1858. The following
spring I again went on the Staff as aide-de-camp to
General Sir Gaspard Le Marchant, who was then
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Island.
With him I remained until His Excellency went
to England, where we arrived in May i860. On my

6 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

part there was no regret at leaving Malta — my final

farewell might have been said in the words of

Byron :

*' Adieu ye joys of La Valette,
Adieu sirocco, sun, and sweat,
Adieu thou palace rarely entered,
Adieu ye mansions where I've ventured,
Adieu ye cursed streets of stairs,
How surely he who mounts them swears ! "

In the autumn of i860 I was posted to the
Rifle Depot at Winchester, commanded by Colonel
Macdonald. No better quarter in England than
old Winchester — so many sports, pastimes, and
advantages ; dry fly fishing in the Test and
Itchen, nowadays at famine prices, was to be got
for next to nothing in those days. How many
delightful afternoons did I pass on the water of
Brambridge House, then belonging to Charles
Sartoris — how many games of tennis in th^ old
tennis-court at Crawley, the Queen's Crawley of
Thackeray in Vanity Fair. I never could see
that tumbledown old house (since demolished
altogether) without thoughts of Rawdon Crawley,
Becky Sharp, and Hester's famous speech, '' If
you please, Sir Pitt, Sir Pitt died this morning,
Sir Pitt." Then the hunting (our Colonel was
very good about leave for that), and plenty of
packs to choose from : the H.H., with Edward
Tredcroft as Master ; the Hambledon, hunted by

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 7

Walter Long of Preshaw ; the Vyne, by Lord
Portsmouth ; and the Hursley, with Mr. Tregon-
well as Master. The last was a squire from
Dorsetshire ; such a trim little man between
fifty and sixty, always in faultless costume, with
boots and breeches worthy of a better country,
rather deaf and very silent. While at a hunt
breakfast in the barracks some young spark
(with doubtful taste) stuffed his horn with buttered
toast, but even the discovery of this indignity he
endured in complacent silence. A few years ago
I accidentally came across his tombstone in a
Bournemouth churchyard, where he has been
resting for many years. When we could not
leave barracks until after morning parade there
was a pack of harriers which could always be
found, and was never far away, hunted by old
James Dear, a brewer at Winchester. Another
pack was kept by John Day, the well-known
trainer at Danebury, near Stockbridge, but these
were more difficult to reach. Mr. Nevill of
Chilland kept a few couples of black St. Hubert
hounds and a tame deer or two ; he was much
deformed, and obliged to ride in a kind of basket
chair on the top of his saddle. On hunting
mornings the whole party went to the appointed
fixture ; the deer was given a generous start, and
ran until captured by the St. Huberts. When

8 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

the hunt was over, the Master, with his quaint
estabHshment, the deer and the hounds, all
trotted home together ; they seemed to be a kind
of happy family who lived on friendly terms and
were mutually pleased with one another, a bright
example of domestic life. For all these variations
of the chase, hunters of more or less value could
be procured from John Tubb, the widely known
dealer who resided opposite to the barrack gates,
a man with much resource of language and a
certain amount of notoriety peculiar to himself.
He was periodically out of favour with many
racecourse authorities, but as a universal provider
of horseflesh, and as a very original character, he
was well known to most Riflemen when stationed
at the depot. In that pleasing work. The Queen's
Hounds, Lord Ribblesdale, well acquainted with
his subject, devotes some pages to episodes in
John Tubb's career.

At what pleasant country houses we used to
stay : Warnford Court, where lived Mr. and Mrs.
Edward Sartoris — she had been Adelaide Kemble ;
and there we frequently met her elder sister,
Mrs. Butler, who preferred to be still known by
her former name, Fanny Kemble. They were
the daughters of Charles Kemble and nieces of
Mrs. Siddons, and both were gifted with dramatic
talents and singular attractions. Adelaide had

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 9

been very celebrated as a prima donna in London
and in many foreign capitals from 1835, when
she appeared as Norma at Covent Garden, until
the close of her stage career in 1842. Who has
not read her charming story, A Week in a French
Country House ? Fanny had been the greatest
actress of her time, and had played Juliet at the
age of seventeen. But is not all this related by
her own pen in Records of a Girlhood ? Here
also were to be found Leighton, Val Prinsep,
Henry Greville, George Barrington, Hamilton
Aide, and Miss Thackeray, long before she became
Mrs. Ritchie. How well I remember the charm
of that society, and those memorable evenings
when Adelaide Sartoris would sing with touching
expression and a voice still entrancing ; Fanny
Kemble would recite in deep, tragic tones ; and
Edward Sartoris himself would sometimes relax
sufficiently to read (as no one else could read)
the plays of Shakespeare which he knew so well.

Then the Grange, where at that time lived the
second Lord and Lady Ashburton. I was often
there, and met many celebrities — Landseer, the
Carlyles,Sir Roderick Murchison, Charles Kingsley,
Venables (of the Saturday Review)^ Laurence
Oliphant, the Brookfields, and others. I have
a pleasant memory of Kingsley in particular — in
complete contrast to Carlyle as a social factor,

10 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

whose return to the ordinary salutation of '' good-
morning '' was at least abrupt, and hardly en-
couraging to further conversation. Mrs. Carlyle,
on the contrary, never ceased to talk in a strident
voice with broad Scotch accent. A comet in
this circle was the Honourable James Macdonald,
whom I first met at the Grange, little thinking
I should have the good fortune to know him so
intimately in future years. To all the world he
was Jim Macdonald ; to the last Duke of Cam-
bridge he was Military Secretary and Equerry
for nearly forty years, with a sunny face bubbling
with merriment, hair like white satin, and a voice
like a silver bell ; the fascination of his company
was indeed irresistible. Brookfield was very
agreeable, with a knack of putting a humorous
construction upon the most simple matters of
fact. He was supposed to be the original of
Thackeray's Charles Honeyman in the New-
comes, though I could never quite recognise the
portrait myself. Anyhow, Thackeray must have
known the Brookfields well, inasmuch as it is on
record that he was a guest at the first dinner-party
of their early days, when the hostess modestly
asked if she might help him to a tartlet, and the
great novelist, grasping the situation and the proba-
bility of an adjacent pastry-cook, quietly replied,
''If you please, and pray give me a twopenny one/'

CHAPTER II

THE BEAUFORT HUNT

In the spring of 1863 I was still at Winchester
Barracks, and obtained leave of absence for a
month in order to join an expedition which was
then being organised to hunt wolves in the
South of France. The Duke of Beaufort took
out twenty-two couples of doghounds and his
hunting establishment to Poitou, where a good-
sized house with stabling and temporary kennels
had been engaged for him eight miles from
Poitiers. His party comprised the Honourable
Henry Wyndham, the Honourable Edward Russell,
Lord Worcester (then sixteen and still at Eton),
and myself. We all arrived early in April in
most unfavourable weather for the purpose — a
blazing sun every morning, very dry, and no
prospect of rain. The country was composed of
large woods surrounded by expansive plains
chiefly devoted to vineyards. We were out
three days a week, and at the fixtures generally
by eight or nine in the morning. The animal
was difficult to find, and altogether we had little
success owing to the heat and other circum-

12 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

stances. There was also the drawback that
some of the hounds did not reUsh the idea. An
obstinate old fellow called '' Foiler '' positively
declined to hunt the wolf at all, and was conse-
quently left at home. Two or three couples
decided to vote with '' Foiler/' and only one
young wolf was killed during the month. One
really fine run out there, however, is worthy of
record. An old wolf had been seen to enter an
immense wood at daybreak; the Duke on his
way to hunt was told of this, and decided to
draw for him with the whole pack (tufting had
hitherto been tried most days), so as to force him
to face the open. The plan succeeded — the wolf
broke away, ran quite straight for eight or ten
miles — in a cloud of dust never more than half a
mile before the pack, and evidently with no idea
of being caught that day. At last he ran
through a plantation full of roe deer which
jumped up in view, and away went the hounds
after them. By the time they were got together
again the wolf was gone, the sun was out, and
the hunt was over.

From all parts of France sportsmen flocked
to Poitou, and there were large fields in conse-
quence. At the end of April the estabhshment
returned to England, and our party stayed a day
or two in Paris, where the Duke was entertained

The 8th Duke and Duchess of Beaufort
1864

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 13

at a banquet and made a charming speech in
excellent French. On the whole there had not
been much sport as regards wolf-hunting, but it
was an interesting expedition under most pleasant
auspices.

During this year I retired from the Army,
and for some seasons afterwards hunted with
the Beaufort Hunt — an immense extent of
territory, combining almost every description of
country — with more than ample for six days a
week. At that time three distinct packs were
maintained ; Clark was huntsman, and Jack
West and Heber Long whipped in ; they were
all in green plush, which looked smart enough in
fine weather, but was rather apt to hold the
wet. Members of the Hunt wore the well-
known Blue and Buff, for which distinction
ladies also were in great competition. The
country always seemed to be full of foxes, and
there was no end of sport with them. Many
merry spins over the walls, and many a good
day's sport did I enjoy with the Blue and Buff.

The fastest gallop I ever saw in this country
was on the 12th December 1864. They found
him in Pacey's Plantation, rather a flying start,
and only two or three got away with the hounds ;
they raced a tremendous pace for forty-two
minutes by Crudwell, across Paradise Farm and

14 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

the meadows near Eastcourt House, over the
brook to the fourteen acres at Braydon ; there, I
think, we got among fresh foxes. It was a
lucky day for me, as I had a front seat all the
way.

Colonel Poulett Somerset had mounted me
on a well-bred chestnut horse called Happy
Land, which he purchased from Ben Land, the
steeplechase trainer. I bought the horse the
next day and renamed him Paradise, but he
soon became ''Paradise Lost,'' as he was one
of five hunters which Granville Somerset bought
in a lump from me for £500 one evening towards
the end of that season.

Clark resigned suddenly in 1868, and from
that time Lord Worcester (then just come of
age) hunted the hounds. The celebrated Great
Wood run, in which he so much distinguished
himself, took place on 21st February 1871. The
late Duke's fame was known to all the world as
the best of sportsmen and the kindest of friends ;
by nature he was endowed with courtesy and other
attributes which rendered him a most popular
Master of Hounds, and no one who hunted with
him for a single day could fail to notice his never-
failing exertions to show sport. Weather made no
difference to him, and his hounds seldom went
home until dusk ; his dog language and hunting

M n.!:s, ox " Bir
1S70

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 15

voice were quite unequalled, and he was the best
horn-blower I ever listened to. At all times most
particular about tail hounds being cut off in chase,
it was woe betide the young gentleman whom he
saw slip through a gate without first giving the
chance to a hound or two who might perhaps
have had a bad start. Prominent among the
forward riders of the sixties were Colonel Kings-
cote (now Sir Nigel), Colonel Miles, and Bob
Chapman, the noted horsedealer from Chelten-
ham, whom no one could beat over the walls.
Colonel Miles had been in the 17th Lancers, and
was generally known as Peter Miles. Always a
welter-weight, he had as a young man made a
reputation in Leicestershire, where he attracted
the admiration of Sir Richard Sutton, Master of
the Quorn from 1846 to 1855. Mr. Bromley
Davenport, M.P., illustrates that charming book
entitled Sport with various sketches of his model
champion negotiating oxers and sailing over
ridge and furrow. At another period he also
immortalised Peter Miles in verse, rather at the
expense of the author's old friend, Mr. W. L.
Gilmour, once a celebrated Meltonian, but a
little going off at the time of Colonel Miles's
advent.

'' Wait till the second horseman pass, t.^

You'll see a form, 'tis his, alas! "^

i6 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

The heavy man who funks the stiles,
And shudders at the name of Miles.

Such is the fate of mortal man,
Where Gilmour ended, Miles began,
And Miles in turn must yield his sway,
For every dog shall have his day."

Another fine horseman was Captain Little
(the Josey Little of Chandler fame), always
ready for a gallop. It was whispered about, that
once upon a time he had ridden gallantly to a
single hound who raced away on a line by him-
self for five minutes, when the Captain jumped
on the hound, killed him on the spot, and his
private run came to an untimely end. I presume
he had long since expiated that offence, for he
was frequently out with the hounds in my time.

An excellent sportsman was Granville Somer-
set, Q.C. (widely known as the Doctor), who
hunted there every winter; a short, stout man
with a pleasant countenance, who wore an
unusual number of waistcoats, and was devoted
to the Chase — generally a stern chase for him.

We often went together to hunt on Exmoor
with the Devon and Somerset staghounds.

Dulverton, Porlock, and Minehead were our
various headquarters, and we sometimes stayed
with our mutual friend the Master of the Pack,
Mr. Fenwick Bissett, at Bagborough, near

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 17

Taunton (who had formerly been an officer in the
King's Dragoon Guards) a man of huge frame,
with strong character and much determination
and perseverance.

Enthusiastic on the subject, he undertook
the task of reviving the Chase of the Wild Red
Deer in North Devon and West Somerset, and
was Master of the Staghounds from 1855 to 1881
with very successful results.

He died in 1883 when about sixty years of
age, and was buried in the churchyard at Bag-
borough.

Granville Somerset was a Queen's Counsel
with an immense amount of Parliamentary
practice at the Bar, and how he got through all
his business and made a fortune as well was a
wonder to all, for he was to be seen with hounds
in autumn, winter, and spring, beginning on
Exmoor and ending in the New Forest ; but
wherever he went he was always welcome as a
most genial companion.

What a delightful place to stay at was
Badminton ! Full of guests throughout the
winter, and unlimited hospitality, surely there
never existed a more kindly couple than that
warm - hearted Duke and his good Duchess !
How fond of hunting, too, was their only daughter
Lady Blanche, so universally beloved ! She

i8 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

married in 1874 the 5th Marquis of Waterford,
and, sad indeed to relate, died after a long illness
in 1895.

It is many years now since I wore a blue
and buff coat, but time cannot efface recol-
lections of the friendship and fox-hunting
which were my experience with the Beaufort
Hunt.

In 1865 I had two or three steeplechasers
trained by Saunders at Hednesford. The best
of them was Marble Hill, by Teddington, a horse
I bought at TattersalFs when Lord Uxbridge's
stud was sold. He proved a good investment
that spring, as within a few weeks of the purchase
he won the Croydon Steeplechase and Hurdle
Race on consecutive days ; George Ede rode him
then and subsequently, when he won several
hunt races for me.

In 1867 I bought Romping Girl, by Wild
Dayrell, from old John Osborne — a three-year-old
which had just run second for the Oaks ; she went
to Findon to be trained with Lord Westmorland's
string by William Goater, a capital trainer of the
old-fashioned school. That autumn the mare was
in the Cesarewitch with seven stone. Sammy
Kenyon rode her, and her chance was much
fancied, but she only got third in a very large
field. During the next two years she won a

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FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 19

great many races, and in 1869 I was elected a
member of the Jockey Club.

Stirring times they were indeed on the Turf
in the sixties ; it was then that Mr. Henry Chaplin
first appeared with Breadalbane and Broomielaw,
and subsequently won the memorable Derby of
1867 with Hermit, by Newminster ; about the
same time came the rapid and sensational career
of the 4th and last Marquis of Hastings, ending
with his early death in 1868 when only twenty-six.

Other racing magnates of those days were
Prince Sotykoff, General Peel, Mr. Stirling Crau-
ford, Lords Glasgow, Stamford, Coventry, Fal-
mouth, Ailesbury, Chesterfield, Portsmouth, and
Wilton ; the Dukes of Beaufort, Hamilton, and
Newcastle ; Baron Rothschild, Count La Grange,
Count Batthyany, Mr. Ten Brock, Colonel
Towneley, Messrs. Sturt, Bowes, Sutton, Pry or,
Jardine, Sir Frederick Johnstone, and Sir Joseph
Hawley, who won the Derby four times and was
known as '' the lucky Baronet."

Much in evidence also were the three '' Romeo
Lords," Courtenay, Howard, and Andover, a
well-known trio who lived to become Earls of
Devon, Effingham, and Suffolk ; but they all
three died comparatively early, and with the
last-named I lost one of my greatest friends.

The sixties were also essentially the racing

20 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

era of Admiral Rous and George Payne, and
being constantly at Newmarket I knew them
both intimately. Scores of times did I dine
with the old Admiral and Mrs. Rous at their
house on the Terrace. A memorable feature
at those parties was the matchmaking which
was sure to come off when the claret had been
round two or three times. Two or more of
the guests would ask the Admiral to handicap
their respective horses for the purpose ; and, ever
ready for this kind of business, he first made a
proviso that each owner should hold half a crown
in his closed fist. After some minutes* reflection
the handicapper in solemn tones proclaimed the
course and the weights. The hands were opened ;
if no money, no match ; but if the half-crowns
were still there, then it was a match ; the half-
crowns passed into the Admiral's pocket, and all
three were satisfied. Nobody seems to drink
claret nowadays, and the only matches wanted
after dinner are for the inevitable cigarette.

On the Heath in those times we all rode hacks
or ponies. The winning-post was dragged from
one spot to another, rather like a portable
bathing machine. There were ropes along the
courses, and this continued until one evening at
dusk Colonel Blackwood, a Queen's Messenger,
rode against the ropes ; the horse fell and broke

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 21

his rider's neck. After this the authorities
thought it high time to substitute white posts
and rails for the old ropes, and more modern
stands were erected.

Who that once knew George Payne could
ever forget him ? A man of Herculean frame,
with emphatic voice and expression, whose
company was much sought for ; jovial and
humorous, with a fund of strange anecdotes,
frequently against himself. I never saw him
anywhere except in frock-coat with high hat
and the inevitable deep neckcloth of black and
white (his racing colours). Twice Master of the
Pytchley, and an owner of racehorses ever since
he came of age in 1825, he started with a large
fortune in addition to his Sulby estate in North-
amptonshire, but there was little left in his later
years. Still, no misfortunes could damp his
spirits; to the end he remained gay and joyous
as ever, and it might have been said of him when
he died in 1878 that his motto for life had been

"Laugh, and the whole world will laugh with you;
Sigh — and you may sigh alone."

CHAPTER III

THE BURTON HUNT

Another country in which I often hunted
formerly was the Burton, at the time when it was
a six-days-a-week hunt, and long before the
Blankney as a separate country was ever thought
of. Lord Henry Bentinck had been Master from
1842 to 1864, and it was towards the close of
his reign that I first made acquaintance with
the celebrated pack which he had formed. It
was composed chiefly of Grove, Belvoir, and
Brocklesby blood, with several strains from
Osbaldeston's famous hounds. Their chief char-
acteristics were drive, speed, stoutness, and
extreme quality ; in appearance the doghounds
were perhaps a little light of bone, but they were
never known to tire. All this was the result of
a master mind devoted for over twenty years to
the study of hound-breeding. The art of handling
them in the field was also brought to perfection
in Lord Henry's time : noise, hallos, whip-crack-
ing, and over-riding were his especial abomina-
tions. In the days to which I allude Charley
Hawtin was the huntsman, a bright, talented

Lord Henry Bentinck
1862

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 23

man who carried out his Master* s theories to the
letter. He had a bad fall on his head and was
never quite the same afterwards, but he came
to me in the New Forest in 1875 and remained
in my service until he died in 1877. The
whippers-in were Harry Dawkins, W. Goodall
(afterwards with the Pytchley), W. Smith (still
with the Bramham Moor), and as a quartet of
hunt servants they were probably never sur-
passed. Will Goodall (at Belvoir) and Dick
Burton (formerly with Osbaldeston) appear to
have been Lord Henry's models upon which he
based his system of hunting hounds in the field.
About his own achievements Lord Henry was
singularly reticent, and, when asked as to the
secret of his success in hound-breeding, he curtly
replied : ''I breed a great many hounds and I
hang a great many."

After Lord Henry came Viscount Doneraile
from Ireland, for a season or two, and then in
1866 Mr. Henry Chaplin at the age of twenty-
five became the Master, purchasing the pack
for a large sum and hunting the Burton country
six days a week. Always a heavy-weight and
rather short-sighted, but gifted with heaven-born
hands, no one could beat the Squire of Blankney
over Wellingore or any other country. With a
natural knowledge of hunting, a quick eye for

24 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

hounds in or out of the kennel, and marvellous
memory for their pedigrees and breeding, he
frequently hunted the pack himself with much
success. His establishment was on a magnifi-
cent scale, and such hunters as his Emperor
and Snowstorm were, perhaps, never seen.
Genial, generous, and kind-hearted, he was ever
anxious that his countless friends should share
the sport and entertainment which he could so
well provide. For several winters I passed many
weeks under his hospitable roof either at Blankney,
or at his perfect hunting-box, Burghersh Chauntry,
in the town of Lincoln. He remained Master
until 1871, when the country was divided ; the
Burton and Blankney then becoming two separate
hunts. Mr. F. J. S. Foljambe (of Osberton)
became Master of the Burton, and Colonel Edward
Chaplin, formerly of the Coldstream Guards, took
charge of the Blankney until 1877, when the
Squire reappeared on the scene as M.F.H. until
1881, and then he sold most of his hounds to Lord
Lonsdale. Some years later on, the whole pack
was sold by auction at Rugby, dispersed in lots,
and scattered in all directions.

Sometimes we find in the Field newspaper the
inquiry, '' Where are the descendants of Lord
Henry's celebrated pack ? '' A question which
may well be asked, for as regards foxhound blood

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 25

it was almost a national calamity in the hunting
world when such a famous pack was dispersed
at the hammer. Lord Chesham bought largely
at the Rugby sale, in addition to which he
purchased from me every Blankney bitch that
I possessed on retiring from the Hurworth country
in 1888 (I had bought about eighteen couples
privately from Lord Lonsdale a few years
previously).

When Lord Chesham gave up the Bicester
country there was probably more of the real blood
in that kennel than in any other. No doubt
the sort may still exist in other kennels, but it
would be interesting to know where it most
abounds. Where, indeed, are the descendants of
Contest, Regulus, Damper, Dorimont, Vanquisher,
Tapster, Sailor, and Saladin ? Let those who have
the blood value it as priceless, for now it could
not be obtained for love or money.

When I was hunting the New Forest in 1874,
I had about twenty couples from Mr. Chaplin,
and my bitch pack was in those days, and again
in the Hurworth country in 1886, composed of
that blood. I never knew one of them to tire.
Who that ever saw the pack when in Lord Henry's
hands, and hunted by Charley Hawtin, can forget
how at the end of the longest day they would
cast themselves one or two fields in front of their

26 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

huntsman and fling themselves at a gallop in a
semicircle until they recovered the line ? Lord
Henry devoted a lifetime and his great talents
to the breeding of hounds, but he well knew that
his labour was in vain unless they were carefully
and judiciously handled in the field. Every
detail of information was recorded daily in his
private kennel book, and on reference to its
contents many passages are to be found showing
the remarkably acute observation with which
he watched the performance of his pack — for
instance :

'' Comus, 1844. A model little dog ; a very
hard runner.

'' Tomboy, 1845. Got the name of the
Schoolmaster of the pack, and was probably
the best and most sagacious dog that ever ran in
the Midland counties. These two dogs ran in the
bitch pack. There was little to choose between
them — in nose, brilliancy, or stoutness ; each dog
was equally quick in dropping clear into the dry
ditches and working a dying fox out of them.
But Comus could be led wrong by wild men or
a flashing pack of hounds ; while neither man, nor
hound, nor fox could make a fool of Tomboy.
However wild men or hounds might be, he would
quickly leave them and turn back to his fox.
Nothing could put him out of temper, and in his
last season he could still race with puppies at night.
'' Contest, 1848. A model dog, a most brilliant

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 27

animal ; noted for his hard running, flying the
gates and double rails without touching them,
and, too, for turning short without the need of a
' drag chain/

'* Comrade, 1849. A capital dog, not so showy
in his work as

'' Contest, a quicker dog, shorter in his neck,
and not perfectly clever about his knees. He
missed, from accidents, a great deal of his work
as a one and two-year-old.

*' Craftsman, 1849. The best finder of a fox
that ever came into the kennel ; rather slack in
his loins, and until three years old a very delicate
dog.

'* Ruler, 1850. This was an extraordinary
brilliant dog, a very hard runner, and remark-
able for the distance he could bring his hounds
back to the spot where they last had it good;
and for working the dry ditches, old Rosebud's
excellence came out in him.

'' Challenger, 1853. A. capital and model
dog in appearance — died suddenly. A terrible
loss.

'* Corsair, 1854. This dog nearly equalled
Tomboy in sagacity ; a brilhant animal in every
respect.

'' Titian, 1858. A most brilhant and deter-
mined dog — a terrible savage when a fox was
killed ; so were his two sons.

'* Trinket, 1856. A capital hound, noted for
her Tomboy sagacity.

'' Ringworm, 1856. Noted for jumping out

28 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

of the very centre of the pack in full cry when
hunting it heelway — turning back and never
being caught for two miles in the Gainsboro*
Woods.

'* Sontag, i860. Noted for taking the hounds
through two miles of sheep, driving before them
along the Clakby hillside in the great Wickenby
run.

'' Riot, 1861. Followed by her sister Ruby,
is noted for having taken back her huntsman
and hounds three large fields to the spot where
they left their fox in Thornly. A very brilliant
performance.

'' Dainty, 1863. Noted for showing up all
the old hounds as a puppy in a dry ditch ;
destroyed by kennel lameness.

'' Regulus, 1861. A very good dog; noted
for working the roads and dry ditches.

'' Regent, 1861. Noted for taking his hounds
through sheep. The most brilliant dog of the
two ; died suddenly.

'' Victor and Vaulter, 1861. Two very bril-
liant dogs ; little to choose between them.
Especially noted for jumping the gate out of the
Rasen Road and racing back three large fields
with their heads up to the dry ditch where a
dying fox had been left in the great Wickenby
run. A brilliant performance.''

A great number of the Grove hounds were
purchased at Mr. Foljambe's sale in 1845, and
the following remarks appear about them : —

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLFXTIONS 29

*' The dogs purchased at this sale made the
pack.

'' Driver, Stranger, Streamer, were three
capital dogs, and all ran until seven and eight
years old. All three were remarkable for this —
that when beaten off from pace in their old age,
they would come up behind as quiet as mice,
set to work at once as busily as bees and help
the young ones out of their difficulties.

'' Driver was noted for bringing the fox's
brush to his huntsman out of Harpswell gorse.
His son Desperate showed the same character-
istic. A fox having been left in a rabbit-hole in
Carlton sand hills, the hounds being called
away, Desperate gave the men the slip, went
back to the hole and scratched down to his
cub, bit off half his brush and brought it on to
old Dick at Scampton.

'' Driver's daughter, little Dorcas, would never
allow any dog, however big, to take the head
from her — she invariably carried it home any
distance.

'' Albion, sire of Tomboy, was not himself
more than a good, honest, quiet dog, not at all
brilliant.

'' Royal, a big plain but brilliant dog for pace
at seven years old.

'' Heedless, though dam of Dorcas, was quite
a third-rate animal herself.

'' Careless, 1845, a most trimming animal for
nose and stoutness, turned rogue at four years
old.

30 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

'' Rakish, 1847, never showed herself re-
markably until 185 1, when she appeared nearly
as good as Dairymaid.

'' Dairymaid, 1847. The Schoolmistress of
the pack — a capital hound.

'' Tomboy, Corsair, and Ruler will have
been our best and wisest dogs.

" Crier and Carver, 1850. Two miserably-
mean animals in appearance — capital dogs.
These five Stranger puppies were noted for having
been the leading hounds that coursed their
second fox into Spridlington Thorns in the Great
Folding hunt day."

The following notes appear on hounds pur- 1
chased at Mr. Drake's sale in 1851 : —

'' Hector and Herald were two good dogs
until they became free of tongue.

'' Smuggler, the crack dog in Drake's pack,
and a most brilliant animal until he turned rogue
after being brought out two days' running by
Stevens.

'' Despot also began very well and ended by
getting wide.

*' These hounds probably only went wrong
from Stevens' infamous feeding, and from being
brought out day after day totally unfit to
run.

*' Goodall picked out these hounds for me as
the best stuff in Drake's kennel.

'' Charon, 185 1. A very good dog — many

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 31

degrees less brilliant than Crafty — quite a first-
rate animal.

'' Dimity, 1851. The meanest, ill-shaped little
thing, but one of the very best.

'' Challenger, 1853. A capital and model
dog ; died suddenly.

'' Gamester, 1853. A good dog otherwise,
but over full of tongue.

''Cardinal, 1854. ^ very good dog; very
hard runner and good nose ; never showed Cor-
sair's wonderful sagacity.

'' Pillager and Pilot, 1854, were over-full
of tongue, and that tongue a very deep one.
The whole htter had extraordinary good
noses.

'' Capable, Charmer, Clamorous, Carnage,
Candid, 1854. Five brilliant and faultless
animals in shape. Clara very good also, but
not quite straight.

'' Rufus, 1855, was a dog of remarkable
sagacity, with a wonderful nose; had plenty of
tongue — so had all this litter.

'' Flourish, 1855. Noted for her sagacity.''

Notes on hounds bought at Mr. Sutton's sale,
1856:-

" Dairymaid and Playful had undoubtedly
been two good bitches with capital noses, though
Bertram and Flimsey had just a turn the best of
them.

*' These hounds proved a useful cross in the

32 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

kennel. They were fair average hounds them-
selves, but neither in nose nor pace could they
compete with the stuff they came amongst —
save Lenity, a capital hound.

'' Rambler proved very good, but we had
eight or nine dogs at the time far more brilliant
than him in their work.

'' Playful, Trinket, Ringworm, and Castor,
1856, were four extraordinary animals.

*' Traveller, 1858. Until four years old a
very hard runner; almost too quiet with his
tongue, and considered a rival to Tomboy and
Corsair for nose and sagacity in working roads
and dry ditches.

'' Fed by Harry Sebright on meal and cold
water, and raked and galloped about. He turned
noisy and was drafted.

'' Castor, Challenger, and Titian, 1856. Our
three severest losses.

'' Solomon and Solon, 1856. Two admirable
dogs until four years, when both have been seen
on three occasions to give in, nearly at the same
moment. Both were very delicate hounds, and
were probably never brought out by Harry
Sebright fit to run.

'' Wanderer, 1857, was thought shy of his
tongue — a very light one and bad to hear.''

It was in the Burton country I made my first
attempt at hunting hounds. Late in the after-
noon, when all had gone home except three or
four, we had a very sharp scurry for ten or fifteen

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 33

minutes after a fox almost in view, when a
drain came in our way, a big jump, but on a little
Irish horse of mine called Cannibal, I got well
over. The dyke was probably of more formid-
able dimensions elsewhere, as it stopped even
Mr. Chaplin, as well as Mr. Chandos Leigh and
Lord Henry.

The hounds ran on for another five minutes,
then threw up suddenly in the middle of a fallow
field, and never touched the line again. There
was no one in sight, so after a time, with all the
confidence of youth, I proceeded to hold the
hounds down wind and then in other directions.
No doubt I must have thought it encouraging to
the pack to wave my right arm with energy as I
took them along with that action of the hand
which is much in vogue on poultry farms. All
in vain. They never touched the line again.
I looked round once more ; what did I see ?
Fifty yards behind there stood Lord Henry him-
self, the Messrs. Chaplin, Chandos Leigh, and
Charley Hawtin. Would that the earth could
have swallowed me up at that moment ! Slowly,
step by step, the cavalcade approached ! I
heard a smothered '' hush '' and yet another
pause ! At last Lord Henry, in slow, measured
tones, almost hissed out word by word, '' Sir
Reginald, when you have quite done feeding
3

34 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

your chickens, perhaps you will allow my hunts-
man to cast my hounds/' I did not hear the
last of it for many a day. Even now, forty years
after date, I doubt if that episode is quite for-
gotten when I meet my good old friends the
Right Honourable Henry Chaplin and Sir E.
Chandos Leigh. This was my first and last effort
at hunting the Burton hounds — distinctly it was
not a success ! The story of this adventure was
fully appreciated by another intimate friend,
George Whyte-Melville, who delighted in any
humours of the chase, though he invariably
accepted his own disasters with perfect equa-
nimity. When living in the Pytchley country
he was one day accidentally cannoned against,
at a fence, by a near neighbour who had lost
control of his steed, and was knocked over, horse
and all. On picking himself up, and in reply
to inquiries, Whyte-Melville merely remarked,
"Now I know what St. Paul meant when he
wrote, ^ Perils by mine own countrymen.* "

CHAPTER IV

THE COTSWOLD HUNT

In the summer of 1871 I undertook the Master-
ship of the Cotswold Hunt. I had long wished
to become a Master of Hounds, and the oppor-
tunity occurred in consequence of the death of
Mr. Cregoe Colmore, who had been Master of
the Cotswold since the country was formed as a
separate hunt in 1858. At the suggestion of the
second Lord Fitzhardinge (well known by his
nickname of ''the Giant''), who had hereditary
influence in that country, the Mastership of
the Hunt was offered to me. I went with him
to attend a General Meeting of the Cotswold
Hunt, held at the Plough Hotel, Cheltenham,
in June of that year, where I was unanimously
elected the Master. I was promised a subscrip-
tion of about ;£2400 a year, with an agreement
on my part to hunt the country three days a
week ; the chief subscriber was Sir Francis
Goldsmid, who lived at Rendcomb Park, and
g^ve £500 a year ; the tradesmen of Cheltenham
gave a similar amount, and the remainder was

contributed by the residents and visitors in the

35

36 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

country. There was some difficulty about the
hounds, as they belonged to Mr. Colmore's
executors, who insisted on their being sold by
auction, and the hunt horses were also sold at
the same time. The sale took place at Chelten-
ham in July of 1871, and on behalf of the hunt
committee (who raised funds for the purpose)
I bought most of the pack for about nine hundred
guineas. I also purchased half a dozen of
the hunt horses on my own account ; the re-
mainder of my stud I got chiefly from Mr. George
Reeves of Reading, a well-known horsedealer in
those days. Tom Hills had been the huntsman
for some time, and I re-engaged him ; the new
whippers-in were Dick Russell and Will Jones.
Joe Tit comb became my second horseman, and
I believe the latter is with them still in the same
position. With forty-eight couples of hounds and
about twenty horses I commenced cub-hunting
on the 4th of September 1871 ; my headquarters
were at the Plough Hotel at Cheltenham, and
I had to be at the kennels (about a mile from
there) every morning long before daylight in order
to start with the hounds, as I did not know a yard
of the country. Early in the season Tom Hills met
with an accident and injured his leg, which left
us in rather a fix, so I had to hunt the hounds my-
self, and I did so throughout most of that season.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 37

On the gth of February 1872 the Duke of
Beaufort kindly invited me to bring the hounds
for a day in his wall country meeting at Trouble
House. We had a capital day's sport, and my
diary of that time says : '' Trouble House by in-
vitation ; i6|- couples. The hounds went by road
to the V. W. H. kennels at Cirencester the previous
night. A large field, at least five hundred horses,
and many more on foot and wheels. Drew
Georges Gorse blank, found at Newnton Gorse ;
away very fast, 35 minutes by Shipton Wood,
and killed at Garden Plantation near Weston
Birt. Drew the laurels at Highgrove blank,
then an outlying fox jumped up; we raced him
to Old Down and killed. Then halloed to a
fox at Chavenage ; a good hour and thirty minutes
with him, but when he was quite beat a fresh
fox jumped up out of a chalk pit and took us to
Cherrington, where I stopped them and the
hounds went home. I went with them as far
as Cirencester, where I was staying with Sir
William Throckmorton, who was then Master
of the Vale of White Horse. There was a
good scent all day, and quite a good day's
sport.''

At that time Bob Chapman, the noted Chelten-
ham horsedealer, lived at his house, Oaklands,
a few minutes' walk from the kennels, and his

38 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

stables were always full of high -class hunters
for sale.

Many of my friends used to come and stay
with me for a night or two to try their intended
purchases with the Cotswold when cub-hunting.
He was a capital salesman as well as a fine horse-
man, with the best of hands ; the nags sometimes
did not go quite so smoothly when handled by
the young and gilded purchasers. A great talker
was Bob Chapman, and capital company at all
times, especially over his own mahogany at
Oaklands.

Another neighbour was Lord Coventry, who
was Master of the North Cotswold, which he
hunted himself with remarkable success. He
had a capital lot of hounds, and was very keen
to show sport and catch his foxes ; he then lived
at Spring Hill near Broadway, and many a day
did I enjoy with him and his hounds when he
was mounted on Solferino, and his Roman,
Rambler, Demon, Tradesman, and the rest of
them were flying over the walls. No better judge
of horse and hound then and now, no better all-
round sportsman perhaps in England.

That year, 1871-72, we had a very good
season; eighty-eight days' hunting killed 21J
brace of foxes, and were stopped eight days by
frost. At the end of the season Tom Hills left.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 39

and I engaged Charles Travess from the Worces-
tershire to come to me as K.H. and first whip,
and I began my second season, 1872-73,
with him, and with Will Shepherd as second
whip (I think he is now huntsman in Worcester-
shire). We began well, and had a good time
cub-hunting; but, on the 29th of November
I got a bad fall. I was riding a bay mare
called Gift (which I bought from Lord
Coventry) in a sharp gallop over the hills : she
caught the top of a wall, and gave me a smashing
fall. I expect she was a bit blown at the time ;
anyhow, I broke the point of my right shoulder,
and was laid up for many weeks in London,
attended by Mr. A. Cooper (now Sir Alfred).
I got back to the hounds again after a time, but
was a good deal knocked about, and never quite
sound for the rest of the season.

I also had an invitation day in the V. W. H.
country on the ist of April. Met at Eastcourt;
a very large field there, and a scorching hot day.
Found three foxes in Braydon Pond, but could do
nothing with them. Lunch at Eastcourt House,
and waited about till it got a bit cooler. In the
afternoon we found in Oaksey Wood, and had a
capital forty minutes to Cuckerdown and Kemble
Wood and back to Oaksey. There for a time
the hunt came to an end, and the fox seemed

40 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

unaccountably lost. Being rather late everybody
went home except Sir William Throckmorton
and myself. I hung about for half an hour
waiting for a missing hound, when my second
whip trotted up to me with the hound, and
whispered in my ear, '' I have just seen our hunted
fox.'' I said, '' Take me to where you saw him
without another word.'' A few yards off, in a
thick hedgerow, two or three feet from the ground,
sure enough there lay our fox. Out he jumped,
ran into Oaksey Wood, and after a few minutes
the hounds caught him. I was never so pleased
in my life as I was to kill that fox, though we
should not have caught him but for the intelligence
of Will Shepherd. This made a good finish to a
very fair day.

Three days afterwards, on the 4th of April,
I had another invitation day in the Duke's
country, but not with the same success as the
previous year, and our sport was very moderate.

During this season we hunted eighty-nine
days ; killed 19 brace, and were stopped six
days by frost. The fall I got in January had left
its effects upon me, and I decided to resign the
hounds at the end of the season, namely, on ist
of May 1873. After I left, Charles Travess was
appointed huntsman, and although thirty-four
years have since elapsed, he is still there in

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 41

that capacity, and continues to enjoy universal
popularity as a huntsman of the highest class.

A few words about the history of the country.
The old Earl Fitzhardinge (for many years known
as Colonel Berkeley) hunted not only the present
Berkeley country, but every alternate month
during the season moved his hounds to the Chelten-
ham kennels in order to hunt both the Cotswold
and the North Cotswold districts. He died in
1857, and soon after his death, his brother,
Admiral Berkeley, who was created Baron Fitz-
hardinge in 1861, limited his country to the
Cheltenham and Tewkesbury road, leaving the
hills beyond Cheltenham for Mr. Colmore, who
formed his pack in 1858 by buying hounds from
Lord Gifford, at that time retiring from the Vale
of White Horse. This arrangement continued
until Lord Coventry took over the Broadway
district in 1868 to create the North Cotswold,
and on Mr. Colmore's death in 1871, as I have
said, I succeeded him as Master of the Cotswold
Hunt for two years. The pack which I hunted
descended direct from Mr. Colmore^s purchase.

In that wild country, where foxes are mostly
stout, hounds must have speed and stamina to
race up and down the hills ; also they must have
drive to push a fox through the immense wood-
lands. The Cotswold Hills are very steep and

42 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

severe, therefore hounds and horses to Hve with
them must possess a good pedigree. The chief
fences are stone walls, and formidable enough,
but with a good scent hounds can race over the
walls faster than most horses, jumping them
abreast without that stringing and toiling after
the leaders so prevalent in many countries.
It must not be supposed that hounds can race
every day over these wild hillsides, often enough
scent is so bad that rapid progress becomes
impossible ; but with a real scent and a straight
fox it requires a quick man on a fast horse to
keep well with hounds, for once you are away
from big woods the country is, generally speaking,
open and unpopulated. A very wet autumn is
required to make sure of scent and sport up to
Christmas ; on the other hand, there is often a
screaming scent under exactly opposite con-
ditions, and when the dust is flying in clouds
in the month of March. Stout hill foxes were
plentiful enough in the big woods of Withington
and Chedworth in the centre of the country,
as well as in the rough Cranham woodlands
towards the south side, and a wild Cotswold fox
once bustled in the woods will often go right away
over the hills, and is not an easy animal to catch.
However, the Cotswold country is not entirely
hill, the exception being a strip of vale in the

The Revd. Joseph Pitt

Rector of Rendcomb

1872

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 43

direction of Cleeve and Uckington, where the
coverts are small, and a fox found in them in-
variably sets his head straight for the hills, which
frequently means a sharp gallop over the grass.

The features of the country most vivid in
my memory are the stout breed of long grey
foxes, and the splendid race of stalwart yeomen
who lived upon the Cotswold Hills.

I must not forget a quaint character who had
a peculiar fascination for me and many others ;
this was the Rev. Joseph Pitt of Rendcomb
Rectory, a fox-hunting parson of the old school.
At the time I speak of he was about sixty years
of age, with a grim, rugged face, shaggy eye-
brows, and a twinkle in his eye which betokened
the fund of comic humour concealed under that
weather-beaten visage. Very clerical was his
costume : always a tall hat somewhat ruffled,
a profusion of white neckcloth, a long black
greatcoat, and inevitable umbrella, which he
carried in his hand, even when mounted for the
chase. In deep sonorous tones he addressed
everybody as ''Sir,'* but most of his friends
called him ''Joe.'' He was very fond of expedi-
tions to see other hunts, especially the Duke of
Beaufort's, though the difficulty for him on
these occasions was to elude the vigilance of his
spouse, a rather demure lady with decided views

44 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

on domestic discipline, who kept an ever-watchful
eye on such proceedings, and discouraged his
wanderings after what she termed '' strange
packs of hounds/' He sometimes asked me to
organise a plan with him for an excursion to
meet the Duke's hounds at Trouble House or
Newnton Lodge, but Mrs. Pitt would be sure to
get wind of it somehow, and put her foot down
in opposition to the scheme.

The Reverend Joe would say, '' But, my dear,
I promised to pay my respects to His Grace to-
morrow." To which she would reply, '' Nonsense,
stay at home and look after your parish.'' Again
he pleaded, '' But, my dear, you would not have
me break my word" ; and sure enough the next
morning would find this eminent divine at Trouble
House with what I believe are called ante-grope-
lows over his trousers, mounted on his old bay
horse (who made a noise and rejoiced in the name
of Musical), pounding away all day long, popping
over the walls as they came, murmuring when
in the air, '' Capital, sir," and on landing,
'' Wonderful, sir." To the last moment he would
stay with them, little heeding the Trouble House
he would surely find that evening on return to
the Rectory.

How often have I parted with him at night-
fall, jogging home with the hounds, saying, '' Good-

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 45

night, Joe/' to which he would reply in a stage
whisper, '' Good-night, Sir ; if you should think
of a bye-day towards the end of the week, perhaps
you would drop me a line. Sir, as the fish said to
the angler/'

Another time, somewhere towards Shrove
Tuesday, '' Good-night, Joe. Do you ever hunt in
Lent ? " He replied, '' Never, Sir, except on a
Lent horse/'

Then again at the end of the season, when the
last day came round, '' Good-bye, Joe. Wonder
when we shall meet again ? " With an air of pro-
found mystery he would answer, '' Perhaps, Sir,
I might have to be in the neighbourhood of
Epsom, Sir, on some important business about
the last week in May." I doubt if that idea ever
quite came off ; at least, I never saw him at the
Derby, and I suspect Mrs. Pitt drew the line at
a racecourse.

Later on in the evening of life this worthy
couple left Rendcomb and retired to Torquay,
where the quaint old Rector ended his days
far away from those Cotswold Hills he loved so
well.

CHAPTER V

THE NEW FOREST HUNT

The New Forest is perhaps as good an example
as Gould be wished of old EngUsh scenery, and
after about eight hundred years it still remains
the New Forest. Its boundaries may be smaller,
but the main features are the same as in the days
of William Ruf us, and the names of the old woods,
streams and plains still remain; moreover, it is
almost the last of the old forests which England
could boast of in former times.

What strikes most people when they first
come to the New Forest is, that amidst all the
changes which are going forward in these modern
days, here, at least, is one place which is but
little altered, and this perhaps is its greatest
charm.

In former times there were many red
deer in the Forest, and an old tradition has
been handed down that the Royal Buckhounds
came down to hunt them so far back as the
month of August 1763. It seems certain that
in the forties and fifties of the last century the

Queen's Buckhounds came for several years in

46

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 47

the month of April for that purpose. After
the Deer Removal Act of 1851 the red deer were
ordered to be destroyed, and Captain Buckworth
Powell of Foxlease, with Mr. Hay Morant of
Brockenhurst Park, were some of the first to
start a few couples to hunt them ; then Mr.
Grantley Berkeley, with two or three blood-
hounds, killed a few, and they all gradually
disappeared.

In the following years some packs of harriers
came down during April to hunt the fallow deer,
but the harriers were not a success. After this,
Mr. Lovell of Hincheslea got occasional leave to
hunt them; he took up the matter in earnest,
and kept a few couples all the year round as the
nucleus of a larger pack which he got together
every spring for about six weeks' hunting in the
Forest, and permission had to be obtained from
the Crown annually for that period. Since those
days the Forest has never been without a per-
manent pack of deerhounds, which hunt regularly
throughout many months of the year. I re-
member one April in 1861, when I came down
from Winchester Barracks, the fallow deer were
hunted by Mr. Augustus Gore (formerly of the
7th Hussars), and old Captain Shedden, a former
M.F.H., acted as huntsman for him, but that
arrangement did not last long.

48 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Mr. Lovell was a remarkable man, of tall,
slight figure ; early in life he had been in the ist
Life Guards, during which time he lost his right
arm by an accident when shooting pigeons at the
Red House. Always a graceful horseman, no one
could ride better through the Forest, and no one
more thoroughly understood the art of hunting
wild deer.

The following Proclamation is probably the
first Notice of Foxhounds in the New Forest, and
seems to have been published about 1770 : —

Advertisement

'* No Hounds are to be permitted to hunt in the
Forest, except the Lord Warden's and the Duke
of Richmond's (if he should choose to come), but
in the month of April, viz. from the ist to the 30th,
both Days inclusive.

'' That no Pack be suffered to go out more than
three Times in one Week, and no Hounds to be
taken out the intermediate Days ; and, to prevent
confusion, it is agreed that the Lord Warden's
Hounds are to hunt Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday, and Mr. Grove's to hunt Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday, and no more than two
Packs of Hounds to be in the Forest at the same
Time.

'' It is necessary to remark that the Duke of
Richmond had liberty from the preceding Lord
Warden to bring his Hounds, which was continued

i

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 49

to him by the Duke of Gloucester, and was the
only person who had permission to use, not only
the Kennels and Stables, but the King's House
likewise, if his Grace should choose to come,
which is very improbable — then, any strange
Pack must give way for the Time, that there
may be no more than two Packs at the one
Time.

'' The Earths, not to be stopt till half -past
four in the Morning, and no Hounds to be thrown
off till five.

'' The Earths, during the month of April, not
to be stopt but by the Keepers or their Servants.

'^ The Keepers have orders not to suffer any
Fires to be lighted on the Earths, or any Person
to stand on the Earth to keep out the Foxes.

'^ No Tarriers to be taken out, or Foxes dug,
in the month of April.

^^ Date 1789.'^

No doubt the first actual Master of the New
Forest Foxhounds was Mr. Gilbert of Lambs
Corner, now called Hartley Lodge, who became
the M.F.H. from 1781 until he died in 1798. The
Hunt Club appears to have been founded in 1783,
when its meetings were held at Romsey, but soon
afterwards were moved to Lyndhurst.

Mr. Gilbert's kennels were at Northerwood,
and a man named Woods was his first hunts-
man. He came into his service in January 1781,
and, according to an old diary, in July of that
4

50 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

year he was discharged for neglecting the hounds,
but came back in October, having '' made proper
submission and asked pardon." In March 1790
a note is made that '' the fox was lost by Wood's
obstinac}^/' and in May of the same year he was
discharged.

Notwithstanding his dismissal Woods does
not seem to have done badly, as he was a man of
saving habits, and when he died at Lyndhurst in
1820 his relations found after his death over a
thousand pounds in his cottage, of which 5^39
was in silver. After Mr. Gilbert came Mr. John
Compton of Minstead Manor, who had for his
huntsman Thomas Sebright, the father of the
famous Tom Sebright so long in the Milton
Country.

In 1808 came the celebrated Mr. John Warde,
who had then been an M.F.H. for thirty-five
years. He had his kennels first at the King's
House and afterwards at Foxlease, near Lynd-
hurst. Mr. Nicoll succeeded him in 1814, and
was his own huntsman, keeping his hounds at the
kennels where he lived in Lyndhurst, opposite
to Bolton's Bench. Mr. Nicoll retired in 1828,
selling his pack to Lord Kintore for ;f 1000. After
him Mr. William Wyndham took over the country,
keeping his hounds at Burnford House, Bramshaw,
and hunting them himself. He went on for ten

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 51

years, and was followed by Mr. Codrington, who
also lived at Burnford House until his death in
1842. Then came Captain Shedden, formerly in the
17th Lancers, from 1842 to 1853 ; Mr. Theobald ;
Rev. E. Timson of Tatchbury Mount ; Captain
Morant from i860 to 1869 ; and Mr. Standish for
five seasons, until I took the Forest Country in
the spring of 1874.

It came about in this way. I had heard that
Lord Wolverton intended to bring his pack of
bloodhounds from Dorsetshire to hunt the deer
in the Forest; the idea of this took me down
into those parts to see the fun. His pack con-
sisted of about fifteen couple big black-and-tan
hounds on a very large scale with a beautiful
" cry,'' and they had the reputation of going a
great pace over the Dorsetshire Downs when
hunting carted deer. These hounds were kept
at Lord Wolverton' s place, Iwerne Minster, near
Blandford. Whyte-Melville delighted in hunting
with them, and used to speak in raptures of their
performances, but from my recollection of them
in the New Forest they seemed to me to be
rather a failure there. They did not like the thick
undergrowth in the New Enclosures, nor did they
enjoy the tracts of heather land ; also, they seemed
to be very independent, and if there was any
noise or the whip used they were apt to turn sulky

52 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

for the rest of the day. I remember the first
time they were out, Lord Wolverton cried out to
a young sportsman who popped his whip, '' For
heaven's sake don't crack your whip or every one
of them will go straight home/' When down
there during that month I heard by chance that
Mr. Standish was giving up the Mastership of the
New Forest Foxhounds (which he had hunted for
five years), and had already agreed to sell his pack
to go to Ireland. In those days, ever ready to
take a fresh country, I jumped at the offer, and
suddenly found myself the M.F.PI. of the New
Forest. At that moment the first thing I had to
do was to look about for a pack of hounds;
horses are easy enough to get, but to find hounds
that are worth anything in a hurry is always a
difficult matter. Eventually I heard that the
Craven pack were for sale, and I went up to look
at them near Hungerford. There were about
seventy couple of all sorts and kinds, but owing
to some disagreement in the Hunt they had to be
sold immediately. I gave £500 for the whole
lot, and sent them down to the Lyndhurst kennels.
During that summer Mr. Henry Chaplin, who in
those days had no end of hounds at Blankney,
kindly gave me some eighteen couples, being
his old and young drafts, so I found myself with
at least eighty couples of hounds, very many more

FOX-HUNTING RFXOLLECTIONS 53

than I wanted. However, in the course of the
summer I reduced them to about fifty couples ;
then I engaged Jack Goddard (a son of the old
Jack Goddard) as my Kennel Huntsman and
first whip, and a young fellow called Jim
Reynolds from the North Hereford as second
whip. I had decided to hunt the hounds myself ;
my whips turned out all right, and we got on well
together.

That autumn of 1874 we began cub-hunting
on the nth August, but many of the mornings
were terribly hot, and as an alternative I began
to try afternoon cub-hunting, meeting at about
2.30 or 3, and generally going on as long as
the daylight lasted. The experiment answered
very well ; it was seldom so hot at three or four in
the afternoon as it was at seven or eight in the
morning, besides which it got cooler every hour,
and altogether the plan was a success in the
Forest ; perhaps it might not answer quite so
well in other countries. Throughout the season
of 1874 and 1875 we hunted ninety-six days,
killed thirty-eight foxes, and were stopped twelve
days by frost ; the total of foxes does not sound
very good, but it must be remembered that
the New Forest is by far the most difiicult
of all countries for catching foxes. In the
first place it is almost impossible to stop it pro-

54 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

perly ; there are always holes and corners which
nobody ever knew of before ; then again^ there
are those innumerable drains in the New En-
closures frequently six to eight feet deep. If a
tired fox drops down into one of them, and runs
along it until he is out of sight and sheltered by
masses of gorse and undergrowth, there he is as
safe as if he was underground. Then again, in
my time foxes were so plentiful there was the
ever-constant chance of changing on to fresh
foxes. We had excellent sport throughout my
first season, and I extract from an old diary
accounts of some days which may be mentioned :

*' On the loth November 1874 met at Stony
Cross. Found in King's Garn and ran to Ravens-
nest ; back by Canterton and Shave Green to
Manor House ; then over by Acres Down to
Pound Hill, and on to Ferney Knap and Markway
Bridge, where the fox got in somewhere. About
an hour and a half, and a capital pace all the
way; very few of the field saw the end of
it.

'' 19th November. — Met at the Vine at Ower ;
drew Embley and Paultons blank ; found at last
in the afternoon in Shelley Bog, and hunted a
ringing fox for about three hours round Embley
and Paultons, and at last killed him in Romsey
Common. A hard day for hounds, and it was
moonlight before we got home.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 55

'' On the i6th January 1875 we met at Hilltop
Gate, and after drawing a lot of woodlands
blank in the morning we at last found a capital
good fox at Abbotstanding, and ran a great
pace across the open forest to Langley Manor
and then on to Southampton Water : up to this
about fifty minutes. The fox lay down on the
mud, and the hounds could not reach him without
sinking step by step as they got nearer to him.
There were sixteen couples of doghounds out,
and it was getting dusk. I was engaged to dine
that night at Minstead Manor House with Mr.
Henry Compton, so I left and told Jack to get
hold of the fox if he possibly could. That
evening, rather late, as the party were coming
out of the dining-room, a footman came up to
me and said, ' They have sent up from the
kennels to say they got the fox after all, and
Manager brought home the head.' The genial
squire said to me, ' If we had only got that
message five minutes sooner we would have
opened another bottle of claret.'

'' On the 30th March met at Stony Cross.
Found at Lucas' Castle, and ran him over to
Ocknell and back to the enclosure at Pugpits,
where we lost him. Found at King's Garn, and
ran him by Lynwood,Bramshaw, Ocknell, Broomy,
to Islands Thorns, where the fox was just before
us and quite done. As we went into the last
enclosure a lot of young horses which were
turned out in the Forest galloped into the middle
of the pack. This gave the fox a chance, and we

56 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

lost him after one hour and twenty minutes, most
of it at a tremendous pace, without any check
all the way/'

' We were by now well into spring, that time
of year when all is smiling in the Forest. A bright
gaudy morning is not generally supposed to be
favourable for the chase, but in the New Forest
a spring day may be quite brilliant, and at the
same time as good, if not better, for hunting
than in wet weather ; moreover, when the
country is dry, the bogs which extend for miles
in some parts, begin to dry up, and on a warm
day it is there a fox loves to lay and sun himself.
For those who care to notice hounds drawing, it is
always an interesting sight to watch them on
these occasions. They sniff the air as they dash
in, and they soon know well enough if he is
there or not, though the secret may be kept
until the old fellow jumps off the dry tussock
where he has crouched until the very latest
moment; then, and not till then, comes that
crash and chorus which scatters all your cares
to the winds.

In the April of that year, 1875, I invited the
Duke of Beaufort to bring some of his hounds
for a week of spring hunting, and about
the middle of the month he sent down about
twenty couples of doghounds to my kennels at

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 57

Furzey Lawn. Charles Hamblin was in charge
of them, and Lord Worcester hunted them.

Lyndhurst, the capital of the Forest, never
was so gay as then. The attraction of this novel
idea brought no end of visitors. The Duke
stayed with his sister. Lady Rose Lovell, at
Hincheslea ; Lord Worcester and Lord Arthur
Somerset were with Lord and Lady Londes-
borough at Northerwood ; Lord Vivian and
Lord Strathnairn stayed with General Parker
at Castle Mai wood.

The duke's first meet was at Fritham on
Thursday the 15th, when there were about five
hundred people out on horseback and probably
an equal number in carriages. They found their
first fox in King's Garn enclosure, but he was
headed over and over again on the Stony Cross
Road. At last they got him away, and ran for
about half an hour over the open through Ocknell
Wood to Slufter enclosure, near Bratley Water,
where they killed. In the afternoon they found
again, and had a hunting run over the open
Forest of over an hour, and lost him towards
Somerley rather late in the day. I remember
the hounds worked well, and it was quite a good
day's sport.

The Duke's second day was on Monday,
19th April, at Brockenhurst Bridge, If the

58 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

previous Thursday's meet drew together a con-
course of sportsmen and spectators, it was cer-
tainly exceeded on the present occasion, and I
find the following account of the sport, which
appeared in the local papers at the time :

''The Duke of Beaufort's hounds, which have
been brought into the New Forest for a few days
hunting, followed up the large meet at Fritham
of Thursday with a really grand gathering
at Bulmer Lawn, near Brockenhurst Bridge,
on Monday. The news of the presence of this
famous Pack, which numbered 17J couples,
in the New Forest country had become quickly
noised abroad, and the little village of Brocken-
hurst was on Monday the centre of a gather-
ing of the elite of sportsmen from this and adjacent
counties. Every train arriving either from the
east or west brought with it a long string of
horse-boxes ; the Isle of Wight also contribut-
ing its quota via Lymington, and accompanying
these was a concourse of lords, ladies, and gentle-
men such as is rarely witnessed, especially in a
country village. The Isle of Wight, the H. H.,
the Hambledon, the South and West Wilts, the
East Dorset, and Earl Radnor's countries were
respectively represented. For quite an hour
before the time announced for the meet the roads
in every direction converging on the Lawn were
lined with vehicles, and horses, and persons on
foot, until when noon had arrived there were
not less than two thousand people present, the

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 59

horsemen and horsewomen alone numbering
some six or seven hundred. Lord and Lady
Londesborough and party came from Northerwood
House in a drag and four-in-hand, and the drags
of Mr. E. G. Dalgety (Lockerley-hall), Mr. Rowland
Cooper, Lymington, and others were also present.
The Duke of Beaufort arrived soon after twelve,
accompanied by Mr. Lovell, with whom and Lady
Rose Lovell he had been staying at Hincheslea.
Among those on horseback or in carriages we
noticed the Marquis of Worcester (who hunts the
pack), Lord Arthur Somerset (his brother). General
Lord Strathnairn, Lord Algernon St. Maur, Lord
Vivian, Lord Eslington, Sir Reginald Graham
(Master of the New Forest Hunt), Sir Henry
Paulet, General Parker, the Hon. H. D, Curzon,
Mr. W. J. Long (Master of the Hambledon
Hounds), Mr. H. Deacon (Master of the H. H.),
Mr. John Harvey (Master of the Isle of Wight
Hounds), Mr. H. T. Jenkinson, Mr. N. B. Smith,
Mr. R. C. Bassett, Colonel Reynardson, Miss and
Master Reynardson, Mr. Lambton, Mr. Gervis,
Capt. Waterhouse, Captain Powell Montgomery,
Mr. Merthyr Guest, Dr. Hearne, Mr. Wilder, Mr.
Smith (Christchurch), Capt. Martin Powell, Mr.
Henry Compton, Mr. Charles Day, Mr. C. Shrubb,
Mr. W. C. D. Esdaile, Mr. E. Holloway, Mr. Du-
plessis, Mrs. de la Tour, Miss Carr, Mrs. Stewart,
Mr. W. Farr, Mr. L. Cumberbatch, Mr. Hay
Morant, Mr. Cecil Dixon, Mr. H. Day, Mr. C.
Bovill Smith, Mr. Hasler, Mr. W. Greenwood,
Mr. F. Bailey, Mr. W. B. Mudge, and many others.

6o FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

The field was the most numerous and fashionable
ever remembered, even by those who carry their
recollections back to the '' deer days/' when the
Forest was the '' happy hunting-ground," and the
perfect paradise of all true sportsmen. The
pack started at half -past twelve, and the departure
from the meet presented a sight rarely seen,
and which will never be forgotten by those who
witnessed it. The weather was of the finest,
though somewhat too hot for hunting ; still, it
tended to render the day thoroughly enjoyable
to all present. The hounds were taken to the
enclosure adjoining New Copse, from whence a
fox was quickly halloed across the railway into
Park Hill Enclosure. He ran first as if for Stubby,
but, being headed by foot people, turned to the
left, and came on to Bulmer Lawn at the Brocken-
hurst end of it ; then bearing to the right, went
as if for New Park, but turned before reaching
the road, and, running parallel with it, went
into Park Hill Enclosure again at the Lyndhurst
end. He came quickly out and went into Park
grounds, where he dodged about for some time,
and although viewed once or twice dead-beat,
he managed to get to ground, or into a drain
in the cover adjoining Pond Head, and was lost.
A second fox was not found until five in the
afternoon in Ipley Gorse, when he ran down
Ipley Water, nearly to Hatchet Gate, turned to
the right, and going through the adjoining covers
ran up Culverly Water, and passed Culverly
Farm, crossed the Beaulieu Road, and running

J

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 6i

through the thickly-timbered Forest adjoining,
went into Frame Heath. Turning to the left he
ran the length of it, and out near Lady Cross ;
went into the New Enclosure beyond, and through
it nearly to the edge of Beaulieu Heath, and
running short back retraced his steps nearly to
Frame Heath, leaving which to the left he kept
the thickly - timbered ground nearly as far as
Pennerley Gate, where he went to ground, and
thus saved his brush. The time occupied in this
run was about fifty-five minutes, and although
the pace was at no time good, the scent being
flashy and wanting altogether in the Enclosures,
yet it gave the hounds an opportunity of showing
their hunting qualities, which they did to perfec-
tion. Excellent sport has also been obtained
during the last and the previous week with both
the New Forest Deerhounds and the New Forest
Foxhounds. The latter pack, hunted by Sir
Reginald Graham, had an extraordinary fast
run of about an hour to ground at Knightwood
on Saturday the 17th April.*'

In those days there were about half a dozen
Crown keepers, who each had a large district under
his charge. I found them all capital in the way
of preserving foxes, and obliging about the earth
stopping, which was always a very difficult matter
to perform. The oldest keeper at that time was
George Cooper, who lived at Bolderwood and had
been in that service under the Crown for nearly

62 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

fifty years ; he was always out with the hounds
on the north side of the Forest, and an excellent
man in every way.

That famous M.F.H., Mr. Osbaldeston, after
a turn with the Quorn and the Burton, took over
the Pytchley Country in 1827, ^^^ during that
season he is said to have exclaimed, '' I have been
looking for Paradise all my life and I have found
it at last.*' I could not say quite so much as
that, but I certainly was delighted with my
first season in the Forest, as sport had been so
good, my hounds had turned out very well, and
the little pack had long since earned the name
of the '' Fast Ladies.'' They were composed
of what I got from Blankney and from the
Craven. Some of the latter were not quite so
reliable as the former, but they were all hard
runners and went a tremendous pace. Then
Mr. Laurence Cumberbatch, the Deputy Surveyor
who had control under the Crown of the whole
Forest territory, was a good supporter to me.
He was fond of all sport, but I knew he was a
keen fox-hunter at heart, and was a gentleman for
whom I had the greatest regard.

The area of the Forest proper in those days was
about 66,000 acres, surrounded on all sides by
large estates belonging to various country gentle-
men. On the south side there was Beaulieu, an

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 63

estate of about 8800 acres, belonging to Lord Henry
Scott (who afterwards was created Lord Montagu);
there was also Cadland, with a large extent of
woods, then belonging to Mr. Edgar Drummond ;
farther on there was the Exbury estate, where at
that time resided Sir George Stucley, who hunted
regularly with me ; also Hinton Admiral, a con-
siderable property belonging to Sir George
Meyrick (whose eldest son eventually succeeded
me as the Master). On the west was Bistern
and its big woodlands, belonging to Mr. John
Mills, who started a pack of harriers while I was
there. On the north side was Hale Park, be-
longing to Mr. Goff ; and on the east there was
Paultons, belonging to old Mr. Sloane Stanley ;
then Embley Park ; and farther away still came
Broadlands, at that time owned by Mr. Cowper
Temple, whom I have seen out with the hounds,
but he was generally engaged in rather more serious
matters of Church and State. There was also a
large woodland tract on the outskirts of the Forest
in the Salisbury direction, called the Earldoms,
which in those days was jointly hunted by Lord
Radnor and myself ; but foxes were by no means
plentiful in those parts, and I did not meet there
more frequently than I could help. In the
centre of the Forest was the well-known Minstead
Manor, where lived that model country gentleman

64 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Mr. Henry Compton, an excellent fox-preserver
and the most kind and hospitable of men. I
constantly stayed there as his guest, and no
words can say how good he was to me ; the first
year or two of my time he used to come out
with the hounds, especially on the north side,
which was the part both he and I liked best;
and as long as he kept on hunting he remained
fairly well. The Chairman of the Hunt was
Sir Henry Paulet, who lived at Testwood, an
excellent Chairman, with tact and sound judgment.
Old General Parker, who had formerly com-
manded the 1st Life Guards and lived at Castle
Malwood, was constantly out, though as a rule
the pace he went was hardly equal to the occasion,
and he was often heard to say, '' Sir Reginald's
' Fast Ladies ' are a bit too fast for me.'' Other
members of the Hunt in my time were Captain
Buckworth Powell, who owned Foxlease, just
outside Lyndhurst ; he had formerly been in
the Grenadier Guards and always owned a race-
horse or two. Lord Normanton often came
out from Somerley, his place near Ringwood.
Mr. Bradburne of Lyburn, a good sportsman
and a great friend of mine, who many years later
took over the hounds. Captain Timson of
Tatchbury, who had been in the Carabiniers.
Captain Morant also sometimes appeared for

■.■■^^^<^jS

Colonel Martin Powell
1899

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 65

a day or two ; he had been M.F.H. when
I first used to come down from Winchester
Barracks in the sixties, a silent man who rode
the Forest very well, and I always looked upon
him as quite the best Forest huntsman I ever
saw.

Mr. William Everett of AUum Green, and
Mr. John Everett of Colbury, both hunted
regularly.

Then there was Lord Londesborough, who
lived at Northerwood during the winter months,
and often came out ; but he was very short-
sighted, and was obliged to have a pilot who
rode in front of him. Lord Eslington (who
afterwards became Earl of Ravensworth) lived
somewhere on the south side of the country
and was a keen sportsman. At one time I used
to see Lord Percy (now Duke of Northumber-
land) out occasionally. There was a funny little
man called Mudge who lived at Brockenhurst
and trotted about on a white pony long after
he was ninety ; I think he had once been a Clerk
in some Government office and was given a
pension, which he certainly enjoyed to the utmost,
for he lived to an immense age.

The Secretary to the Hunt was Captain
Martin Powell, at that time Adjutant of the
Hampshire Yeomanry, and formerly of the Innis-
5

66 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

killing Dragoons. Never was there a better Hunt
Secretary. Nowadays he is Colonel Powell of
Brooklands, Lyndhurst, probably the oldest
member of the Hunt Club, a Forest fox-hunter
all his life, and now, as ever, a courteous, kindly
gentleman.

During the summer of 1875 the Yorkshire
Hound Show was held at Driffield, and I was
asked to act as Judge there, in company with
that celebrated Devonian the Reverend Jack
Russell ; the other Judge was Mr. Hill, who kept
a north-country pack. We all went to stay
with Mr. James Hall at Scorborough in the East
Riding ; he was a famous Yorkshire M.F.H.,
having been Master of the Holderness Hunt
for about thirty years. There was a jovial party
there, amongst whom I remember Lord Fever-
sham, Sir Watkin Wynn, the Rev. Cecil Legard,
and many others. In the showyard during that
afternoon Jack Russell came over to me and, in
what perhaps he thought was a whisper, said,
in very audible tones, *' I say, Graham, if you
and I are going to stay at Bramham for next
Sunday we had better give George Fox one of
these prizes, or we shall never hear the last of
it/' His ideas of justice and merit were the cause
of much laughter among the spectators. How-
ever, we did go to Bramham, and on the following

CP^^f^

I

<

I

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 67

Sunday morning he gave us an excellent sermon,
when it struck me that he was better in the pulpit
that on the flags. Perhaps in Devonshire he
may not have been accustomed to foxhounds
of very high quality ; anyhow, he did not strike
me as exactly a good judge of hounds. All this
took place long before the Peterborough Shows
were established ; though later on I often judged
there for many years. Some of the best judges
I met with in those days were the late Lord
Willoughby de Broke, Sir Herbert Langham,
Rev. Cecil Legard, Mr. Austin Mackenzie, and
especially so was Captain Robert Arkwright,
who had a successful career as Master and Hunts-
man of the Oakley Hounds from 1850 to 1885 ;
I think he understood the whole game as well
as anyone I ever knew.

After my first season Jack Goddard left to go
to the Blankney, and Charley Hawtin came to me
in his place. We began my second season on the
3rd September 1875 and finished on the 25th April ;
hunted eighty-nine days, and killed forty-seven
foxes. All through that winter we had a succession
of good sport, and although it was wild, cold
weather and stopped twelve days by snow, it was
about the best season I had down there. The only
sad part of it was the death of my kennelman,
William Andrews, a very good fellow.

68 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

The following was one of our good gallops in
my second season : On the i6th November 1875
met at Lyndhurst Road Station. There was a
large gathering of the hunt, it being a very fine
morning. We went first to Deer Leap Enclosure,
which was blank ; then to Buscots, where a fox
was on foot immediately. We ran him hard
through Irons Hill and away over the open ;
turning to the right he pointed for Pond Head,
and on nearly to the Brockenhurst Road, where
he was headed and turned back across to the
rifle-butts, and we killed him by the police
station near Bolton's Bench, after about thirty-
five minutes, and a capital pace all the time.
The fox was a well-known customer (nicknamed
" Dr. Kenealy '') which had afforded many a
run in Mr. Standish's time, but on this occasion
twenty-two and a half couple of the '' Fast
Ladies '' were too much for the old stager, whose
brush I gave to the Hon. Francis Denison
(son of Lord Londesborough) ; on a very fast
pony he rode well, and saw the end of this sharp
gallop.

I think the best day I ever had in the Forest,
or anywhere else, was on the 14th February 1876,
advertised at Brockenhurst Bridge at eleven.
Snow was falling heavily, and a lot of it on the
ground early in the morning. I never dreamed

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 69

there could be any hunting at all that day, and I
stopped the hounds going on ; but about twelve
o'clock there was a bit of a change and I got to the
meet at 1.30, and found nearly everybody had
gone home except half a dozen, one of whom was
Sir Claude de Crespigny. The snow was going
fast and I was persuaded to draw, so we trotted
down to Mr. Morant's coverts at Brockenhurst
Park, where, to my surprise, we found directly
and raced away to Boldre ; then by Stockley,
Frame, Pigbush, and back through the big
Enclosures at Woodfidley and Denny, running
the rides the whole way, and caught him close to
Denny Lodge, about fifty-five minutes ; such a
scent, and they ran as if they were tied to him for
the whole way. I never saw anything so fast
before or since. Sir Claude and I were the only
two at the finish, and he helped me to get the
hounds back to the kennels, for both the whippers-
in were lost, and so was everybody else.

Although this was far the best thing of the
season, I had some regret about what happened,
for I felt that if in spite of the snow I had gone
to the meet an hour sooner (as I ought to have
done) probably most of my field would have
shared the sport. Soon afterwards we had
another good day in the same part of the country,
and the following account appeared in Land

70 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

and Water from the pen of '' Cerise," a writer
well known at that time : —

'' On Saturday, March nth, the meet was at
New Park. Sir Reginald Graham has again
shown us grand sport with a Brockenhurst
fox, this time with the dog pack. After a
longish draw, not finding till three o'clock, a
splendid fox went away from New Copse, through
Perry Wood, taking a good line for Brockenhurst
Manor, but, for reasons best known to himself,
turned sharp to the right across the railway, to
Whitley, circling back through New Copse, Lady
Cross, Frame, and Hawk Hill, on to Beaulieu
Heath, heading right away for Norley, across
Norley Farm, on to the Heath again, the hounds
rolling over their fox dead beat in the open, within
fifty yards of Norley Wood. The run lasted one
hour and a half, with hardly a check. The
country was terribly heavy, and the pace from
Hawk Hill very fast — in fact, I think, quite as
severe as our run from Brockenhurst on February
14th with the ' ladies,' when we killed near
Denny Lodge. Out of a field of about thirty,
only seven were up at the finish, namely, the
Master, Lord Henry Scott, M.P., Sir Claude de
Crespigny, Messrs. Powell-Montgomery, Duplessis,
Emms, and the second whip. Since the melan-
choly death of his kennel huntsman, Sir Reginald
is only able to take out one whip, Charles Hawtin,
temporarily doing duty at the kennels. At
our Hunt meeting to-day (14th), to the great

FOX-HUNTINCx RECOLLECTIONS 71

satisfaction of the whole Hunt, Sir Reginald
expressed his willingness to continue hunting
the country."

Up to 1876 I had resided in my bachelor
days at Jessamine Cottage, Lyndhurst, but the
24th of July in that year was the commencement
of a happy life for me in double harness. We
moved that summer to Fritham Lodge, two or
three miles north of Stony Cross, a charming
spot on high ground, with views all over the
Forest.

This was my third season, and I began it with
Charley Hawtin, and Walter Primmer came as
second whip. I could not have been better
whipped-in to than I was by those two. It was a
very wet winter with constant rain, which always
seemed to suit the Forest. We began on the nth
September and finished on the 27th April, and
killed fifty-four foxes, the most I caught while in
the New Forest.

The next season of 1877-78 began badly, as
poor Charley Hawtin had recently died after a
short illness. He was an immense loss, such a nice
fellow, and as a huntsman he had a voice and a
manner with hounds such as one seldom sees many
times in one's life. He had been huntsman to
Lord Henry Bentinck when only twenty-three
years of age, and made a great name in the

72 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Burton country for some time; but he had a
bad fall and was never quite the same after-
wards. Still, when he came to me in 1875 he
was all right for a couple of years until his last
illness. He was buried at Emery Down Church-
yard, where his tombstone shows that he was
only thirty-eight years of age when he died.
Poor fellow, I never liked any hunt servant quite
so well as him.

That same year Mr. Henry Compton of
Minstead Manor also died, deeply regretted
by everyone who knew him. I think he was
about sixty-four, and I never knew a more
hospitable friend.

About the same time died also George Cooper,
the Crown Keeper at Bolderwood, a fine old fellow
of seventy years of age, who had passed his
life in the Forest and was much appreciated.
These three sad events were a great blow, and I
felt that hunting the country would never be quite
the same to me without them.

In the place of Charley Hawtin I engaged
Alfred Mandeville (I forget where he came from),
a hard fellow who could stand any amount of
work, and with his help we killed forty-seven foxes
after a very good season, which ended on the
nth April 1878.

During that winter one of our good days was

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 73

described by the local papers in the following
account signed ''Sirius'* :

'' 6th November 1877. The New Forest Fox-
hounds.— Red-letter days have been rare, if not
altogether unknown, with any packs of foxhounds
thus far in this somewhat remarkable, or rather
unremarkable, season. The run with the New
Forest, of which I am now going to endeavour to
give a description, if it did not occur on a day
which deserves the name of a red-letter one, must
at least be considered as extraordinary in more
senses than one, even if we eliminate the sensa-
tional element from it altogether. Let me first
point out that the New Forest Foxhounds are
kept at Furzey Lawn, near Lyndhurst, Hamp-
shire, and that the Master is Sir Reginald Graham,
who has for his whips Alfred Mandeville and
Walter Primmer. The nearest towns of approach
for intending visitors, of whom it is unreasonable
to expect there will be many after reading of
this run, are Southampton, Lymington, and
Ringwood, for the N. F. H. or New Forest Fox-
hounds.

'' The meet was at the Vine Inn at Ower, when,
after time allowed for stragglers, and those who
have not learned the maxim concerning the early
bird and the worm, to join the rendezvous, the
order was given for a fast move for Embley.
There a find was soon effected, the difficulty of
discovering Reynard's whereabouts being sur-
mountable, even by human nostrils, so glorious

74 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

a scenting morning was it. This fox proved a
right gallant one, and worthy of the famous pack
at his brush. The coverts at Embley are exten-
sive, and the grounds around corresponding, so
the fox had plenty of tactics for trial before a
permanent vacation of his domains. The scent
was so hot, however, and he was raced so hard
and persistently up and down his happy hunting-
grounds, that he made occasional dashes out by
way of feinting with his foes. First of all he made
out on the side towards Romsey, and, finding
that no go, he tried another similar venture
towards Wellow. Home quarters, however, had
now^ become much too warm for comfort, and
Charley discovered that Embley was no longer
for him a peaceful abiding place. His next bolt
was across the lane and over the fields towards
Pauncefote Farm. Thence he turned to the
left down through the covert over the Salisbury
Road to Greenhill, and down into the meadows
as if steeplechasing to the Old Abbey Church at
Romsey. Here a mob of fellows, who behaved
as though they had never seen a real fox before
in their lives, and who, as Mr. Carter remarks in
a provinicial paper, ' must have fancied it was
some wild foreign animal just escaped from
Bostock and Wombwell's menagerie,' by their
shouting and yelling turned him away again to
the left. The point of the fox was evidently
Romsey Abbey, but the hullabaloo caused another
diversion, and the hounds now raced him fast
and furiously the whole way up the meadows

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 75

to Greatbridge, and pulled him down in fine
style in the field adjoining Timsbury Mill. The
finish was seen by very few of the well-appointed
sportsmen of the morning, and the pace and
country were all too trying for any but the most
daring and the best mounted. In fact, beyond
the Master and the whips, the field was reduced
to a respectable unit^ in the person of Mr. S.
Carter of Totton, who claims the credit, and
deserves it, of having seen the whole run. As
for the rest, they had been shaken off for miles
before the finish, and so distanced must they
have been, that none of them came to the ' Whoo-
hoop ' even after the fox was broken up.

'' In this run with the New Forest no hounds
could possibly have stuck more gamely to their
fox, and, considering the nature of the country,
very few could have gone faster. Though the
scent was admittedly of a burning sort, yet it
must be remembered that six or seven roads were
crossed, a species of hunting which always tries
hounds very much, and sometimes causes them
to turn up the game altogether, unless there are
a few staunch good-nosed ones among their
number. It may be easily understood from this
how it was that the field were so outrageously
* out of the hunt.' No doubt, however, many a
neighbouring Hampshire man ' thinks himself
accursed and holds his manhood cheap ' to reflect
that he was not there to see something, however
little, of this run from Embley, which unques-
tionably is likely to be talked about for many

76 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

a day to come, or at all events until its fame shall
have been eclipsed by a longer and more glorious
one. It is but common justice to say that Sir R.
Graham was with his hounds everywhere, and
that he handled them in a most judicious and
masterly manner. I hope that, notwithstanding
an avoidance of anything like undue laudation
or triumphant cracking of the descriptive whip,
I have at least rescued this run of the New
Forest Fox Hounds from total oblivion, and
raised it out of the ruck of provinical records.'' —

" SiRIUS."

I can remember a famous day on Thursday,
24th January 1878. Lord Percy was staying
with me to have a look at the north of the country,
which he had never seen, and I mounted him on
a bay mare called Gelatine. We met at the
Royal Oak, Fritham, with sixteen couple of dog-
hounds; went first to Islands Thorns, a large
enclosure which was full of deer that morning.
They gave us some trouble, but I got the hounds
together and trotted off a couple of miles to
some gorse outside Sloden. An old fox was off
like a shot, and we raced him at a rattling pace
over the open heath for thirty-three minutes, and
caught him between Goreley and Fordingbridge.
It was a terrific pace, and when Mr. Bradburne
got up to us he sang out to me, '' Wherever you
go, all your life you will never see such a gallop

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS ^^

as that again/' We found another fox in the after-
noon at Hasley, but the scent had changed since
the morning, and we lost him at Broomy Lodge.

At the end of this season I gave up the country
and sold my hounds ; the bitch pack went to my
successor, Mr. George Meyrick of Hint on Admiral ;
the doghounds went partly to Lord Spencer,
who was Master of the Pytchley, and partly to
Lord Howth, who then kept the hounds at Pau.

In looking back to those times I should be
inclined to say that if a man only *' hunts to
ride,'' he had better never go near the New
Forest, but if, on the contrary, he '' rides to hunt,"
then there is no limit to his enjoyment.

I have never seen any country where at
times hounds ran harder than in the Forest :
this was by no means an e very-day occurrence.
In the autumn the scent is often very moderate,
and especially so when the leaf is falling ; but
when that is quite over, matters begin to improve,
and from January to May — sometimes when
the country is almost under water, or sometimes
when the ground is as hard as iron — I have seen
many days on which hounds can race from
morning till night, especially with a straight fox
who runs the rides in the enclosures and the
tracks on the open heath. Those are the days
to ascertain whether your hounds have got

78 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

drive or not, and to my mind they are not of
much use without it.

I have nothing but the most pleasant re-
collections of those happy hunting-grounds in
the New Forest, and in spite of '' Time who
steals our hours away/' my thoughts can still
linger in a vision of those delightful spring
mornings when I drew Matley Bog, and did not
draw in vain.

CHAPTER VI

THE TEDWORTH HUNT

The history of the Tedworth Country is in-
separable from the name of Thomas Assheton
Smith, who founded the Hunt and was Master
from 1826 until he died in 1858. That celebrated
sportsman, after a famous career from 1806 to
1824 3-S Master of the Quorn and Burton, re-
turned to Hampshire to form a local hunt in
his county, and to pass an old age in a country
where he could still gallop after his own hounds.

Most of the Tedworth Country is composed
of downs and light wold land, with but little
fencing, which stretches for miles and miles ;
but there is a narrow strip on the north-west
corner called the Pewsey Vale, while on the north
there is an immense tract of lowlands which
includes Savernake Forest. There are extensive
woodlands towards the east, and on the south
side a wild district surrounding the Danebury
training-ground. What a difficult game to play
Mr. T. A. Smith must have had when he first
started with some draft hounds from Sir Richard
Sutton, with which he commenced at Penton

8o FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Lodge in 1826. It sounds so surprising that any
man who had passed most of his hfe in Leicester-
shire should have cared to undertake the conver-
sion of such a territory into a hunting country.

His first difficulty was with his father, an
irascible old gentleman who immediately warned
his son off the Tedworth coverts. He did not,
however, live long enough to cause him per-
manent annoyance, for on his death in 1828 the
M.F.H. removed his establishment to Tedworth
House, and took possession of the family estates
both in Hampshire and in Wales.

In the huge woodlands of Doles Faccombe
and Wherwell he set to work in earnest by
having rides cut through them, so that he and
his hunt servants could reach the hounds when
drawing those woods. What labour he must
have employed and what money he must have
spent in carrying through such undertakings !

There was also the immense tract named
Collingbourn Woods, of at least 1500 acres. A
tradition has been handed down that in these
woodlands Mr. Smith was in the habit of ordering
bonfires to be lit to induce the foxes to fly ;
certainly these woods were the key to the whole
country, and in my time I used to rent them,
as well as Southgrove, entirely for the preserva-
tion of foxes.

Mr. Thomas Assheton Smith
1856

i

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 8i

There was one bit of blue in the horizon ;
this was the immense expanse of SaHsbury
Plain, with its wide stretch of turf, which, with
the bit of vale round Southgrove, formed the
best part of the country, dotted with patches
of gorse which mostly held a fox or two.

The Squire began by hunting four days a week
himself in the best parts, and at the same time
he sent his huntsman with another pack every
Wednesday into Wherwell Wood, and every
Saturday to some of the other great woodlands.
At first Dick Burton was his huntsman, and
after that old George Carter, who came to Ted-
worth in 1842 with a pack of hounds which Mr.
Assheton Smith bought from the Duke of Grafton
of that day. The soil on the downs was of cold
and chalky nature, and perhaps it is safe to say
of the Tedworth that you can either run fast
over it or cannot run at all. Close at your fox
on a favourable day you may perhaps race him
from find to finish, and in a spin over the downs
it often happens that you can see him all the
way as he rises hill after hill of the undulating
sheep-walks until the hounds get hold of him,
but this is not every day. When the land is
cold and hard and there is no scent upon the
downs, then it is difficult to get a gallop. A
good general idea of the open Tedworth Hills

82 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLFXTIONS

may be obtained from the summit of Beacon
Hill, some few miles from the kennels. Let your
eye wander over the sweeping undulations as
far as you can see, and you will liken it to the
unbroken billows of the ocean — mile upon mile
of unruffled surface, with nothing to break the
scene or hide the view ; the downs dotted with
sheep, and an occasional turnip -field or small
plantation just show themselves here and
there ; it is all wild and picturesque beyond
words.

I can actually remember Mr. Assheton Smith,
as when, quartered at Winchester Barracks in
1857, he invited me over to stay at Tedworth,
and I recollect hunting with his hounds one day
when they met at Southgrove, which was con-
sidered about the best fixture in the hunt. Little
did I think then, that some two-and-twenty years
later on I should become the Tedworth M.F.H.
instead of him.

At the time I speak of, his iron frame was
rapidly giving way and the lamp was nearly
out, for in August 1858 he died at Vaenol, his
place in Wales, after a lingering illness. Like
many another Master of Hounds of those days,
his lot was cast in that period of hunting history
probably the most conducive to sport. Pheasants
and game-preserving were not then carried to

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 83

the extent of the present day ; that method of
barbarism, barbed wire, was actually unknown ;
countries were not gridironed by railways; and
the enormous crowds which are nowadays to be
found in any fashionable hunt, had then scarcely
commenced to show themselves to the extent
existing at the present time.

After the Squire's death in 1858 his widow
presented the hounds to a Hunt Committee, with
the 2nd Marquis of Ailesbury as the fountain-
head. They carried on matters until he died in
1878, when there was some difficulty about the
Hunt affairs, with the result that the Mastership
was offered to me and I took over the country
in 1879. ^^ ^he same time I took a three years'
lease of Netheravon House from Sir Michael
Hicks-Beach, M.P., a very attractive place, with
excellent trout-fishing in the river Avon, which
ran under the windows.

The kennels were in Tedworth Park, not far
from Tedworth House, which stands exactly on
the boundary-line between Hampshire and Wilt-
shire. I found about fifty couples there, and
the doghounds were rather on the large side.
Jack Fricker was the huntsman, and had been at
Tedworth all his life. The two whippers-in were
John Bevan and Jack Thatcher. I engaged them
all, and took over everything as it stood except

84 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

the hunt horses, as I preferred to start with a
fresh stud of my own.

We began cub-hunting on the i8th September,
and during that season of 1879 ^^^ ^^^^ we
hunted ninety-four days and killed eighty-two
foxes up to 17th April, but we were stopped by
frost twenty-nine days, and it was only a moderate
season . We had two or three good points, however,
one of them on the 24th November, a straight
eight-and-a-half-mile point from Fargo to Wylye,
and killed. At the same time another fox went
away from Fargo with only a whipper-in and a
few couples who caught him after a scurry over
the downs. This was a very good day's sport,
and the hounds killed four foxes during that
day. On the 5th January there was a nine-mile
point, with a fox from Round Down, near Everley,
and we killed him in the middle of the West
Woods. That morning we also had a sharp
gallop with a fox from Pewsey gorse, and caught
him at Upavon after twenty-five minutes.

My agreement with the country was to hunt
four days a week, but I generally found enough
hounds to make up a mixed pack, which I hunted
myself on a bye-day, either Wednesday or Friday,
and on these occasions Jack Fricker did not
come out.

Some of the cub-hunting was delightful in

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 85

Savernake Forest, as the Lord Ailesbury of that
day (this was the 3rd Marquis of Ailesbury)
allowed me to take the hounds and horses to the
Tottenham kennels at Savernake. Here they
stayed for two or three weeks in the autumn,
and we always found plenty of cubs to hunt.

The Saturday fixtures were generally Doles
Wood or Faccombe Wood, an enormous tract of
woodland on the east side of the country, sur-
rounded by hills with arable land and endless
flints ; the consequence was that on those days
the hounds often had their feet cut, which caused
a deal of trouble in the kennel.

No one could say that the Tedworth was
a really good fox-hunting country, or indeed a
good scenting country, but I think it was one
of the best for foxes that I have ever known.
You could find them everywhere, and the farmers
were one and all fox-hunters, and with them
Jack Fricker was quite an idol for thirty or forty
years — a good servant and a very honest man,
patient and persevering in the field ; but I always
thought he might have made a better huntsman
if he had been away a little into other countries
early in life, instead of passing the whole of his
career at Tedworth. There were, nevertheless,
one or two points in which he was quite un-
equalled ; he could make his hounds at any

86 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

hour of the day draw the thickest gorses with
more dash and determination than any pro-
fessional I ever saw ; and another thing, he
always had them steady from riot. I have seen
a hundred hares before the pack when puzzling
out a cold line on the chalky hills, but no hound
of his would ever look at a hare under any circum-
stances, not even in the wildest weather.

An unwelcome feature in this country were
the dense fogs, which often came on suddenly
without a minute's warning, and I remember
that many of the field used to carry small com-
passes in their pockets. A great friend of mine,
Mr. Godfrey Webb, was staying with me at
Netheravon; he was well known in London life
but not much accustomed to the chase. I per-
suaded him to have a day's hunting on a steady
old horse of mine named Mortimer. In the
afternoon of that day, when the sport was nearly
over, we suddenly found ourselves in a fog and
separated from my friend, who did not make
his appearance at our house until late that
evening. He then told a pathetic story of the
sudden darkness which had come on about four
o'clock, how he finished his last sandwich, how
he drained the remnant of his flask, how he
smoked his last cigar, and then resigned himself
to his impending fate in the open air until day-

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 87

light. Happily for him, however, the sound
of the dinner bell at Netheravon reached the
ears of old Mortimer, who quickened his steps,
and not long afterwards found his way in the
dark to his own stables. As we came out from
the dining-room about nine that evening, Godfrey
Webb walked into the hall, and all ended well.

The next season of 1880 and 1881 was a
hard winter ; we were stopped by frost many
days, and only killed sixty-nine foxes. During
part of the time I was laid up with a severe
attack of sciatica, the result of wading in the
river when fishing the previous autumn, and con-
sequently I missed a good many days' hunting.

The following season of 1881 and 1882 was
very open ; we were only stopped one day by
frost and one day by fog, and killed seventy-eight
foxes. In the spring of that year, 1882, I asked
the Duke of Beaufort to bring his pack over
to have an invitation day in the Tedworth
country. It was a very long way for them to
come by road, and it was not a success, as it
turned out a wild windy day and a shocking
bad scent. I remember a large party of sports-
men came with the Duke from Badminton, and
among them was Lord Waterford, the 5th Marquis,
who at that time had just been forced to re-
linquish hunting the Curraghmore Country in

88 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Ireland owing to the proceedings of the Land
League. For a few seasons after this he hunted
in England, but when out with the Cottesmore
in the spring of 1885 he had a very bad fall
which injured his spine, crippled him for the
rest of his life, and he died in 1895. Sad to
think of all the sufferings which he endured in his
latter years. Such a fine gallant fellow, and
such a splendid fox-hunter !

Among my friends and supporters was old
Sir John Kelk, who had just bought the Ted-
worth Estate, had built a house for himself in
Grosvenor Square, and had been created a Baronet.
He was very kind and hospitable, and gave me
the free use of the kennels and stables at
Tedworth ; but he did not live long to enjoy
his prosperity, and died a few years later. Then
at Wilbury there was the Hon. Percy Wyndham
(who afterwards succeeded me in the Mastership
of the Hounds) ; he, his wife, sons, and daughters
all hunted regularly, and were a very popular
family.

At Conholt Park lived Lady Charles Welles-
ley ; she was an excellent preserver of foxes on
that estate. Her two sons, Henry and Arthur,
were in the Grenadier Guards, and keen fox-
hunters. Later in hfe they both became Dukes
of Wellington. Then from Amesbury came Sir

Lord Algkkn.-n .^r. Maur
Afterwards 14th Duke of Somerset

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 89

Edmund Antrobus, who was a constant attendant,
and at that time probably about the oldest
Member of the Hunt. Everley belonged to Sir
John Astley (so well known as '' the Mate ''),
who sometimes had a day with us ; but he cared
more for the turf than the chase, and the place
was let to Mr. C. J. Curtis, who took it chiefly
for shooting, but at the same time was the best
of fox preservers.

At Wilcot Manor House there lived at that
time Lord Algernon St. Maur, who afterwards
became the 14th Duke of Somerset ; he and
his four sons were out every day, and they all
delighted in hunting with the Tedworth. Lord
Algernon had been formerly in the '' Blues ''
(where he was known by the nickname of
'' Mousey ") ; a light weight, he always rode
thoroughbred horses which could gallop, and
when hounds were running nothing could re-
strain his ardour. Wherever he was, it was
impossible to resist the charm of his old-fashioned
courtesy and kindly nature; no wonder he was
beloved by all who knew him. In former times
he was often to be found in Hyde Park or at
TattersalFs, arm in arm with his inseparable
companions, Mr. George Lane Fox and the Earl
of Macclesfield. During the sixties and seventies
this trio was known as the '' Ancient Critics,'' for

90 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

no horse or carriage in London could escape
their observation or their verdict. Lord Algernon
was a most excellent coachman, and in early
life passed much of his time in driving many
of the Stage-Coaches of those days ; he lived
to a great age, and was actually driving a team
on the day he died. I had known him
intimately all my life, and had a very great
regard for him.

Then there was Sir William Humphery,
who lived at Penton House ; and his constant
friend, Mr. Bulwer, Q.C., from whom I bought a
charming skewbald mare with a coat like satin,
called Columbine, for which I gave him £80.
I should have kept her much longer than I
did, but Lord Londesborough gave me no peace
until I let him have her for, I think, £120, as
he wanted a leader for his London team. Then
there was Mr. Stephen Butler of Stitcombe, and
Mr. William Hayward of Wilsford, Mr. Fowle
of Chute Lodge, Mr. Powell of Easton ; Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach who came now and then to
stay at Netheravon for a day or two, and Sir
Claude de Crespigny, who lived at Durrington,
a man of iron nerve who regarded locked railway
gates and sheep-hurdles with equal indifference.
Also two or three well-known fox-hunting parsons,
such as the Rev. W. H. Awdrey of Ludgershall,

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 91

and the Rev. J. H. Gale of Milton, with a loud
voice and rather abrupt manner ; I think they
used to call him *' Rude Boreas/'

My Hunt Secretaries were Mr. Stephen Allen
of Eastover and Mr. Thomas Lamb of Andover ;
but previous to my era Mr. Brewer of Garlogs,
near Stockbridge, had been from time immemorial
the secretary to the Hunt Committee, a man of
enormous size, who was a Master in Chancery,
and went by the name of Master Brewer, partly
because of his Chancery designation, and partly
because he was rather apt to assume when he
could the title of Master of the Hounds, an honour
to which he had no right. One day when hunting
on the downs, most of the field, who had lost
the hounds, saw on the horizon an object in red ;
somebody cried out, '' There's old Brewer going
over the hill ; the hounds can't be far off." After
galloping a mile or two in hot pursuit they
discovered that this object was an immense
red water-butt which they had mistaken for
the ample proportions of Master Brewer ; but
his shoulders were broad enough to carry most
of the blame which was sometimes attributed
to him.

I recollect inviting a Swedish '' masseur ''
named Bramberg to come from London to stay
with me for some hunting ; a young man

92 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

who had been very attentive to me during
my sciatica troubles. He had been at one
time in the Swedish Artillery, and I found he
could ride pretty well, though naturally he
was not accustomed to going out hunting. I
mounted him on a white horse of mine called
the Ghost, a very safe conveyance. The first
day the meet was a long way off and he was
not in the best of condition, but his enthusiasm
was enormous and he enjoyed himself immensely.
At the end of a long hard day w^e found ourselves
about fifteen miles from home with a dreary
ride over the hills before us. I noticed my friend
apparently rather exhausted, and as we started
on our homeward journey he cried out to me,
'' Oh, if I only knew where to get a glass of Swedish
Punch ! *' To his dismay I had to break it
to him that Swedish Punch was a beverage
unknown to the English people, and that no
public-house lay within many miles of our
homeward route. Our progress was slow, and
the only way by which I could get him along
at all was the oft-repeated promise that, if we
ever did fetch home, he should quench his thirst
to his hearths content. Our goal was at last
reached, but never in my life did I see a couple
so completely done as the *' Ghost '' and the
" Swede."

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 93

At the end of the first season we had a capital
week, considering it was the month of ApriL
On the 6th we met at Savernake Ruins ; found in
Birch Copse ; ran through Henswood to Chisbury,
and lost. Drew Savernake Wood ; found directly ;
ran through Puthall and Henswood to Birch
Copse, by Tottenham House, and round the
Forest to the Eight Walks, and back to the
Monument, and killed ; one hour and twenty
minutes' good forest hunting.

April 10. Collingbourn Shears. — Found in
the Clay-pits, and ran a ring round the Rags,
through Shaw Copse, back through the Rags
and Heath Copse to Scots Poor, by Jubilee
Clump, through Chantry; forced him through
the wood and out by Crawlboy's Farm, over
Ludgershall Common, through Mr. Young's
plantation to the top of Tedworth Hill, where
there were two lines, and he beat us. Found
again on Sidbury Hill, and ran very fast through
Dunch Hill to Shipton, where a false hallo
took us back to Tedworth, and we were obliged
to give it up. With a little luck this would
have been a good day, as it was one of the very
few this season on which hounds could realty
push their fox along.

April 13. Southgrove. — Two hallos directly
hounds were put into covert. Went away to-

94 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

wards Grafton over the heavy ploughs nearly
to Wexcombe ; over Fair Mile, where he turned
to the right and skirted Heath Copse, and so
through the Rags and Shaw Copse, Chantry,
through Jubilee Clump to Scots Poor, where
he was headed and lay down in Hippenscombe
Gorse, and they killed him, an old dog-fox ;
time, I hour 23 minutes. A real good sporting
run. Found again in Grafton Park a fox which
at first ran through all the farm buildings he
could find in his line, then through Wexcombe,
and on to Tedcombe Hill, where he lay down
in a pit till the hounds fairly worked up to him,
and catching a view they rolled him over in
the open within half a mile of the big woods ;
time, thirty-two minutes. This brought us up
to forty-one brace, the total for that season of
1879-80.

We began again, as usual, the next autumn,
and had a good November, some of them very
fair days.

On Monday the 15th, 1880, we met at Nether-
avon House, where we then lived during the
winter months. A large field turned up, amongst
whom were Lord Algernon St. Maur, Lord
Lawrence, Lord Wiltshire, Sir William Humphery,
Sir Edmund Antrobus, Hon. Percy Wyndham,
M.P., Mrs. and Miss Wyndham, and many others.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 95

At half-past eleven the hounds moved off to draw
one of the coverts which I rented sloping to the
river Avon, and instantly a brace of foxes were on
foot ; one went away over the park with the hounds
very handy to him ; raced over the water meadows
up to Fittleton village, then he set his head
straight over the downs until turned by a team
of horses at work, and was caught in the open
close to the village of Upavon. The pace was
pretty good, distance five miles, and time thirty-
five minutes.

Found another fox almost directly in a turnip-
field; gave him a good dusting for twenty-five
minutes, and lost him in a storm near Wilsford.

We then trotted off a couple of miles to draw
Chirton Gorse, a capital covert on the hills, but a
deluge of rain brought matters to a close for this
day ; the doghounds were out (nineteen couples),
and I thought they did very well in rather wild
weather.

Monday, Nov. 29. — Met at Wilbury, always
a favourite down meet, especially of late years,
since the old place became the residence of the
Hon. Percy Wyndham, M.P., a kind and hospitable
friend to all around. A fine still morning, and
eighteen couples of bitches stood in the park until
11.30, where some seventy horsemen and half a
dozen ladies had assembled. Everyone was of

96 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

course pleased to see Lady Graham again on
horseback with the hounds, her first appearance,
this season. Trotted off a mile to draw the
Warren ; found, and away over the open through
the Park to the wood near the house; some
puzzling work among the hares there ; got up to
him, and killed. Time about thirty minutes.
Moved away a couple of miles to Tower Hill;
three or four foxes on foot instantly, one of whom
was soon offered up. Whistled away after
another down the belt of trees to the South-
We3tern Railway ; ran parallel to it for a mile, away
to the right over the open downs, leaving Old
Lodge to the left, and to ground in some gorse in
the Roche Court direction ; a sharp burst of about
twenty-five minutes, rather spoilt by over-riding.
I read the Riot Act decidedly, and without
distinction of persons — not before it was wanted.
On our way back the field were refreshed by Lord
Lawrence at his residence. Old Lodge, and the
hounds jogged on to Folly Hill ; got up to a fox, and
soon ran him to ground. Then over the railway
to the Warren, and fastened on to another, who
took them almost in view down to the Park;
bustled him in the coverts there, and killed — •
twenty minutes — eating our last fox under Wil-
bury House windows, on precisely the same spot
as the first fox of the morning. Hounds started

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 97

home at four; during the day had six foxes on
foot and killed three.

Tuesday^ Nov. 30, at Upavon Village. — Six
red and about thirty black coats composed the
field. A still morning ; twenty couples of dog-
hounds. Drew the osier bed near Rushall, — a
brace of foxes at home. Away directly with one
who swam the river, and over the meadows up to
Wood Bridge ; across the high road pointing
straight through the Pewsey Vale, by Manning-
ford, over the fields to the Great Western Railway,
up the line and on to Wilcot, leaving Lord A. St.
Maur's place to the left, over the Canal Bridge by
Stowell to Draycott, and away over the heavy
fields towards Oare Hill ; then to the left, and up
the hillside through Coker Wood, over the open
downs to the Wans Dyke, close to Hewitt's Gorse,
where the fox lay down in a sheep-fold. Got a
view and roiled her over — a wiry old vixen as
stiff as a poker. A hunting run of one hour and
fifty minutes and an eight-mile point — a fact
worth recording, as they ran some twelve miles.
A sporting hunt enjoyable to those who care to see
a dog pack do their work and throw their tongues
really well. The Pewsey Vale was never much
deeper, and thus some over-eager horsemen were
nicely handicapped. The vast extent of the
Tedworth country is here illustrated by the
7

98 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

fact that where we killed our fox this day is nearly
thirty miles north of the spot on which a similar
event took place the previous afternoon.

The most curious finish to a fox hunt that I
ever witnessed was killing a fox in the racquet-
court at Marlborough College on 31st January
1882, of which the following account appeared in
a Wiltshire newspaper : —

''The Tedworth Hounds had quite a holiday
meet at Oare Hill on Tuesday. All who could
get a ' mount ' for the day turned out to enjoy
the national pastime, and hundreds were scarcely
less active on ' shank's mare.' Not only was
the meet a large one, but the finish of the first
run at Marlborough created no little excitement
in the precincts of Marlborough College. The
fox who sought refuge thither, was found in West
Woods, the vast extent of which may be imagined
when we say that 600 acres of the coppice
belong to Sir Henry Meux alone. Reynard was
forced from the woods, went to Gore Coppice,
back again, then made for Granham, passed the
house and turned sharp round to the White Horse
down ; without stopping to admire the glorious
panorama here visible of the town and downs to
the north and east, our fox went at a cracking
pace down the hill, crossed the river, and entered
the College Master's garden. The pack was too
close upon him for any stay, and desperately
seeking shelter amid the haunts of men (for we may

I

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 99

not presume that, with all the cunning of the
tribe, a fox could be aware of the vacation) it
bolted through the passage into the College
court or quadrangle, crossed it, and sought shelter
in the racquet-court. Here two young gentlemen
were at play, and they were not a little astonished
by the sudden entry of the fox, followed by the
pursuing hounds, Sir Reginald Graham, Jack
Fricker, and a large field. It did not take long to
despatch him, and the next thing we saw was the
head in the possession of Mr. C. M, Bull, who
considers that it will, when preserved, form an
interesting object in the College Museum, to which
he intends presenting it. Another fox got up in
the withy bed close to the chapel, but its career
was short, for it was speedily chopped in the
water meadow near Preshute House.*'

On the last day of this season, Tuesday, 21st
March, we had a fair hunting run with a satisfac-
tory finish. Met at Savernake ruins at twelve with
the dog pack. After some forest hunting in the
morning we went to Henswood and found a good
straight fox, which we killed just outside the
town of Hungerf ord ; not much pace, but a six-
mile point . This brought us up to a total of thirty-
nine brace for the season of 1881-82.

We had a good bit over twenty-two miles
back to Netheravon that evening, and it was my
last day for ever in the Tedworth country.

100 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

About this time the force of circumstances
induced me to go away to hve in the North
Riding of Yorkshire, and it was with very great
regret I was obhged to resign the Mastership of
the Tedworth Hunt. gj

I am told that nowadays Netheravon House
is the headquarters of a Cavalry School, that the
surrounding district is a mass of camps and huts,
and that in some parts many miles of wire have
appeared. I only speak of this from hearsay,
as I have never again been in that district. Even
now I like to think of the country as I once knew
it in those old days, when in congenial company
I found so much friendship and fox-hunting.

CHAPTER VII

THE HURWORTH HUNT

The Hurworth country is partly in Durham and
partly in Yorkshire, the River Tees dividing
the northern from the southern portion. The
Hunt appears to date a long way back,
and was carried on for many years by the
Wilkinsons of Neasham Abbey, a family of
brothers whose names were Thomas, Lozelure,
and Matthew. The Master in the early part of
the last century was Thomas, and after his death
the Hunt was continued by the two remaining
brothers, whose names, according to the custom
of the country, were curtailed into '' Lozzy "
and '' Matty." The latter was both Master and
Huntsman, and enjoyed much reputation as a
sportsman, in fact he became a hero even in the
eyes of '' Nimrod," who in his '* Yorkshire Tour ''
of 1827 wrote a great deal about him to the
Sporting Magazine of that year. I will quote the
description in " Nimrod's " own language :

'' On Friday morning Mr. Flounders accom-
panied me to Croft Bridge to meet the Hurworth
Hounds, which place was about eight miles from

102 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Yarm. Our road to Croft also led us through
the village of Hurworth, within a short distance
of the Hurworth Kennel, and we overtook the
hounds going to covert. They were accompanied
only by Mr. Wilkinson and his whipper-in, and
Mr. Flounders took this opportunity of intro-
ducing me to Mr. Wilkinson. I found him very
much what I expected to find him : a well-fed
Englishman, with a back as broad as those of
three of our dandies put together ; mounted on a
finely shaped chestnut horse, looking very like a
hunter to carry a heavy seventeen stone, which
he had then on his back ; with a keen eye in his
head, and a very intelligent countenance — strong,
to be sure, in the dialect of his county, but
looking very much like a sportsman, and there-
fore claiming my respect.

'' There was a very large field of sportsmen
assembled at Croft Bridge on this day — amount-
ing to at least one hundred, which is a very
unusual circumstance with this pack. Mr.
Lambton's hounds, however, were gone from
Sedgefield, and Lord Darlington's were a long
way off ; so it was supplied by the gentlemen of
those hunts, many of whom had come a long
distance for the occasion. I am happy to add,
some of them were well requited for their pains.

*' We proceeded to draw Dinsdale Wood, a
covert of some size and situated on a steep
hanging bank. Before throwing in his hounds,
Mr. Wilkinson did me the honour of asking me to
accompany him into the wood and see him find

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 103

his fox. This invitation I readily accepted, and
so far I was most gratified. He found his fox
almost instantly, and in very excellent style.
His hallos were capital, and his ear unusually
quick. This was not all. We had a very
baffling fox on foot — very unwilling to break —
and his turns were short and frequent. The
pack and their Master, however, were quite a
match for him, and for about five minutes the
scene — witnessed only by ourselves — was en-
chanting. ' Have at him. Music, good bitch,'
halloed Matty. ' By Jove, th'ast better gang
away, for thou'lt die if thou don't. Have at
him. Cruiser, old fellow, but thou'lt have his
head in thy mouth before night.' Oh, that I
could give his view-hallos on paper, but that
can't be done. They were enough to raise a
man from the dead.

''Mr. Wilkinson wished to see his hounds get
well away with their fox, and therefore stood
still and blew his horn ; but he should have
ridden on, and blown his horn ; for when we got
to the top of the covert, not a hound, except a
few that were with us, could we get sight of. 'I
know where they are gone,' said Mr. Wilkinson ;
' you must follow me, for we shall never get over
that stelL' I did follow him, and he took me to
an awkward ford ; but we might just as well
have gone round by York. The hounds had a
capital run of an hour, and killed their fox, but
only in the presence of a chosen few, who were
bold enough and fortunate enough to get well

104 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

over this awkward stell — Billy Williamson, I
believe, being the first to charge it. It was deep
and rotten, and the change that was effected in
the colour of the ci-devant white cords of those
gentlemen who dropped short of it, plainly
showed what sort of a bottom it had.

'' Two things were now evident : I was quite
sure they were in for a run, and I was quite sure
I should see nothing of it unless let in by some
lucky turn. I did not, however, quit my pilot ;
but, strange to say, I rode for exactly one hour
about fifty yards behind him, without ever
hearing the tongue of a hound until within the
last ten minutes. When we did get up to them,
the thing was over, the whoo-hoop was only
wanting. They had not tasted him, but he was
dead beat, and in a few minutes more Matty
had him by the brush. It must have been a
beautiful run for those who saw it. The pace
was excellent ; and the country very good indeed
for the provincials.

'' I had two reasons why I did not regret thiSj
wrong turn at first starting. First, I and my
horse might have been planted in the stell ; and'
secondly, it was a great treat to me to see Matty
Wilkinson and his chestnut horse get over, or I
should rather say creep over, upwards of a hundred
fences in the very masterly manner they both
performed. He has ridden this horse three
seasons without having had a fall from him ;i
and when I saw him creeping over his fences,
which appeared nothing to him, whilst my

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 105

horse was flying over them, and afraid to touch a
thorn, I almost envied his great weight. Certain,
however, is it, that hunters carrying heavy men
do walk into their fences in a most enviable
manner, although, indeed, if they did not walk into
them, they could never gallop across a deep
country for an hour, and a hundred fences into
the bargain.

'' I really was much pleased with the scientific
manner in which Mr. Wilkinson and his horse
crossed the country in this hour's gallop. We
exchanged but few words with one another —
with the exception of his telling me he was too
heavy for a huntsman, and an occasional lamenta-
tion of our ill-luck. Matty, however, once
addressed his horse, and it had the desired effect.
We came to a very awkward fence, a wide ditch
from us, and no footing for our horses but among
some strong stubs. ' Tak' time, lad,' said
Matty. The lad did take time, and did it like
a workman. Towards the end of our gallop we
came to another still worse place. It was high
and stiff and near to a tree. Matty rode up to
it, and not liking it, stood looking at it. ' Shall
I try and pull down those strong binders,' I
said. ' No, no,' replied Matty, ' we'll gang at it,'
and over he went at a good hard gallop. All his
fences but this were taken either at a stand or in a
walk.

"This certainly was a good run, and a good
finish, and the brush was asked for by a gentleman
(Mr. Dryden, I think) who had ridden well to the

io6 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

hounds. ' No, no/ said Matty, ' " Nimrod '' shall
have the brush,' and it hangs up in my hall.
It is quite evident I had no pretensions to it,
therefore I considered it the greater comphment.
We drew again, and three foxes all broke covert
at the same moment ; but we did nothing worth
speaking of, although they tasted one of them.

*' Matty, however, is the hero of my tale ; and
his character is described in a few words. He
boasts of no scholastic education, no collegiate
reading ; neither does he appear to be much
under the discipline of art. But of this he may
be proud — he keeps a pack of foxhounds on
perhaps smaller means to keep them with than
almost any other man in England ; and he is
acknowledged by all to be as good a rough-and-
ready sportsman as ever halloed to hound. He
is likewise much esteemed amongst his neigh-
bours as a kind-hearted man, a character, indeed,
true sportsmen for the most part lay claim to and
maintain.

" In everything relating to the passion for
hunting, I should be inclined to say, Mr. Matthew
Wilkinson may have his equal, but his superior
would be difficult to produce. His attachment
to his hounds is almost beyond belief, and nearly
equals that of an old maid to her cat. He has
always some of his favourites walking about his
house ; and to a bitch with whelps he will give
as much as she can eat of a good sirloin of beef
or leg of mutton from his own table. I had it on
unquestionable authority that, although he keeps

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 107

ten or twelve cows, the whelps in the spring have
all the best milk, and nothing but a little sky-
blue is allowed for the house. I was also informed
that it has been his practice to keep a tame fox
which would run about the house and buildings
for the edification of the puppies as soon as they
were able to follow him. He keeps but four
hunters for himself and Tommy, and his stable
system is this : His horses are never physicked,
neither are they galloped in their exercise —
having, as he observes, ' plenty of galloping
when they hunt.'

'' Death and its terrors kick the beam when
put into the scale against Matty Wilkinson's
passion for the chase. Although he cannot swim,
no, not even a little, he has crossed that rapid
and deep river, the Tees, at least forty times in
his life after the hounds, and has had some hair-
breadth escapes. Very soon after I was in his
country, he was in the greatest danger of being
drowned. He plunged into this stream when
swelled with rain, and was unhorsed in the middle
of it. Fortunately catching hold of one of the
stirrups, his horse dragged him out, but I believe
it was what he called ' a very near go.' When
he had run his fox to ground he coolly laid himself
down on his back, and held up his heels to enable
the water to run out of his boots.

'' I very much fear this gallant sportsman will,
one of these days, change time for eternity in
his attempts to cross this rapid river. Indeed,
on his late escape, his brother Lozzy seriously

io8 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

admonished him of the impending danger ; but
all the notice taken of the salutary hint was — ' My
life is my own, and I suppose I may do what I
like with it/

'' When Mr. Matthew Wilkinson's eldest
brother was on his deathbed, he was asked by a
friend for the fixtures for the forthcoming week.
His reply was this : ' Why, Tommy is very ill,
and if Tommy dies, we can't hunt till Monday ;
but if Tommy don't die, we shall hunt somewhere
on Friday.' A brother sportsman died, and left
Matty five pounds to purchase a black coat to
his memory, Matty purchased a red one, thinking
thereby that he had shown still greater respect
to his departed friend.

'' Mr. Matthew Wilkinson is esteemed a very
superior huntsman as far as the working of his
hounds is concerned, as also assisting them in
recovering a scent. His great weight, however
(full seventeen stones), precludes the possibility
of his always being in his place ; though every-
one I conversed with agreed that, from his great
knowledge of the country, and of the usual line
of his foxes, he creeps up to his hounds, when at
fault, much sooner than might be expected.
This is the result of a quick eye and a good share
of brains, with each of which Mr. W. is very
well furnished. Of his management in the
kennel I can say nothing ; nor can I say much of
the condition of his pack, any further than that
their elbows were clean, and that is as much as
can be generally said of hounds that work as hard

FOX-HUNTING RFXOLLECTIONS 109

as his do ; but I thought the hounds themselves
did credit to his judgment. They are fine slash-
ing animals, with great power and bone, and are
allowed to have as much hunt in them as their
owner has zeal ; and truly that is in abundance.
Tattler, Cruiser, and Juggler would be an orna-
ment to any pack. The subscription, I under-
stand, amounts only to £1.7$ per annum, which
may, perhaps, with good management, find meal
for the hounds, as the pack is small, only consisting
of twenty-six couples of hunting hounds, and this
year not more than four couples to come in.

** I have now done with Matthew Wilkinson
and his hounds. Long may he live to enjoy his
favourite sport ; and when he is gone let his
memory be cherished for the zeal he has shown
in the noble science of fox-hunting."

Later on in the forties the name of Frank
Coates appears as the huntsman with much
local celebrity. After him, in the fifties, came
Will Danby, who had seen service with both the
Holderness and the York and Ainsty, but all this
seems to have come to an end somewhere about
the year i860, when another generation of the
old Wilkinson family became Master, with the
well-known Mr. Thomas Parrington as hunts-
man finding his own horses.

This Squire Wilkinson, however, seems to
have had but a short innings, as he died in 1861.
About that date the second Duke of Cleveland

no FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

was giving up his Raby country, and he offered
some portion of it to the Hurworth, which enabled
them to go out three days a week instead of two.

Mr. James Cookson of Neasham then suc-
ceeded as Master, and Mr. Parrington continued
as huntsman with him until 1864, when he retired.

Sport seems to have risen to a high standard
during Mr. Parrington' s time, and from a diary
still in his possession I extract in his own words
the records of some of the best days he had :

'' Tuesday, February 26th 1861.— Met at
Hurworth; found a brace or leash of foxes in
Mr. Wilkinson's cover at Neasham; chopped one
instantly. At the same moment another broke
away to Dinsdale Wood, with which we got away
on pretty good terms. He left the wood a little
west of the Asylum, and ran a ring at a good
pace to Grey's Plantations, where presently
several foxes were on foot and began to ring
about in all directions, so stopped the hounds
and trotted away to Mr. Surtees's Plantation.
Found quickly ; broke almost in view to the east,
ran a ring nearly back to the Plantation, and then
went straight away to the Fish Locks, where the
hounds fairly chased down their fox in splendid
style after a magnificent burst of twelve minutes ;
a fine old vixen-fox. Tried Bolton Park, then
on to Mill Wood, where we unkennelled a fine old
dog-fox ; forced him away at a racing pace past
Mr. Grace's to West Wood, thence to Pettly,

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS iii

and away to Mr. Surtees's Plantations ; then a
ring in the open, and back to the Plantations ;
then away to Bolton Park, on to opposite Girsby
Village, where he crossed the Tees ; then pointed
for the Fish Locks, where, turning to the right, he
went direct towards Long-Backed House, crossed
Staindale, and away through Beverley Wood ;
then turned away to Allen's Plantations and down
to the Tees west of Sockburn, was headed short
back to Allen's Plantations, away for Eryholme ;
then turning past Brick House, ran again for the
Tees ; viewed him ere he reached the river, and ran
into him in the stream after a most magnificent
run of one hour and five minutes from Sockburn
without a check ; a fine old dog-fox, and igl
couples of hounds out, only one couple wanting
at the last whoo-hoop. The fox we chopped
in the morning proved to be the fox we had such a
severe run with from Fighting Cocks on Saturday.
A most capital day's sport, only eleven horsemen
out of a very large field saw the finish.

'' Saturday, gth November 1861. — Met at High
Worsall Toll Bar. Found in the Whin; broke
at the north end away for Worsall Gills, which he
left on his right, and running a ring over Worsall
Moor brought us to Picton Plantations ; right
through, leaving Picton village on his right, and
also Kirklevington Mill, ran direct to a drain
near Yarm, which he found stopped ; at this point
the hounds had a moment's check, after running
their fox for thirty minutes at a most terrific pace,
and scattering the field all over the country.

112 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Our fox struggled on to Scarfit Hill, where a lot
of fresh foxes came to his rescue; the hounds
divided and eventually we lost him. Found
again in Worsall Gills ; broke away past Farden-
side, pointing for Girsby, then wheeled round
and away as the crow flies to Worsall Toll Bar
Cover, which he passed close by, running forward
for Kirklevington, turned for Picton, and ran a
ring back to the Toll Bar Cover (time to this point,
forty minutes). Our fox now hung in the cover
for nearly an hour ; at last he was compelled
to quit, and broke away to Mr. Waldy's Planta-
tion, thence to Mourie Bank, along by the margin
of the Tees to the railway at Yarm, then to the
right of Kirklevington Lane, crossed the railway
and pointed to Mr. MeynelFs Woods ; but, as he
had not strength to jump the boundary wall,
he turned back across the railway past the brick-
yards, where the hounds caught a view and ran
into him on the edge of the Tees after a mag-
nificent run of two hours and a quarter — a splendid
old dog-fox. A fine crisp morning, and good
scenting day ; had nineteen couples of hounds out.
Many of our field went home satisfied after the
first run. There never was a better day's sport
than this with hounds.

'' Saturday, ist February 1862. — Met at High
Worsall Toll Bar. Found in the cover instanter,
and away he went pointing for Picton Planta-
tions, which he left on his right ; then forward
to Picton village and to the railway, which he
did not cross, but ran parallel with it nearly to

FOX-HUNTING RFXOLLECTIONS 113

Kirklevington drain ; then turning he ran for the
cover again at the Toll Bar^ which he did not
enter, however, but left it short to his left, and
pointed for Worsall Gills; but swinging to the
left he ran over Worsall Moor, crossed Staindale,
and away, leaving Appleton Wiske on his right,
to Welbury Village, which he left suddenly on
his left, and turned away for Deighton; and
still bending his course, he again crossed the
Wiske, and running over the pasture in front of
Hornby Grange he made the best of his way
apparently for Beverley Wood, but strange to
say he turned away from it when within half a
field, and running for Smeaton Village, which
he passed close on the east end, he again got to
the Wiske and struggled on to near Hornby
Grange, where he was killed after one of the best
runs ever known in the Hurworth country. Of
one hour and forty minutes very fast from end to'
end, and barring a slight check soon after he
broke cover, there was no sobbing time afforded
for anyone ; consequently the horses were dread-
fully beaten, and were left planted all over the
country. The style in which the bitch pack
did their work was most excellent ; they ran with
wonderful head from end to end, and only one
hound (old Marigold) was wanting at the finish.
I may particularly mention Timely Music and
Dewdrop as always being in the van. Amongst
the sportsmen who were lucky enough to be out
to-day, I may say that Messrs. Cookson, William-
son, C. Simpson, and Garbutt went very well

114 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

for the first twenty minutes, but at the end of an
hour they were all more or less beaten. I was
lucky enough to have a second horse, and, chang-
ing near Deighton, I managed to keep with the
hounds to the finish. A remarkable fine old
dog - fox ; had eighteen couples out, including
three doghounds. This run I now think the
best I had during the four seasons I hunted the
Hurworth.

'' Thursday, 6th November 1863. — In spite of
a very dense fog we threw off at noon in Blackman
Cover ; found directly ; broke at the N.W. corner,
and, running north a couple of fields, turned to
the right across the turnpike road and away to
Briar Flat Wood ; then turned sharp back up
the riverside and crossed to the Batts, ran their
whole length, and then recrossed into Dalton
Wood, and passing Dalton Village went to
ground in a drain by the railway side after a
clipping burst of twenty-four minutes, most of
which was only seen by myself on account of the
fog. After a good deal of delay in procuring
a terrier the fox was bolted, and went away
pointing for Clervaux Castle, which he left
on the right, and then pointing for Halnaby,
ran a ring back to the railway, and crossed the
line running for Blackman Cover, which he ran
past and crossed the road, going direct for Forty
Acres ; but after getting within a couple of
hundred yards of the Cover, he suddenly changed
his course, and wheeling round to the right he ran
close past Blackman House and then away for

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 115

Cowton Plantations. Most unfortunately the
hounds divided at the railway, one half running
up the line and the other half crossing to the
west, which I followed in order to get the hounds
off the line, and we lost at Cowton Village. We
afterwards discovered that the other half of
the hounds with the run fox went straight up
the railway to the earths near Cowton Station,
where they ran their fox to ground. In their
chase up the line they unluckily met a train, and
one of them, Dainty, was run over and killed on
the spot.

'' This run from the drain to the point where
the hounds divided, was exactly one hour and
five minutes, and was undoubtedly first class
from beginning to end. The pace was tremendous
all the way, and only four of the field kept them
in view, namely, the Master on his brown horse.
Colonel Scurfield on Sambo, young Mr. Fowle of
Northallerton on a chestnut horse, and myself
on Lady Bennett, and never during the whole
chase were we able to see more than seventy
or one hundred yards ahead of us on account of
the fog."

From 1865 to 1869 the Hurworth Master was
Major Elwon (the owner of Plaudit) ; then
again the same Mr. Cookson (a breeder of some
famous racehorses. Mincemeat, Kettledrum,
Dundee, and many others). In 1873 he retired
in favour of Lord Castlereagh (the present

ii6 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Marquis of Londonderry), who was M.F.H. for
two seasons, with George Dodds as his huntsman ;
then Major Godman, formerly of the Carabiniers ;
then Mr. Cookson once more came to the rescue,
and after him Mr. W. H. A. Wharton of Skelton
Castle from 1884 to 1886, when he left to take
the hounds in Cleveland.

For that position he was well adapted, as who
could be more fitting as Master of the Cleveland
Hunt than the Squire of Skelton Castle ; and long
may he continue to enjoy prosperity in that
office.

In the spring of 1886 I took over the Hurworth
and hunted the country five days a fortnight
for two seasons ; I found that I required more
hounds, and Lord Lonsdale, who was at that
time hunting the Blankney country, kindly
let me purchase about eighteen couples of his
beautiful Blankney bitches ; they were of the
same old sort which I had always liked so much,
and I was very lucky to get hold of them, for
they helped me to show sport in the famous
Hurworth country.

Will Nicoll, from the Cleveland, came as
Kennel Huntsman and first whip : a capital
fellow to go out hunting with, and he did very
well for me. William Rees, from the Wheatland,
came as second whip, but in the following season

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 117

I got George Tongue from Earl Ferrers in his
place, and he turned out a most useful fellow ;
nowadays he is huntsman to the Essex Union
Hunt.

While with the Hurworth I had nothing
but grey horses both for myself and the servants.
Some people seem to think it such a difficult
matter to collect a lot of hunters of one colour.
I never could see why. Perhaps there might
be a difficulty sometimes in providing the money
to pay for them, but to find horses of the right
colour was easy enough.

The Hurworth is bounded on the north by
the South Durham ; on the west by Lord Zetland
and the Bedale ; on the east by the Cleveland.

A vale of stiff clay with a certain amount
of plough, but plenty of grass, especially in the
Northallerton district, and on the whole I should
call it a better scenting country than some of
its neighbours. The Tees, the Leven, and the
Wiske intersect the district, and although these
rivers were no serious obstacle to the fox and
a pack of hounds, they sometimes proved an
impediment to those who followed the chase.

In my time there were some capital gorse
coverts, notably, Fighting Cocks, Elton, and
Farrer's Whin on the Durham side ; then south of
the Tees there were famous gorses at Welbury,

ii8 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Deighton, Worsall, Trenholm, Stank, Winton,
and Oliver's Whin.

I have known nothing more dehghtful in
all my hunting career than some of those fast
gallops from Welbury or Winton to the hills.
The following account appeared in a North-
allerton newspaper of one of the best runs which
took place in my time : —

'' On Thursday, gth February 1888, had a
bye-day at Sigston Bridge. The weather was
all that could be desired. A small and select
field met to enjoy the sport. First drew Sigston
Wood; got on a drag at once; hunted slowly
into Landmoth Wood, where a brace of foxes
were on foot. We went away past Beacon Hill
and Marigold Hill, across the Carrs to Spring
Wood and on to Low Silton, where scent failed
and he was lost. The hounds were then trotted
away to Winton Whin, where they at once
found Reynard at home. Without hesitating
a moment he broke at the north-west corner
of the covert as if for Welbury, with the hounds
close at him, but quickly changing his course,
he left Harlsey Castle to the left, over Mr. Raper's
farm, crossed the Harlsey Road, through Brun-
cliffe Whins, away over the Thirsk and Yarm
Road near where the old toll-bar stood, into
Arncliffe Wood ; the pace up to this point was
terrific, the bitch pack fairly racing over this
beautiful bit of country. Without stopping a

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 119

moment they dashed up the big wood, and
were for a short time lost to view. The horse-
men taking the road up the wood past Mount
Grace, had the good luck to find the hounds
had come to a check near Lady Chapel, but the
gallant Master (Sir R. Graham) being on the
spot quickly, caught hold of his beautiful little
ladies and, making a galloping cast to the left,
hit off his fox.

*' They then ran parallel with the Wood to
the top of the Cliff, where they turned full east,
racing over the open moor to Scarth Neck, over
the Swainby and Osmotherley Road past Wild
Goose Nest, skimming the enclosures like a flock
of pigeons and topping the walls like greyhounds.

*' Leaving Slapestones on the left they dashed
into the valley over the stream into Thimbleby
Wood, where this gallant fox saved his brush,
or rather all that was left of it (for he was a bob-
tailed one), by going to ground in the Alum
Works.

'' Time from find to finish, fifty-five minutes,
with only the slight check above named.

'' Distance at least nine miles, and taking
into consideration the nature of the country,
particularly the latter part of it, this must be
acknowledged as one of the fastest and best runs
of the season.''

This was a real good day, and no one rode
better than the Rev. Charles Atkinson, at that
time the Rector of Sigston, near Northallerton,

120 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

a capital sportsman and often out with the
Hurworth Hounds on that side of the country.

In the vicinity of Hurworth the Scurfield
family have for long owned a considerable estate,
on which their numerous coverts were well
looked after, in fact they were '' model lodging-
houses '' whence foxes were always forthcoming.
Probably in these days there are many other
coverts of equal note, but I only mention some
of those which existed in former times.

There was not much woodland in the country,
Beverley on the north and Cotcliffe on the south
were the largest strongholds ; but on the south-
east corner came the big woods of Thimbleby
and Arncliffe, and it was hereabouts that the
boundary was joined by the Bilsdale, a moorland
hunt and a trencher-fed pack which had existed
for ages . Sometimes they came on the line of a fox
into the heart of the Hurworth Vale, and tradition
had it that they were not very particular about
what they did on these occasions. One of their
Masters, Mr. Nicholas Spink of Bilsdale, ran a fox
down to Welbury Whin, dug him out there, and
took him away in a sack. This occurred when
Lord Castlereagh was Master of the Hurworth,
who at once wrote through his Hunt Secretary
to remonstrate with the Bilsdale M.F.H. on his
gross breach of hunting customs, which resulted

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 121

in a letter containing the following curt reply :
'' We alius dig. — Nicholas Spink/'

I will quote from my diary two or three of
the good days which took place in my time :

'' Tuesday, 15th March 1887.— Met at Great
Burdon ; sixteen couple of doghounds ; snow on
the ground and very cold ; drew the quarry and
found a brace ; killed one and took the other by
Fighting Cocks up to Foxhills in the South
Durham country, and lost him there. Went back
to draw Fighting Cocks ; found directly, and away
by Goose Pool and Burn Wood to Foxhills again,
and back as hard as we could go to where we
found him at Fighting Cocks. I saw the fox go
into the covert apparently dead beat, but a heavy
snow-storm came on and we never picked him
up. It was snowing most of the day, and only
three or four people out ; the coldest day I ever
remember.

'' Saturday, 5th November 1887.— Met at Wel-
bury ; sixteen and a half couples of bitches ;
drew the Whin, four or five foxes there ; ran one
to ground in five minutes, then raced away with
another towards the hills, where he turned back
and we caught him at Rounton Grange ; thirty-
five minutes and a good gallop. Drew Deighton
Whin blank, then to Appleton Spinney ; a capital
thirty minutes up to Staindale, and stopped them
at dusk ; a good many strangers came by rail
from York.

'' Tuesday, 27th March 1888.— Met at Long

122 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Roofed House; seventeen couples of bitches; drew
Worsall Whin; ran hard for thirty-five minutes
and lost him at Kirklevington. Drew Pease's
Plantation ; very fast twenty - five minutes to
ground. Went off to draw Staindale ; capital
gallop for thirty minutes to ground at Deighton.
A screaming scent all day, and my diary says, ' A
very good day's sport/ ''

My Hunt Secretary was Mr. A. Park of
Newbus Grange, who kept a watchful eye on the
coverts, the finances, and other affairs of the Hunt,
and I must not forget the names of one or two old
Hurworth friends of those days who have since
passed away.

There was Tom Wilkinson of Neasham Abbey,
a keen sportsman who often acted as field-master
when I was hunting the hounds. He kept a pack
of otter-hounds, and was devoted to that pursuit ;
indeed it was from a chill which he caught on the
river at his favourite summer sport that he died,
after a short illness, in the prime of life many years
ago. As Wordsworth puts it — '' A man he was,
of cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows,''
much beloved in his own country.

Then there was Lord Henry Vane-Tempest,
who often turned up from Wynyard and elsewhere
to have a day with us. He thought there was
nothing like the Hurworth, and would travel any

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 123

distance to reach them. On his celebrated grey
horse Cracker no one could beat and very few
follow him ; but probably that was the case with
him on any horse and in any country.

It always delighted me to find him at the
meet, as, if it was a likely hunting morning and
everything promised well, he would invariably ride
up to me, pointing his whip first at the Blankney
bitches and then towards the sky, murmuring
in confidential accents, '' There's blood in the air
to-day," evidently the happy omen being in his
mind that we should certainly catch a fox before
it was dark.

During his later years he hunted chiefly from
Melton Mowbray, and it was there that he died
very suddenly in January 1905. Kindly and
courteous by nature, he was deeply and widely
regretted by all who knew him.

At that time, when living at Norton Conyers,
a long twenty-seven miles from the Hurworth
Kennels, I found the pilgrimage to and fro on
hunting days rather more than I could well
manage, but no distance was too far and no
weather too bad for Lady Graham, who was out
almost every day.

There were no motors in those days, and the
railway opportunities were often a most uncertain
advantage at the end of a long run, when the

124 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

afternoons were short of daylight ; but there were
other considerations also which induced me to
resign.

My successor was Mr. William Forbes of
Callendar, who had much previous experience
as Master of the Kildare Hounds in Ireland. I
sold my Blankney lot to Lord Chesham, who at
that time had the Bicester, and it was with very
great regret I said farewell to the Hurworth
country on the ist May 1888.

CHAPTER VIII

NORTON CONYERS

Norton Conyers is situated on the river Yore
some four miles north of the city of Ripon ;
there is some difficulty in fixing the exact date
when the quaint old house was built, but no
doubt can exist that it was standing in the reign
of Henry vii.

The ancient family of Norton were in posses-
sion from very early times until they became
involved in the Rising of the North in 1569. A
remarkable chapter of English history was that
in which those who clung to the old faith staked
their lives in its cause, many perishing ; while
others like the Earl of Westmorland, who left
historic Raby behind him, and the venerable
Richard Norton, fled to Flanders and were
known in England no more.

The story of Norton was taken by Words-
worth as the theme of his '' White Doe of Ryl-
stone,'' in which he accepts the tale as told in

the old ballad of the mission of Earl Percy's

125

126 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

little foot-page to Master Norton, a summons
which he could not resist :

" * Come you hither, my nine good sonnes,
Gallant men I trowe you be,
How many of you, my children deare,
Will stand by that good erle and me.'

Eight of them did answer make.

Eight of them spake hastilie,
' Oh father, till the day we dye,

We'll stand by that good erle and thee.'"

And so went forth old Richard Norton with
his banner bearing the cross and the five wounds
of our Lord. His family were entirely ruined
and his estates confiscated, though only one of
his sons was executed, while he himself escaped
to the Low Countries.

After the attainder of the Nortons, thei
estates were forfeited to the Crown, and subse
quently Norton Conyers passed by a marriage
with the Musgraves to the Grahams, descended
through '' John of the Bright Sword '* from
the Scottish Earls of Monteith and Strathearn.
The first of the Grahams at Norton Conyers
was the Royalist Sir Richard Graham '' of the
Netherby clan,'' who had married the daughter
and heiress of Thomas Musgrave. He was
Gentleman of the Horse to James i., was created
a Baronet in 1629, ^^^ distinguished himself at

i

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 127

Edgehill and Marston Moor, where he was
desperately wounded and rode from the field of
battle many miles to Norton, then through the
Hall and up the stairway, where the print of the
horse's hoof is still shown to this day.

The exterior of the Manor House has but
little claim to architectural beauty, but it falls
well into its woodland surroundings of sycamores
and other trees of great size.

On the northern side is the historic bowling-
green on which King Charles i. passed five
consecutive days in his favourite amusement
while waiting for supplies.

Within the old oak hall, covered with ancestral
portraits, is the broad staircase of the legend,
ascending by the big mullioned window with
many coats - of - arms towards the panelled
King's Room, which was occupied by more than
one of the Royal Stuarts.

Many generations of Grahams had come and
gone from the old house at Norton before the
time of the last Sir Belhngham, born in 1789
and for seventy years a Baronet.

One point of special interest in connection
with Norton Conyers is, that many consider it
to be the original of '' Thornfield Hall '' in Jane
Eyre, that most fascinating of all the Bronte
works, though others lean to the belief that the

128 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

place was intended for the '' Ry dings " near
BirstaU.

In that interesting book, the Bronte Country,
Mr. Ersk^'ne Stuart expresses his conviction that
Charlotte Bronte had Norton Conyers in her
mind, and he gives many reasons for his opinion
in the following words : — '' There are also the
rookery and the gardens; but this is not all,
the interior of the hall oak, panelled and covered
with portraits of men in armour, the brass
handles and the double doors, the untenanted
upper storey, the position of the housekeeper's
room, and the broad oak staircase, all answer
to the description in Jane Eyre''

Halfway between historic Ripon and the old
Marmion Tower at Tanfield, in the picturesque
valley of the Yore, in a country rich in natural
beauty and full of history, there stands the old
gabled house of Norton. The adjacent lands
and woods, following the course of the river, are
situated on the south side of what is known as
the Bedale country.

The Bedale Hunt lies almost entirely in the
North Riding ; on the north it adjoins Lord
Zetland's territory, on the east the Hurworth,
and on the south the York and Ainsty.

The country originally formed part of the
immense Raby Hunt so long hunted by the Earl

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 129

of Darlington (afterwards Duke of Cleveland),
but owing to failing health he gave up that
portion which has since been called the Bedale
Hunt, in 1832 ; and at that date Mr. Mark
Milbank of Thorp Perrow became the Bedale
Master, his reign extending to 1856. During the
early part of his career Mr. Milbank hunted the
hounds himself, and his two whippers-in were
named Barwick and Mason. About twenty
couples of his hounds came from Scotland, and
the remainder consisted of drafts from other
packs. Although coming from so many sources
into a new country, his pack seems to have had
fair success, as during their first season they
hunted on seventy-three days and killed forty-
six foxes. In their second season they hunted
ninety-six days and killed seventy foxes.

Why is it, I wonder, that a new pack collected
by drafts from many kennels, and all strange to
one another, should at first almost invariably
work well together and catch their foxes ?

On this subject Beckford had something to
say, for he tells us : '' There is a pack now in my
neighbourhood, of all sorts and sizes, which
seldom miss a fox. When they run there is a
long string of them, and every fault is hit off by an
old southern hound. However, out of the last
eighteen foxes they hunted they killed seventeen,
9

130 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

and I have no doubt as they become more
complete more foxes will escape from them.
Packs which are composed of hounds of various
kinds seldom run well together, nor do their
tongues harmonise, yet they generally, I think,
kill most foxes ; but I must confess that, unless I
like their style of killing them, whatever may be
their success, I cannot be completely satisfied/'

I can well remember old Squire Milbank : in
fact he blooded me out on a pony with his hounds
when about five years old, not many yards from
the spot where the Bedale Hunt assemble in
the present day whenever they meet at Norton
Conyers once or twice in the course of every
winter. His Mastership seems to have been
successful, as the Hunt picture (of which the
engraving is so well known) bears the following
inscription :

''Presented to Mark Milbank, Esq., 17th
December 1842, by members of the Bedale
Hunt and other gentlemen, at the annual Hunt
Dinner given by him as Master of the Bedale
Hounds."

Portraits of the following gentlemen appear
in the picture : Mr. Milbank and his hunt servants,
Lord Zetland, Duke of Leeds, Duke of Cleveland,
Sir Bellingham Graham, Colonel Pepper Arden,
Mr. Sergeantson, Hon. Sackville Lane Fox, Hon.

i

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 131

John Dundas, M.P., Hon. Thomas Dundas, M.P.,
Capt. Van Straubenzee, Major Healey, Mr.
Anthony Maynard, Mr. John Booth, Sir John
Beresford, Sir Edward Dodsworth, Mr. John
Bell of Thirsk, and others.

Then again in 1838 we find that a Bedale
Hunt Song was composed in his honour by the
Rev. John Monson, the Rector of Bedale, an
excellent sportsman and very hard rider, of whom
Lord Darlington in one of his diaries says : '* I
cannot omit to mention that the Rev. John
Monson shone as conspicuously this day on his
grey mare as in the pulpit, and was alone with
the hounds over Ainderby Mires when they
killed at last, near Thornhills willow bed."

There is an old Latin proverb which, when
converted into English says : '' If a man is not
born a poet you cannot make him one,'' and I
think that anyone will be inclined to agree with
that maxim who reads the following ditty, which
some fifty or sixty years ago was invariably
sung year after year at every Bedale Hunt Club
Dinner with acclamation : —

THE BEDALE HOUNDS IN 1838

"Here's to the old ones of fox-hunting fame,
Cleveland, Ralph Lamb ton, and Hare wood ;
Here's to the young ones that after them came,
Who will not say that they are good ?

132 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Here's to the Master ^ well skilled in the art

To kill an old fox in all weathers ;
Here's to the riders, all ready to start,

Brilliant in boots and in leathers.

Here's to the hounds, all vigour and bone.

In condition excelling all others ;
Here's to old Barwick,^ who stands quite alone

In cheering them on through the covers.

Here's to the Sportsmen, I give you each name.
Their feats and their fortunes in detail ;

North Riding heroes, all eager for fame.
To be reaped in the country of Bedale.

On Borderer mounted see Milbank ride,
Three hundred won't buy such a horse, sir ;

Limbs with no check to their freedom of stride,
Wind without whistle or cough, sir.

'Tally Ho! Toot-a-toot ! he is gone,' says the Squire;

Let any one catch them who can, sir,
Who rides with my hounds a good horse will require,

And himself he must be a good man, sir.

Here's to the Duke,^ if he leads not still Leeds,
To borrow a joke from His Grace, sir ;

A nobleman true, both in word and in deeds.
And the firmest support of the chase, sir.

Here's to the Graeme,* who does not disdain
In a north- country province to ride, sir ;

Forgetting that once, thro' the Leicestershire plain.
Scarce a rival could live by his side, sir.

^ Mr. Milbank of Thorp Perrow, died 1882.
^ Mr. Milbank's first whip.
3 The 6th Duke of Leeds.
* Sir Bellingham Graham.

i

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLFXTIONS 133

Here's to the Colonel/ if warm be his name,

Both that and his heart go together ;
In pleasant discourse, whilst we ride down the lane,

Let us be in no hurry to sever.

Here's to friend George, the beau of Camphill,

A good one, if fast be the chase, sir.
To pass him, I tell you, requires as much skill

As Fieschi, when he won the race, sir.

Here's to the Baron of Sawley, so sly, —

Here's to his horse that is black, sir ;
Forgetting that always a crow cannot fly,

He fell o'er a fence on his back, sir.

Here's to Straubenzee, the dashing and bold,
Taking all in his stroke like a man, sir ;

And the pith of the story remains to be told —
You can't shake him off from the ' Van,' sir.

Here's to the Major, the gallant and true,

In riding to no one he'll yield, sir ;
See, he brings by his side a young damsel in view,

To beat half the men in the field, sir.

Here's to Dundases,^ both Thomas and John,

They come but to make us remember
How short is their stay — for to London they're gone

Ere the end of the month of November.

Here's to the young ones, whose race scarce begun,
Young Mark, and the ensign, his brother ;

They show of a stock most goodly they come.
As they tread in the steps of their father.^

^ Colonel Pepper Arden.

'^ Sons of the ist Earl of Zetland.

^ Mr. Milbank's sons.

134 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

The gallant, the ardent, of promise so fair,

The Beresford brothers they bring ;
A word from my pen must give them their share

Of the honours and glories I sing.

Many good ones remain — Hodgson, Crompton, and Tower,
Fox, Ward, and the young one from Norton ;

But to mention them all is not in my power,
So, surely, it cannot be thought on.

And here's to the Squire of Thirsk, Jack Bell,i
Who supports both the chase and the turf, sir ;

He will not, unless he likes it, go well,

Tho' the hounds may run ever so fast, sir.

Here's a bumper to Milbank, the source of our sport —

A bumper to him and his hounds, sir ;
Brim-full it shall be of the finest old Port,

Where health and good humour abound, sir.

And may we all flourish till green our old age is.
Such fun and such sport to pursue, sir ;

And your * lame ' humble poet to be hanged now engages
If his composition's not true, sir."

By the Rev. John Monson,
Rector of Bedale, 1838.

After Mark Milbank came the Hon. Ernest
Duncombe (now Earl of Feversham) for eleven
years ; then Mr. John Booth of Killerby for
another eleven years; but when he started the
country does not seem to have been in a pros-
perous state, as during his first season his pack
only killed eleven foxes and had fourteen blank

^ Master of the Hambleton Hounds.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 135

days. Later on matters improved and he showed
some good sport, hunting them himself until he
retired in the summer of 1878. After his time
there were many Masters of the Bedale, including
Major Dent, Mr. G. W. Elliot, M.P., Captain
Wilson Todd, and the Duke of Leeds. To all
of these Fred Holland was huntsman, a keen
and cheerful man much liked by the farmers,
who retired in 1902, after twenty years' service,
with a testimonial of about £1000, and went to
live at Masham, where he recently died.

The Duke of Leeds hunted the country
regardless of expense for six seasons, from 1898
to 1904. I think the best day which I saw in
his time was on the 24th January 1900, when he
was hunting the hounds himself. They met at
Norton Conyers and found a real good fox in
Guy's Whin; ran by Nosterfield nearly to Low
Park ; then to the right, crossing the Bedale
Road between Carthorpe and Burneston, up to
Leeming Lane, where he was headed and turned
short back, leaving Kirkington on his right, down
to Sutton Howgrave across Parkfield Farm to
the covert where he was found. Luckily they
did not change there, and he went away over the
South Park at Norton, where I saw him nearly
done, but lie managed to jump the high wall
near our Ripon Lodge gates. Only about half

136 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

the pack got over the wall, but they coursed him
in view and caught him in the open at the end
of the next field. It was a very good run, and I
never saw anyone more delighted than the Duke
was at the finish, when he and Mr. Amcotts
Wilson started on their homeward journey of
fifteen miles from Norton Conyers to Hornby
Castle. It was a very old dog-fox, and he kindly
had the head mounted and sent to our house,
where it hangs to this day.

A few days later I had a tombstone placed
on the spot to commemorate the event, with '' Hie
Jacet '' and the date thereon. The Bedale second
whipper-in at that time had rather a hump
on his back, and went by the nickname of
'' Humpy.'' This hump almost seemed to act
as an accumulator, for he had a singularly shrill
hallo. The following season the hounds were
trotting along to draw, and, as we passed this
spot, I pointed with my whip towards the tomb-
stone, and said to '' Humpy,'' '' You remember
what happened there ? " He had not a retentive
memory apparently, for he at once exclaimed,
'' Poor gentleman ! was he killed on the
spot ? "

On the Duke's retirement the Hunt, in ap-
preciation of his services, presented him with a
testimonial in the form of a silver fox, from a

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 137

model which had formerly been designed by Sir
Edgar Boehm.

In 1904, Mr. Moubray started as the new
Master, with Frank Freeman as his huntsman,
and probably the present excellence of the pack
is to some extent due to the way in which he
handled them for two seasons. It was an un-
lucky day for the Master and the Hunt when
Freeman forsook the Bedale for the white collar
of the Pytchley.

Another northern Pack is Lord Zetland's,
formerly the old Raby Hunt, which was hunted
by Lord Darlington (afterwards ist Duke of
Cleveland), for at least fifty years. He began
with a turn of the Badsworth country, where he
was celebrated in song as follows :

** Then first in the burst, see dashing away,
Taking all in his stroke on Ralpho the grey ;
With persuaders in flank, comes Darlington's peer,
With his chin sticking out and his cap on one ear."

He then undertook the immense territory
of both the Raby and the Bedale countries, until
he gave up the latter in 1832, the former in 1839,
and died in 1842. Throughout life he was also
an immense pillar on the turf, and the pink-and-
black stripes were victorious all over England.

When *'Nimrod'' visited Yorkshire in 1826,
Lord Darlington was then in his 37th season

138 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

and at that time it was asserted that, except upon
occasions when duty called him to the House of
Lords, he had only missed three days with his
pack during that long period.

It was said that he never shirked any part of
the hunting business by leaving it to others, but
was content to go through the cub -hunting
himself season after season.

In those days there was probably no other
record in the history of sport which could compare
with the description of that famous establishment
at Raby, as during Lord Darlington's long reign
the Hunt was maintained entirely by his own
resources, and the scale upon which matters were
conducted is perhaps shown by the fact that he
paid ;^340 a year to his tenants north of the Tees
for the rent of his own fox coverts.

However long the day's work, he never missed
making notes of the sport in his Diary before that
day was over, and this hunting chronicle he
allowed to be published from year to year under
the name of '* The Operations of the Raby
Pack."

After his death in 1842, at the age of seventy-
six, he was succeeded by his son, who afterwards
became known as Duke Henry. As the country
had not been hunted for the previous three or four
years, some of the fox coverts had got into bad

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 139

condition, and many of them had disappeared
altogether, so Duke Henry estabhshed a pack
of staghounds for some time ; but after the
coverts were restored and foxes had again became
plentiful, he turned his staghounds into fox-
hounds, took possession of the old Raby country,
and all went well for some years to come.

When this duke died in 1861 the same state
of things appears to have occurred again, until
1866, when Mr. Cradock of Hartforth came to the
rescue and started a pack, which he got together
by drafts from various kennels. During his first
season they hunted sixty-nine days, killed four-
teen brace of foxes, and had five blank days.
The second season of 1867-68 they hunted
seventy- three days, killed ten brace, and had four
blank days. Then in 1870, Thomas Bridger
Champion was secured as huntsman, and matters
continued to improve until Mr. Cradock' s resigna-
tion in 1876, when the present Lord Zetland
became M.F.H., and has since hunted the
country.

Some years ago the members of his Hunt
presented him with a picture, by Heywood
Hardy, representing a meet of the hounds in
front of Aske Hall. In addition to those of Lord
Zetland, Champion, and other hunt servants,
there were portraits of Sir William Eden of

140 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Windlestone, Mr. Gilpin Brown of Sedbury, Mr.
R. A. Morritt of Rokeby, Lord Londonderry,
Lord Henr}^ Vane-Tempest, Colonel Wilson of
Cliffe, Captain Wilson Todd of Halnaby, Mr.
Cradock of Hartforth, Mr. W. Scarth of Stain-
drop, Hon. Thomas Dundas, Lady Alice Dundas,
Lady Hilda Dundas, Mr. Herbert Straker, Mr. J.
Fife, Mr. W. Foster, and others; a pleasing picture,
in which it is shown that now, as in the old days
of Raby, the hunt still wear the black velvet
collar and gold fox.

What real pleasure it was to hunt with Lord
Zetland ! Ever courteous and considerate to his
field, he never deviated from the one object in his
mind, and that was to show sport. To carry
out that endeavour he was ably seconded by
Champion, a brilliant man after a fox, a fine
horseman, with a good voice, and keen to show
a gallop at any hour of the morning or the
evening ; according to my views he was an ideal
huntsman.

How many pleasant weeks year after year have
I passed at Aske, that charming home of Lord and
Lady Zetland, where hospitality is unbounded.

For the purpose of hunting in that country, I
often stayed with Mr. Gilpin Brown at Sedbury, a
sportsman of the old school who could go a long
way back into history of the Raby Hunt.

i

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 141

At Rokeby also, that romantic spot beloved
of Walter Scott :

" 'Twas a fair scene. The sunbeam lay
On battled tower and portal grey :
And from the grassy slope he sees
The Greta flow to meet the Tees ;
Where, issuing from her darksome bed,
She caught the morning's eastern red,
And through the softening vale below
Roird her bright waves in rosy glow."

How often did I visit there in the time of
Robert Ambrose Morritt, that humorous and
vivacious Squire whose retentive memory and
fund of anecdote rendered him a delightful
companion and the best of company.

One word more about the old Raby Hounds.
On reflection it seems a sad pity that an historic
pack, hunted by such a celebrated sportsman as
Lord Darlington for over fifty years, should have
been dispersed to the winds by auction two or
three years before he died in 1842. Where are
the descendants nowadays of that once splendid
pack ?

One might almost as well ask what has become
of Osbaldeston's noted blood, and where, indeed,
are the descendants of his famous Furrier ?

Sometimes we find in the present day that
the celebrity of a distinguished M.F.H. hardly
survives even his own lifetime.

142 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

A year or two ago I took up a weekly pictorial
paper, with a picture intended to portray the meet
of a pack of foxhounds somewhere in Leicester-
shire. In the foreground was represented an
elderly gentleman on horseback in a hunting-
coat and cap, and underneath were written
these remarkable words : '' The well-known
octogenarian huntsman, ' Mr. Trilby,' was present
on this occasion ! '*

Throughout the sixties England was ringing
with the heroic deeds of Mr. Tailby, and the
hunting world were flocking into Market Har-
borough to follow Tailby and his brilliant pack
over high Leicestershire. He did not even retire
until 1878, and already his very name seems to
be forgotten and distorted.

Trilby indeed, and such is fame !

Notwithstanding the attractions of the Bedale
and Zetland Hunts, I could not be quite happy
without some hounds of my own to hunt ; therefore
for several years I kept a pack of harriers at my
own expense in the old kennels at Norton Conyers.
We all know Jorrocks's opinion on the subject
of harriers. Does he not say, '' I never sees a
chap a-trotting along the turnpike with a
thick stick in his hand and a pipe in his
mouth, but I says to myself, ' There goes a
man well mounted for harriers.* I wouldn't

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 143

be a Master of Muggers for no manner of
money/'

Such, however, were not my ideas on the
subject, so I set to work to buy a pack from
Scotland. Then various Masters of Hounds gave
me a few small bitches which were hardly big
enough for them to enter as foxhounds. Among
others, Mr. Lycett Green kindly gave me five
couples of beautiful animals from the York and
Ainsty, some of them with Belvoir blood. I had
to draft a good many of the Scotch lot before I
could get them to the size and sort which I fancied,
but at last I arrived at about fifteen couples, all
bitches full of quality, and standing exactly 20
inches high.

The first man I had as kennel huntsman was
Will Wootton, who came with the lot from Scot-
land, and I used to hunt them with him and a
second horseman (in green coats and caps) to
whip into me. After him a young fellow named
Charles Greenhow took his place ; and then in
later years, Tom Champion from the Woodland
Pytchley (a son of the huntsman whom I recently
mentioned), a capital hound man and a nice
fellow to go out with, who remained with me
as long as I kept the harriers.

We had plenty of country, lots of grass for
miles round Norton Conyers, and many good

144 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

places to go to in the York and Ainsty country,
notably the Copgrove Estate belonging to Admiral
Sir Francis and Lady Bridgeman, where we had
good sport, and were always welcome. Then Lord
Harewood sometimes gave me a day or two about
Goldsborough when he lived there ; now and
then, also, I had a day on the moors round
about Harrogate, and Mr. Andrew Lawson of
Aldborough, near Boroughbridge, often asked us
over. Then in the Bedale country. Col. FAnson
of Howe, Mr. Nussey, M.P., of Rushwood, and
other neighbours were all capital friends to
the pack. Beckford once said, '' It is a good
diversion in a good country; you are always
certain of sport ; and if you really love to see your
hounds hunt, the hare when properly hunted
will show you more of it than any other
animal.''

I am quite sure that any boy who is destined
to become a good sportsman should be entered
early to harriers, not so much to teach him to ride,
as to teach him not to ride in the wrong place and
at the wrong time. With hare-hounds he will
soon learn to pull up his pony at the least sign
of a check, to sit still, to keep his eyes fixed oni
the pack, and to hold his tongue. It is only tooj
evident in the present day that these simple
lessons have not always been acquired in early

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 145

life by those who later on belong to the fox-
hunting community.

I derived immense enjoyment from the pursuit
of the hare, though in my first season I found her
a difficult animal to catch, and that as far as her
own safety is concerned she has almost more
cunning than the fox ; but I soon became ac-
customed to their ways and to the proper system
of hunting them. My own experience was not
gained entirely from the habits of the Yorkshire
hares, for that genial sportsman Lord Howth
sent me over two or three dozen Irish hares,
captured on his estate at Howth Castle. They
were small in size, and in colour dark
brown, some of them almost purple. I turned
them down, and occasionally we found them
again for the next year or two ; they were
a tough sort, and inclined to run more
straight than the English hares, now and
then giving quite a good point for hare-
hunting.

My belief is that dwarf foxhounds can be

taught to hunt a cunning hare as closely and as

carefully as any old-fashioned southern harriers,

and although my little pack went a good pace

and were full of drive, they could also put their

noses down with a moderate scent. As far as

looks went they were quite up to Peterborough
10

146 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

form, and just the sort I liked to walk about
with on Sunday afternoons.

Over thirty years ago, when I was an M.F.H.,
I happened to be dining one evening at White's
Club with the late Lord Suffolk, who at that time
kept a pack of harriers at Charlton Park.

After dinner our conversation drifted into
the discussion of hunting subjects, and as Mr.
George Lane Fox was seated at an adjacent
table not far off, Lord Suffolk fixed his glass
in his eye (with him a sure sign of mischief) and
boldly inquired from the celebrated Bramham
Moor Master his opinion of hare-hunting. '' I
have always/' he replied, '' understood it to be a
most scientific amusement.''

It seems very doubtful if Peter Beckford
really cared much for the pursuit of the hare ;
does he not tell us in his own words :

'' I never was a hare-hunter. I followed
this diversion more for air and exercise than
amusement, and if I could have persuaded myself
to ride on the turnpike road to the three-mile
stone and back again, I should have thought I ,,.
had no need of a pack of harriers." M

Again, when contrasting the merits between
the slow and the fast hounds for the purpose,
he says :

Viscount Andover (afterwards Earl of Suffolk) and

Sir Reginald Graham, Bart.

1867

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 147

'' It was a difficult undertaking. I bred
many years, and an infinity of hounds, before I
could get what I wanted. I at last had the
pleasure to see them very handsome, small, yet
very bony ; they ran remarkably well together,
ran fast enough, had all the alacrity that you
could desire, and would hunt the coldest scent.
When they were thus perfect, I did as many
others do, I parted with them.''

This is exactly what I did myself in the spring
of 1897, and I have never blown a horn again
since that day. Perhaps I had blown my own
trumpet quite enough already !

With the last century many sporting writers
have come and gone, but amid all that hunting
lore, what is there to compare with " My Winter
Garden,*' that tale so descriptive of Charles
Kingsley and his musings when a hunted fox
crossed the path of his afternoon ride along
the fir - clad heather lands which far and
wide encircled his peaceful rectory at Eversley.
Nothing in the English language can be more
charming than the simple story he told us just
fifty years ago.

Peter Beckford must have been about forty
when he began his letters dated from ''Bristol
Hot Wells, 20th March 1779/' He published
them as a book in 1781, and called it Thoughts

148 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

on Hunting. Since then there have been count-
less works on the same subject, but to this day
Beckford still holds his own as our greatest
authority, and some of his maxims might still
be engraved in eternal brass.

What could be better than this ? '' It is said,
there is a pleasure in being mad, which only mad
men know ; and it is the enthusiasm, I believe,
of fox-hunting which is its best support ; strip
it of that, and you then, I think, had better let
it quite alone/'

I

CHAPTER IX

SIR BELLINGHAM GRAHAM, BART.

As the hunting career of my father, Sir BelHngham
Graham, took place long before my existence,
I must of necessity have occasional recourse to
the writers of those days for any record of what
happened. It seems that he was an M.F.H.
from 1815 to 1826, and between those dates he
was Master of the Badsworth, Atherstone,
Pytchley, Hambledon, Quorn, Albrighton, and
Shropshire Hunts.

Born in 1789, he was just of age in 1810 when
he established a pack of harriers at Norton
Conyers, and had for his whipper-in a young man
named Kit Atkinson, who had come from the
Lord Strathmore of that day, and was destined
in the future to become a celebrated hunt servant.
These harriers were not confined to Yorkshire
entirely, but were often taken into Sussex on
a visit to the Sir Godfrey Webster of that time,
who was then living at Battle Abbey. In Sussex
they not only hunted hares, but on some occasions
a stag was turned out for them.

This went on until the year 1815, when Sir

149

150 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Bellingham became a Master of Fox Hounds by
succeeding Mr. Musters in the Badsworth country.
It is needless to say anything about that famous
sportsman Mr. Musters, who was then acknow-
ledged to be at the head of his profession, and
if he had been as zealous in the details of the
kennel as in those of the field, would have had
a reputation second to none in England at that
time ; as it was, Musters was a difficult Master
to follow. Sir Bellingham appears to have
hunted the Badsworth country for two years,
and apparently with success. He hunted his
hounds himself, with Jack Richards as first and
Kit Atkinson as second whipper-in. Both these
good servants remained until he took the Quorn
six years later, when Jack returned to Badsworth
as huntsman, and Kit was promoted to the same
post in Worcestershire.

Kit's chief mission was to make young horses
into hunters, in which duty he was very capable,
being a good horseman, endowed with excellent
hands, and weighing only nine stone. There
was a good illustration of Kit's nerve later in
the Atherstone country where he was riding
a mare which had shown no signs of making a
hunter throughout her six years, and had given
him some very bad falls. Kit, however, would
not give up hope, and declared that '' she was

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 151

sure to make a good one some day." The
hounds got into Annesley deer park later on,
when Kit came to the pales first and cleared
them, getting well over before anyone else had a
try.

It was in 1816 (during his Badsworth period)
that Sir Bellingham won the St. Leger with a
mare called the Duchess, by Cardinal York,
and it was in 1817 that he left the Badsworth
to commence his Mastership of the Atherstone
country, which he held for three years.

The Atherstone Hunt included a large tract
of country which had seen many changes up to
1815, when that noted sportsman '' Squire ''
Osbaldeston came from Nottinghamshire and
brought his own pack to the Atherstone for a
couple of seasons.

Sir Bellingham hunted the Atherstone hounds
himself, living most of the time at Lindley
Hall, near the town of Atherstone. His estab-
lishment enabled him to hunt five days a week,
and his management apparently gave satisfac-
tion during the three seasons he remained there,
as '' Nimrod,'' in his Hunting Reminiscences,
writes thus :

'' It was a pleasure to any real sportsman
to hunt with Sir Bellingham Graham, because

152 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

he did the thing throughout in a thorough
sportsmanhke style, as fox-hunting ought to be
done ; from the moment he got upon his hunter
until he killed or lost his fox he was intent and
earnest in that pursuit, and the result of his
sportsmanlike conduct was that no man kept
his field in such good order.

'' When Sir Bellingham Graham quitted the
Atherstone country he left behind him a great
regard for his good name and universal regret at
his departure/'

In the year 1820, fascinated by the idea
of Northamptonshire, he left the Atherstone
for the Pytchley, where he succeeded Lord
Althorp and Sir Charles Knightley, but there
he only remained for one season. Troubles of
some kind seem to have arisen which rendered
him unpopular in that country. The ''Druid''
records that '' the foxes were destroyed, even the
mail-coaches were hung with their dead carcases
as a sort of defiance. Still, he fought on, and
determined to have a grand field day. He turned
down seven brace one night, but not a hound
could speak to it in the morning, and he drew
every covert blank again." The result was that
at the end of the season he left the Pytchley
to take over a very different style of country,
namely, the Hambledon Hunt in Hampshire.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 153

He undertook that country for three seasons
from 1 82 1, but as a matter of fact he was only
there for a few months when the Quorn country
was suddenly declared to be vacant.

Mr. Osbaldeston, who was the Master, ad-
dressed the members of the Quorn Hunt by a
letter to the local papers, informing them of the
fact that owing to a recent accident, when he broke
his leg, he felt compelled to give up the country.

Sir Bellingham at once offered to take the
Quorn, which he did through the same medium
of the local paper, and the offer was immediately
accepted. He purchased Osbaldeston's house,
hounds, and horses, and arranged to leave a
portion of his own pack with a whipper-in to
fulfil his engagement with the Hambledon Hunt.
How strange it sounds nowadays to hear of a
Master retiring from a country by a letter to
the county paper; but evidently there were no
Hunt Committees in those days, and they seemed
to have got on very well without them.

By taking the Quorn Sir Bellingham achieved
the distinction, which he alone shared with
Osbaldeston, of hunting that country as well as
the famous Pytchley. They appear to have been
on good terms together, as the Squire went off to
Hampshire in his place and hunted the Hamble-
don country for one season.

154 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

The hunt servants to the Quorn at this time
were Will Staples and Jack Wiggles worth ; the
hounds consisted of Sir Bellingham's original
pack in addition to his purchase of all Osbal-
deston's hounds, with the exception of twenty-five
couples.

At this period the Quorn subscription
amounted to between three and four thousand
pounds, and Sir Francis Burdett, who was one of
the principal subscribers, wrote : '' Put me down
for ;^300, and if that is not enough I am good for
£200 more/'

*' Nimrod '' tells us much about the good sport
of that time, and that during one of the seasons
the '' old pack " killed every fox they found
during the first six weeks. We are also told by
the same writer that, as regards riding. Sir Belling-
ham had quite established his reputation as a
leader among the best heavy-weights of that day.
There was a celebrated run from Glen Gorse to
Stanton Wood, for example, where he particularly
distinguished himself on a horse called Cock
Robin by taking the lead and keeping it until
the finish, although two of the best light-weights
in England, Colonel William Coke and Colonel
George Anson, started within half a field of him,
but never caught him until all was over.

It was about this time that his hunters became

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 155

so famous. The '' Druid " tells us that Lord Ply-
mouth, who could never be called a hard rider, gave
Sir Bellingham a thousand guineas for Beeswax
and Freemason, and that he seldom sold the
horses of his own riding for less than four hundred
guineas each : Parchment, The Baron, and Treacle
all went to Mr. Maxse at this figure ; so did that
handsome grey horse Hesperus, a wonderful
animal over deep country, who went into Mr.
Foljambe's hands at the same price ; but Will
Butler, to whom he was assigned, had to do all his
cub-hunting on him that season before he could
get him quiet enough to suit them there.

There seems no record of what became of those
celebrated hunters Paul, Jerry, and Norton
Conyers, a chestnut horse who could manage
twenty stone and was a splendid gate-jumper.

From the pictures of these horses which are in
my possession it seems as if most of them could
have carried at least eighteen stone, not far off
the weight which their owner must have required
from them.

In the portrait of Treacle there is a likeness
of John Pulfrey, the old stud groom, who after
many years of long and faithful service was
settled in one of the Norton farms, where he died
on the 1st July 1864, aged eighty-three.

One year during the summer months a country-

156 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

looking fellow called upon the Baronet at his
London house and asked him if he would sell
two of his horses. He said he would, that they
were down at Norton Conyers, and that the price
was one thousand guineas. The man paid the sum
in bank notes then and there, and the horses were
never heard of afterwards.

Some time later the same man called again
and asked the price of Beeswax. He was told
five hundred guineas. '' As IVe been a good
customer, I hope you'll make it pounds," said
the man. '' I'll see you damned first," was the
prompt reply.

As a huntsman the critics seem to have found
little fault with Sir Bellingham, except that he was
perhaps too quiet in drawing, and was therefore
at some times apt to draw over his fox ; but his
horses and horsemanship were so good that he
was never long without having an eye on his
hounds, and being able to assist them when in a
difficulty.

It would appear that his custom was to
divide his hounds for hunting days into an old
pack and a young pack, and it is possible that this
system may have had some advantages as
regards uniform pace, but it is doubtful if the
practice would find much favour with huntsmen
of the present day.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 157

''Nimrod" describes the circumstances of a
very severe fall he had with the Quorn.

*' He was killing his fox at the end of a sharp
thing when an ox fence presented itself. Three
first-rate performers were going in the same line,
but they would not have it. Sir Bellingham
never turned his horse, and cleared all but the
rail on the opposite side, which probably his
weight would have broken ; but unfortunately
his horse alighted on one of the posts, and turned
over on the rider's chest. Strange as it may
appear. Sir Bellingham remounted his horse and
rode on ; but he had not proceeded many yards
when he was observed by Sir Harry Goodricke
to be in the act of falling to the ground, but which
he was fortunate enough to prevent. From that
period, about twelve at noon till nine the next
night. Sir Bellingham never knew what had
happened to him : and as he lay under the hay-
stack— whither his friends removed him at the
time of the accident — every moment was expected
to be his last. The pith of the story, however,
is yet to come. He was bled three times the first
day, and confined to his bed five. On the seventh,
to the utter surprise, and indeed annoyance, of
his friends, he was seen in his carriage at Scraptoft,
merely, as he said, ' to see his hounds throw off.'
The carriage not being able to get up to the
spinney. Sir Bellingham mounted a quiet old
horse, placed there, no doubt, for the purpose,
muffled up in a great coat and a shawl, and

158 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

looked on. The fox was found, but took a short
ring and returned, when the hounds came to a
check close to where he was sitting upon his
horse. Will Beck, the huntsman pro tew.., not
being up with his hounds, the Baronet cast them
and recovered his fox. In three fields they
checked again, and Beck made a slow but by no
means brilliant cast. Sir Bellingham saw all
this from the hill, and, no longer a looker-on, he
cantered down to his pack and hit off his fox
again. Things still went on but awkwardly.
Another error was observed, when Sir Bellingham,
annoyed that a large field should be disappointed
of their sport when there was a possibility of
having it, took a horn from the whipper-in (for
he could not speak to them) and got to work again.
The hounds mended their pace ; down went the
shawl in the middle of a field. They improved
upon it ; down went the great-coat in another
field; then he stuck to his hounds in a long
hunting run of an hour and a half over a strongly
fenced country, and had got his fox dead beat
before him, when he was halloed away by one
of his own men to a fresh fox under the Newton
Hills.

*' Now what is to be done ? The excitement
that had carried him thus far was all gone, and
it was all but whoo-hoop. With every appear-
ance of exhaustion, and a face as pale as if he
were dead, he sat himself down on a bank and
faintly exclaimed, ' How am I to get home. Heaven
only knows.' ''

Sir Bellingham Graham, Bart., on the " Baron
1823

'^-

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 159

It was during this Mastership of the Quorn
Hunt that Ferneley, the well-known artist, painted
at Melton Mowbray, in 1822, the celebrated
Quorn picture which included the following
portraits :

Hon. Captain Berkeley, R.N., Hon. George
Anson, Val Maher, Sir Bellingham Graham (on
The Baron), Lord Brudenell, Lord Rancliffe,
Mr. \\Tiyte - Melville, Mr. Greene of Rolleston,
Lord Elcho, Mr. Maxse (on Cognac), Mr. George
Womb well. Marquis of Graham, John Moore,
Colonel Coke (on Advance), Sir James Mus-
grave. Lord Molyneux, Lord Darlington, John
Bushe, Jack White, Ferneley (the artist).

This picture still hangs in the hall at Norton
Conyers, and is said to have cost £2000, a price
which alarmed the Meltonians of those days,
with the result that it was eventually raffled for
at £100 a-piece. It had been arranged that the
winner should be declared by throwing dice,
and most of the competitors w^ere present. Sir
BeUingham was not there, but was represented
by Mr. Maxse, who, after throwing six and five
for himself, had one more throw for his absent
friend, which turned out to be double sixes, and
this won the prize, appropriately enough, for the
Master of the Quorn.

In 1823, Osbaldeston returned to the Quorn,

i6o FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

repurchasing twenty-five couples of his old pack
for £1000, and continued to hunt the country
up to 1827, when he took the Pytchley. His
favourite hounds were Furrier, Flourisher,
Vaulter, Rasselas, Valentine, Hermit, and Rocket.
At one time there were twenty-four and a half
couples by Furrier, a black-and-white dog, who was
bred at Belvoir in 1821 by Saladin from Fallacy.
The Squire sometimes made the whole of his pack
for the day's hunting of hounds by that noted
sire. In 1834 he retired for ever as M.F.H., and
transferred his hounds privately and conditionally
to Mr. Harvey Combe, who took them to the
Old Berkeley Kennels at Rickmansworth. In
1840, still described as '' Mr. Osbaldeston's
hounds,*' they were sold in lots at Tattersall's
and realised £6400, but most of them went back
to Mr. Harvey Combe, and Lord Cardigan bought
ten couples to remain in the Pytchley country.

How interesting it would be nowadays to know
where any of that once famous foxhound blood
is to be found !

Upon the retirement of the famous John
Mytton from the Mastership of the Albrighton
Hunt in 1822, no one could be found to take over
the whole of his country, and the sportsmen
of the district had to rely upon Mr. William Hay,
who hunted the Staffordshire side only from

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS i6i

kennels at Market Drayton, during the season of
1822. At a meeting presided over by Mr. F.
Holyoake, held on the 26th February 1823 ^.t
the Lion Inn, Wolverhampton, a committee was
appointed to raise a subscription of £1000, which
the meeting considered would be sufficient for
hunting the country two days a week from
kennels in any central position, and to discover
'' a proper person to take the management/'
Only a few days later the committee found such
a person in Sir Bellingham Graham, who in a
memorandum dated ist March, agreed to hunt
the country three days a week for the subscrip-
tion named.

He accordingly rented Compton House, near
Kinver, where kennels were built ; he used also
Mr. Mytton's old kennels at Ivetsey Bank for
temporary accommodation when the meets were
on that side. He was not, however, satisfied
with the sport he showed during the winter
1823-4, fo^ ^^ 5^h February it was intimated
at a meeting at the Lion Hotel that, having
given the country a fair trial. Sir Bellingham
had come to the opinion that it would not afford
foxes for three days a week with good sport,
and that he proposed accepting an invitation he
had received from Shrewsbury with the promise

of a subscription, to hunt part of the Shropshire
II

i62 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

country. He undertook, therefore, to hunt the
Albrighton and the Shropshire each four days in
alternate fortnights, and hoped this plan would
meet the continued support of the Albrighton
subscribers.

The arrangement was not altogether successful,
and at the end of the season 1824-5, Sir Belling-
ham resigned the Albrighton, and restricted
himself entirely to Shropshire.

He had in 1823 taken a house situated upon
the Whitchurch Road, within a mile and a half
of Shrewsbury, the property of Mr. Loxdale the
Town Clerk, and here in that year the gentlemen
of the Shrewsbury side of the county had sub-
scribed to build kennels capable of holding a
hundred couple of hounds, with stabling for
twenty-six hunters and six loose boxes. There
was also a temporary kennel at Lee Bridge for
the meets on the Frees side, which contained
some of the best coverts.

The country itself was well off for foxes, and
would stand four days a week. On the whole,
too, it held a fair scent, but it was deficient in
gorse coverts generally, and in those days a great
part of it was wet and boggy and difficult to
stop. As a country to ride over, Shropshire was
easy, so far as fencing was concerned ; there was
nothing to stop a hard rider fairly well mounted,

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 163

seldom any necessity to take timber, and the
common Shropshire fence was a small hedge on a
low bank with only a single ditch. These fences,
however, came quickly, had to be taken slowly,
and were very apt to stop horses in their pace,
especially as the going was almost always in
deep ground. In one part of the country, also,
the low-lying meadows abound with black boggy
drains, which will not allow a horse approaching
near enough to be certain of clearing them ; and
it may be said of the Shropshire country, as a
whole, that a horse which can go well there can go
well anywhere.

In Shropshire, accordingly. Sir Bellingham
maintained a hunting establishment little inferior
to that he had considered necessary for Leicester-
shire. His kennels contained seventy couples of
working hounds, and his stables twenty-six
weight-carrying hunters. Large hounds did not
suit the small enclosures of Shropshire, and there
were some in the dog pack bigger than were
desirable.

Vulcan was a favourite hound, but deter-
mined and savage if put out. On one occasion
when running hare, Joe Maiden, then second
whip, caught him a '' broadsider " for it ; Vulcan
jumped at him and bit him right through boot
and stirrup-leather. Virgin, by Cheshire Vahant,

i64 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

from Fancy by Lord Lonsdale's Palafox, was
another favourite, a bitch which remained good
for eight seasons. Workman, by Wildboy, by
Osbaldeston's Wonder from Remnant, was a
hound which could run for ever ; Patience, too,
by Abelard out of Purity, and full of the old
Pytchley blood ; Brimstone, by Marmion from
Jezebel ; Famous, by Lord Lonsdale's Reveller
from Sir B's Factious ; Juliet, Jollity, and Jealous
by Osbaldeston's Piper from Lord Lonsdale's
Joyful; Purity and Parasol, from Mr. Warde's
pack, were all famous hounds.

''Nimrod" has an interesting account of the
kennel management of the Shropshire hounds
under Will Staples :

'* He throws open the door of the feeding-
house and stands at a certain distance from it
himself. He draws a certain number of hounds,
calling them by their names. He then turns
his back upon the open doorway and walks up
and down the troughs, ordering back such hounds
as he thinks have fed sufficiently. During this
time not a hound stirs beyond the sill of the
open door. One remarkable instance of dis-
cipline presented itself on this day. Vulcan,
the crowning ornament of the dog pack, was
standing near the door waiting for his name to
be called. I happened to mention it, though
rather in an undertone, when in he came and

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 165

licked Sir Bellingham's hand : but though his
head was close to the trough and the grateful
viands smoking under his nose, he never at-
tempted to eat ; but on his master saying to
him, ' Go back, Vulcan, you have no business
here,' he immediately retreated and mixed with
the hungry crowd/'

'* Nimrod '' has also left a full record of the
hunting of 1825-6, and of the characters of some
of the more famous of the hard-riding gentlemen
of those days. Mr. Lyster of Rowton, Lloyd of
Aston, Councillor Slaney of Shrewsbury, Wynne
the Shrewsbury surgeon, and, of course, the
eccentric Jack Mytton. One may read in his
pages of famous runs from the favourite meets.
Arcall Mill, with its gorse covert, a rarity in
Shropshire ; of a run of forty-five minutes from
Twemlows, the crack covert of the hunt, a run
that was ended for all but the hounds by the
Severn, which the bitch pack swam, and killed
their fox by themselves in gallant style. ''Nimrod''
tells us, too, of a day at Acton Burnall, where he
saw three gentlemen riding at gates all tumbling
over their horses' heads without their horses
falhng. Jack Mytton, Mr. Rock, and Mr. Byrne
from Ireland, this last sportsman going to a
brook and wetting the knees of his breeches to
enable him to stick to the saddle ; of a splendid

i66 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

hour and forty minutes, too, from Babbins Wood,
ending .with a kill between Chirk Castle and
Llangollen. One reads also of manners and
customs long since discarded; how sober sportsmen
had a poor chance against some of the others who
were '' a little primed/' and how midday drinking
was held to improve riding across country.
*' Why don't you tackle that Welsh Squire/'
asked Lord Forester of a friend who was much
badgered by a sportsman from Wales. '* Why,
if I could be sure he would come out sober, I
would take his bet to-morrow, but the infernal
fellow will come out half-drunk and then he
beats me/' was the answer.

'' The Druid," too, has a note on some of the
traditions of the Shropshire Hunt at this period.
''TheAtcham Bridge Meet has never looked its
best since the three (Will Staples, Jack Wiggles-
worth, and Tom Flint) were wont to wait in the
meadow for Sir Bellingham. We know no spot
so rich in hunting history, even if Jack Mytton
had not jumped those rails with his arm in a
sling."

I am grateful to various writers of former
times from whom I have obtained information,
but it is to '' ^sop " (the Hampshire historian) I
am indebted for a very characteristic anec-
dote:

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 167

** On taking his hounds into Hampshire to
hunt the Hambledon country, Sir Behingham
inquired from the Hunt Secretary what amount
of subscription would be forthcoming. ' About
£700/ was the reply, upon which he contemptu-
ously remarked, ' Barely enough to keep me in
spur leathers and blacking/ "

It is quite possible that economy was not
the strongest point in his character.

CHAPTER X

ATHERSTONE, 1817-182O

Some extracts from a Diary of the Atherstone,
Pytchley, and Quorn, kept between the years
1817 and 1823, may even at this distance of time
be considered interesting, as they are taken
from the handwriting of Sir BelHngham Graham,
who hunted those celebrated countries.

In the autumn of 1817, his first season with
the Atherstone, cub-hunting did not start till
30th September. Owing to absence of rain the
ground was very hard, but in spite of the heat
'' the hounds behaved exceeding well."

Hounds hunted sixteen days up to ist Novem-
ber, and killed nine foxes, of which there appeared
to be a plentiful supply. The Diary mentions that
one day thirty-three couples of hounds were out.

'' October 8th. Hopwas Hays. — Thirty
couples ; found instantly, and went away down
to Hints ; turned to the right for Swinfen, through
Swinfen Pool Tail, and killed in Mrs. Dyotf s
Plantation an old dog-fox — fifty-five minutes :
very quick. Found again in Hopwas, and ran two
foxes to ground in about an hour. Tried a small

TfiS

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 169

gorse of Mr. Floyer's ; found, and ran down to
Hints, where we ran from wood to wood, but
so many foxes, and the hounds rather beat with
their work in the morning, we could not kill one.
Rode Squire and Richmond; Jack Richards,
Milton; Kit Atkinson, Selim."

On October 15th, hounds did not leave off till
after dark, a long day's cub-hunting, killed one
early, but owing to changing could not get hold
of a second.

The last half of the month was very windy,
and on several occasions he went home early,
*' as hounds could not hear one another.'*

'' October 27th. Hartshill Hays. — Twenty-
three couples; found directly; drove him very
quick through Bentley Park, and ran him to
ground in a small covert of Mr. Dugdale's.
Tried Arley Wood, where we found a brace of
foxes ; came away with one, past Close Wood, and
down to Kinsbury Wood, at a terrible quick pace
for fifty minutes, when a violent storm of wind and
rain came on which entirely washed away every
particle of scent ; but for that he was dying fast.
Rode Barber ; Kit, Rat Tail ; and Jack, Francis.''

Even in those days a crowd was not unknown,
as he says on 3rd November : '' The greatest
mob of horse and foot people I ever saw" ; and
on 1st December : '' Such a concourse of Birming-
ham people were never seen."

170 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

''November 15th. — Nineteen couples at Od-
stone ; found a brace of foxes in the gorse,
one of which we ran direct through Nailstone
Whigs, and over the open for forty minutes at
the best pace on to the Forest ; we then changed
our fox, and after a great deal of severe running
he went into a drain under the road by Bradgate
Park wall, making on the whole two hours and
twenty-five minutes, the first hour and five
minutes without a check ; opened the drain
and got him out, an old dog-fox. My horse
Exeter died the same evening. Rode Exeter
and Houghton ; Jack, Peter ; Kit, Chicken.

'' November 17th. Catton. — Twenty couples ;
found two or three foxes immediately, one of
which we got well away with and ran a ring by
Walton and back, when he threw himself into
the earth, which had been opened in our absence,
about ten yards before the leading hounds ; a
most terrible burst for thirty minutes, so quick
that no horse could live with them. Found a
disturbed fox in Seal Wood, which got away
twenty minutes before us, and ran him with a
stale scent down to Barton ; Jack's horse so lame
we were forced to leave him at Drakelow. Rode
Derby and Richmond; Jack, Doctor; Kit, Chest-
nut Horse.

'' December 2nd. Burbage. — Twenty couples ;
tried all the Tooley and Normanton Coverts, but
did not find. Jack coming with my second
horse, viewed a fox go into a small spinney near
Kirkby, when we laid the hounds on, and ran

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 171

a most terrible pace for fifty minutes through
Kirkby Wood and pointing for Lindley, when
the hounds ran from scent into view and killed
close to Stoke Golding, an old bitch-fox ; many
Melton men out. Rode Houghton and Titus;
Jack, Rocket ; Kit, Selim.

'' December 17th. Shuttington Bridge. —
Twenty-three couples ; tried Amington Decoy
and the Frith blank ; found in Hopwas ; rattled
him once or twice round the covert ; went away,
and ran him a desperate pace up to Money Moor
Plantation, where he just beat the hounds to
ground. Found a brace in the Brockhurst,
one of which we ran round by Canwell, and he
laid down in a pit in a wheat field, jumped up
in view, and we ran into him nicely, close to the
garden wall at Middleton; an hour and five
minutes : a bitch - fox. Rode Houghton and
Whittington; Jack, Rocket; Kit, Selim.

'' December 19th. Biddlesfield. — Twenty-one
couples ; drew the wood and Aston Furze ;
found in Manley gorse, and chopped a bitch-fox.
Another broke away at the same time, which
we ran through Money Moor, Weeford Park, past
Canwell, and over the enclosures to Drayton,
where we ran from scent into view, and killed
in the middle of Drayton Park. Striver and
Traveller the two leading hounds ; an old dog-fox.
A pretty run of fifty-eight minutes. It came on
to rain very hard, but the gentlemen wished us
to try on, and found close to Middleton, but it
poured so with rain we could do nothing. Rode

172 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Derby and Crown Prince ; Jack, Chestnut Horse ;
Kit, Charlotte.

'' December 20th. Twycross. — Twenty -two
couples ; found at Gopsall ; ran through Coton
Gorse and down to Coton Village, where we lost
him very unaccountably ; I think he got into
a drain. Drew Coton Gorse ; found a brace ; ran
one very fast past Sibson over the brook in the
bottom, past Shenton to Sutton Ambion, where
Kit viewed him; lay down two or three times while
we changed upon a fresh fox ; stopped the hounds,
and ran the hunted fox on to Bosworth, where
the scent quite died away, owing, I think, to a
violent hailstorm which came on very fast, and
we gave him up — an exceeding good run of one
hour and twenty minutes. Rode Titus and
Contract ; Jack, Peter ; Kit, Chicken.

'' January 13th, 1818. Arbury. — Eighteen
couples ; found directly in the Lodge covert ; went
away with him at the best pace, pointing for
Nuneaton ; he then turned and came a wide ring,
pointing for Cowlees Wood, without a check ;
we there rather slackened our pace, and came by
degrees to slow hunting ; however, we got up to
him at Ansley, and ran him sharp into Bentley
Park, where, unfortunately, we had several on
foot, and the wind so high we could not keep the
hounds together ; we therefore took them home ;
it was thirty-five minutes to Cowlees Wood, and
one hour and twenty-five in all, a very good run.
Rode Soldier and Cottager ; Jack, Peter ; Kit,
Charlotte/'

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 173

The next day his horse fell on his back into
a drain, and had to be drawn out with horses ;
the hounds meanwhile ran fast from the Garden
spinney near Bassets Pole, past Drayton and
Middleton to ground at Hopwas.

A day or two later there is an insight into
the trials of the huntsman even of that period :
'' A most infernal scent, and some of the Derby-
shire sportsmen chose to hallo the hounds so
much that they would not settle." On another
occasion he says he was '' glad to give up for the
day, owing to a terrific confusion of scents (hounds
were running two foxes) and a most ungovernable
field, which brought us to repeated checks."

'' January 20th. Burbage. — Eighteen couples;
tried all the coverts blank ; found in Kirkby Great
Wood; ran very quick up to Newbold Village,
the hounds pressing him hard ; he then turned
and we ran him back to Kirkby very much
blown, and killed him ; an old dog-fox. The first
twenty minutes very good; in all, forty-five
minutes. Tried the two gorses upon Newbold
Heath ; blank. Rode Houghton and Contract ;
Jack, Barley; Kit, Charlotte."

On J anuary 27 th they found at Amington Decoy,
and ran fast to Statfold; the fox jumped the big
garden wall, and went on to Thorpe, eventually
being caught in the shrubberies ; an old dog-fox.

174 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

'' January 29th. Bassets Pole. — Nineteen
couples ; found in Trickley Coppice ; ran very fast
past Canwell, through the Hints Coverts, and
caught view of him going out of Mill Ditch ; he
then turned back from distress, came through
the Hints Coverts again, and finally killed him
in a pig-sty after a very nice run of fifty-four
minutes; a dog-fox. Rode Lupus upon trial. Went
to Hopwas ; found two or three foxes, but the day
altered for the worse, and after persevering there
two hours, went home. Rode Lupus and Titus ;
Jack, Derby; Kit, Charlotte.

'' January3ist. Drakelow. — Eighteen couples;
the ground covered with snow, and tremendous
hailstorms every ten minutes. Some people had
viewed a travelling fox as they came, and hoping he
might stop we picked a scent nearly to Greasley
Wood, but could not come up to him. Found at
Seal Wood, and ran a tremendous pace for thirty
minutes towards Clifton, and were on excellent
terms, when, unfortunately, one of the cursed
hailstorms came on, and every particle of scent
disappeared. Rode Soldier and Squire ; Jack,
Midnight; Kit, Chicken.

'' February 2nd. Chemsley. — Eighteen couples;
the day was so frosty, we stopped with the hounds
at Shustoke and drew the Shawberry Wood at one
o'clock ; found instantly. Ran him through
Packington Park, where he bore to the left, and
drove him across the country through Meriden
Tan Yard, and on to MilHson Wood, where we
were just running into him when a fresh fox

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 175

jumped up; came back through Meriden Shafts,
and down to the woods where we first found,
and had several foxes on foot directly, and at
last with great difficulty contrived to stop the
hounds, as our horses were all tired and it was
nearly dark ; an excellent scent, and ran three
hours without a check. Rode Cottager ; Jack,
Doctor ; Kit, Pomfret/'

Just when they were having this excellent
sport, a sharp frost came and stopped hunting
till the 13th. On this day they were advertised
to meet at Higham ; it was barely fit to hunt,
but being a '' club day,'' he threw off at Wedding-
ton Wood. ''Nobody out except Chetwode and
Lloyd '' ; found, and ran past Stoke Gorse by
Sutton Ambion to Bosworth, where hounds were
stopped on account of the ground. Mention is
made that Modesty got under the ice in crossing
the canal and was drowned.

'' February 17th. Twycross. — Eighteen
couples ; drew both the coverts at Coton and
Gopsall blank ; trotted away to Odstone, where
we found in the Gorse ; ran him very sharp by
Nailstone Village through Nailstone Whigs, and
straight up for Barden Hill, over the hill and on
to Copt Oak Wood, where we got upon a brace
of fresh foxes, and kept changing so often in the
forest that at the last we stopped the hounds.
Our first fox had lost half his brush. The thirty

176 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

minutes up to Barden Hill was very good.
Rode Houghton and Whittington ; Jack, Peter ;
Kit, Charlotte.

'' February 24th. Fisher's Mill. — Eighteen
couples ; found our old fox in the Middleton
Garden Spinney ; ran him very fast up to North
Wood, through it and out three miles farther
up the country ; he then turned and came back
at a racing pace through all those fine meadows
in front of Kingsbury, crossed the river opposite
Cliff close to where the ladies were in the boat,
recrossed again below Fisher's Mill, and ran him
to ground in a rabbit-hole inside the hedge of
Trickley Coppice ; dug and killed a dog-fox : an
exceeding good run of one hour and twenty-five
minutes. Rode Houghton and Lupus ; Jack,
Peter; Kit, Charlotte."

It seems as if he always liked to dig when he
ran a fox to ground, and evidently thought more
of his hounds than of his field, as on 5th March
a fox having gone to ground just in front of the
pack after a good run of nearly three hours, he
dug for three hours more and then failed to get
his fox.

His own, and also his hunt servants' horses,
seem to have come out frequently, in spite of the
open weather and hard work. Four of his own
carried him on nearly twenty days each during
the season. He mentions, however, that Jack —
his first whip — had a heavy fall on nth March at

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 177

the end of a long day, and his horse had to be then
and there destroyed.

A curious incident occurred a few days later.
After ablank morning at Chillington and Boscobel,
they found at the Lizard, and after running fast
for fifty minutes were just catching their fox
when he was coursed and killed by two butcher's
dogs.

I have heard many different theories pro-
pounded as to scent or the want of it. A new idea
appears in the account of 26th March : There
having been a heavy fall of snow in the morning,
'' such immense flakes of snow kept falling from
the trees that there was no scent at all in covert.''

A day or two after, they had a capital gallop
from a covert of Lord Anson's near Black Slough.
Went away very fast through Fisherwick and on
to Hopwas ; up to there forty minutes without a
check. '' Hounds got a view of the fox going
through the low part of the wood, but he went to
ground just in front of them in one of the earths
that had been drawn after stopping."

'' April 13th. Hopwas. — Twenty-four couples;
found a brace of foxes, one of which we ran to
ground in the covert, the other went away.
Drew Fisherwick ; ran the best pace to Black
Slough, thirty - three minutes : there came
to a check owing to the fox being headed;
12

178 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

went on with him past General Dyotts, and to
Long Green, where he was much beat and hung
about the village. He, however, finally beat us
near Lichfield, after an hour and three-quarters.
The hounds behaved well all day. Rode Cottager
and Richmond ; Sir James Musgrave, Lupus ; Mr.
Hodgson, Soldier ; Jack, Derby ; Kit, Chicken/'

The last day of the season was on 17th April,
and unfortunately, blank, owing, he says, '' and
hopes,'' to the earths having only been put to in
the morning ; this, and the fact that some hounds
got caught in traps, proved an unlucky finish.

Including cub-hunting, hounds hunted ninety-
two days, of which three were blank, and killed
forty-one foxes. The Diary says : '' Capital scent-
ing all November, and till Christmas, generally
speaking, very good sport ; after that weather
was cold and stormy, with a good deal of frost,
but little snow to lay."

Sir Bellingham had evidently greatly increased
his kennel before starting on his second Ather-
stone season, as there is frequent mention of over
forty couples being out, and one day the number
actually reached fifty-one couples.

In the Diary there is a hound list giving names
of old hounds in the kennels at the end of the
last season ; total, thirty-nine couples.

Not content with these and his young entry, he

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 179

bought, early in September, Mr. Newnham's pack
from Worcestershire ; of these when he first took
them out hunting, he says : '' Having been fed
up for sale and uncommonly fat, they were by no
means fit." All through the following season
he used to divide the hounds into young and old
packs, with an occasional mixed pack.

Cub-hunting started on 24th August i8i8,when
he says: ''Having had no rain for some months
the ground was in a worse state than in the hardest
frost." However, they hunted, and eventu-
ally marked to ground ; after digging for half an
hour '' it proved to be an old sow-badger." Some
rain fell, and then they had capital sport with
plenty of blood, so much so that, to quote the
Diary on 26th September :

'' Part of the hounds were running another
cub hard, and it was so much blown that I was
fearful they would kill it. However, we contrived
to get them stopped.

'' October loth, 1818. Kirkby. — Twenty-eight
couples ; young pack. Found in the Willow bed ;
ran him past the house and over the open very
fast for half an hour, when he went into a drain
close to Desford ; bolted him, and ran him a
terrible pace for a quarter of an hour, when he
went into another drain at the edge of Firley
Brake ; bolted and killed, a cub dog-fox. While the
hounds were worrying him two more foxes came

i8o FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

out of the same drain. Out of the first drain
another fox bolted, and Jack got a third. Turned
down the fox we had got, in front of Kirkby
House, which we ran to ground in Fulshaw's earth ;
it had been scratched open by some other foxes.
A good scent and a very nice day's sport. Rode
Squire and Resin ; Jack, Bluebeard ; Kit, Galen.
'* October 20th. Ridge Heath. — Twenty-two
couples; old pack. Drew the Heath, and on it
killed a bitch-fox with her leg in a trap. Found in
a little covert close to Mr. Boycott's ; ran him very
fast over the Heath and some way towards
Apley ; he then turned, came back to Chesterton
Rocks ; from thence we viewed him away, and he
went into a drain in the middle of a grass field ;
bolted and killed an old dog-fox; one hour and
five minutes. Found three foxes in Snowden
Pool. I was on the wrong side of the covert,
and stopped five couples of hounds running one
of the foxes. The body went by Molyneux's
Gorse, past Badger, and nearly up to Apley ; he
then turned, and in coming back I met them,
and we ran him to ground in the banks by
Wrighton ; one hour and three-quarters — in all a
good day's sport. Rode Cottager ; Jack, Sophy ;
Kit, Pomfret."

On October 24th, the Diary says : *' Ran him
very quick for two miles towards Shifnal, but
the gentlemen chose to override the hounds so
shamefully that they were soon brought to an
irrecoverable check."

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS i8i

'' October 29th. Apley. — Twenty-one couples ;
O. P. Found in the Long Coppice and ran
very hard for some time. We then changed
upon another fox, and, after running in the
covert an hour and twenty minutes, killed a dog-
fox. Drew the Ram Leys ; found three foxes ;
went away very quick over the Canal, round by
Mr. Botfields, over the Canal again, past the
Collieries, through Wards Rough, and on to
Sheriff Hales ; he skirted the coverts and went
on to Woodcot, where he had laid down in a
wheat field; he then came back a wide ring, at
the best pace, to the Sheriff Hales Woods, and we
ran into her at the edge of the Abbey Wood :
an old bitch-fox ; two hours and sixteen minutes ;
a very excellent day's sport. Rode Beeswax, who
went capitally; Jack, Francis; Kit, Warrior.''

Cub-hunting thirty-three days, and killed
twenty-eight foxes.

The Diary remarks : '' September — first half
very dry, afterwards wet and good scenting ;
October, a good scent in general." He appears
to have had capital sport.

'' November 4th. Whetstone. — Nineteen
couples ; O. P. Chopped a fox in the gorse ; another
fox went away instantly ; the people pressed
the hounds terribly, but we ran him pretty well
for an hour and five minutes to Burbage, where
we quite lost him. Went on to the wood, where we
instantly hit upon him, and after running ten

i82 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

minutes in covert, killed the fox. Found in the
wood and went away to Newnham for fifty-five
minutes ; the most beautiful thing possible, when
just as we were killing him a fresh fox jumped
up in the plantations ; of course I stopped the
hounds; a very excellent day's sport. Rode
Titus and Squire ; Jack, Bluebeard ; Kit, Pom-
fret."

A good gallop took place on loth November.
Meeting at Twycross ; found in Nailstone Whigs
and went away up to the Forest, leaving Barden
Hill on the left ; straight over it, and down to
Loughborough Oatwoods ; there hounds were
halloed on to a fresh fox and stopped \ one hour
and ten minutes.

'' November 12th. Canwell. — Twenty-five
couples ; Y. P. Found in Weeford Park ; ran
him a little about the house and then took him
off with a moderate scent towards Sutton Park,
where he beat us. Found again in Manley Gorse,
where we killed in covert a dog-fox. Drew Mill
Ditch and the Brockhurst blank. Found again
in Weeford Park at half-past three; ran him
nearly to Manley Gorse, through Mill Ditch, the
Brockhurst, back by Canwell, and into a rabbit
earth in Weeford Park ; dug and killed a dog-fox.
A very nice run of one hour. Rode Houghton
and Resin ; Jack, Cumberland ; Kit, Selim.

'' November 21st. Merevale. — Twenty-three
couples ; Y. P. Found in Bentley Park, and ran very

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 183

quick over to Oldbury ; brought him back to the
park, where we had three or four foxes on foot
and the hounds all divided; got them together
and recovered one of the foxes, who went away
at the best pace for forty minutes, and we killed
in a farmyard between Kingsbury and Coventry.
Rode Cottager and Skylark ; Jack, Leicester ;
Kit, Cumberland.

'' November 27th. Newbold Gate. — Twenty
couples ; O. P. Found in the small gorse ; ran him
for fifteen minutes at the most bursting pace
possible, and killed him, a young dog-fox. Found
directly in the large gorse; ran him round by
Ratby Burrows, nearly to Mackfield, back by
the gorse, where he nearly beat us by slipping
short back ; but a farmer came and told me he had
just seen him go into a drain in a grass field.
Opened it, and got it out — an old bitch-fox ; a
good run, though a ring, for two hours. Rode
Houghton and Squire; Jack, Bluebeard; Kit,
Pomfret.*'

Evidently he was on very good terms with
Osbaldeston, and this is shown by a note in the
Diary : '' Hunted him nicely down to Braunston,
where I stopped the hounds, as Osbaldeston was
to meet there next day.'' An excellent example.

There was a very hard day for hounds and
horses on nth December, when they whipped
off after running for five hours, the last twenty
minutes by moonlight. A day or two previous,

i84 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

he complains bitterly of a '' confounded farmer ''
who gave him wrong information in order to pre-
vent the field riding over the farm. This is the
only mention made in the whole of the Diaries
of any trouble with the farmers or yeomen.

'' January i6th, 1819. Baxterley. — Twenty-
three couples; Y. P. Found in Bentley Park,
after one rattle round the covert, went to ground
in the main earth. Drew Merevale Gorse and the
Grendon woods blank. Went and bolted a fox out
of a drain close to Grendon House ; ran him by
Warton, where he was headed, crossed the river,
past Lord Grey's House, and killed him near
Ratcliffe after thirty-five minutes without a
check ; a dog-fox. Rode Lupus and Skylark ;
Kit, Chicken ; Jack, Doctor.''

The Diary for this season ends here abruptly,
but mentions that it was '' a very good season,
a great deal of hunting, and killed thirty-nine and
a half brace of foxes.'*

THE PYTCHLEY COUNTRY

1820-21

On taking the Pytchley country in 1820, Sir
Bellingham went to live at Harleston, and was
evidently determined to lose no time in making
a start, his first day being 31st July, a date which
in most countries would be quite impossible.

On July 31st at Lilford Wood; twenty-six
couple of old hounds and twelve of young ones ;
found a '' good breed of foxes," which they
hunted for three hours and forty minutes, eventu-
ally killing one.

On August 4th at Brampton Wood ; hounds
changed from a fox on to a badger, which they
killed, afterwards catching a cub in the same place.

'' August 7th, Geddington Chase. — Thirty-five
couples ; found directly and ran for several hours,
but the covert was so strong that I sent Will for
seventeen couples of fresh hounds, by which means
we killed, after running eight hours, a cub-fox ;
saw plenty of foxes. Rode Wellington ; Will,

Duke ; Jack, Prince."

185

i86 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

nth August. — After drawing Pipewell Wood
and Carlton Purlieus, and only finding one old
fox, he makes a note '' to leave off hunting for a
week or two, foxes not being so plentiful as I had
imagined/' Hounds were out again on the 26th,
but he was justified in his remarks, as there were
two blank days shortly after.

They had a hard day on 7th October, running
in Stanion Purlieus from eleven till past six ; five
or six foxes on foot, but not one left the covert, and
they did not get blood.

The other pack had hard luck next day on
9th October : '' Found in Cranford Gorse, and ran
very fast up to Grafton Park, through it, and to
ground. Found in Geddington Chace ; ran quick
through Boughton Wood, Grafton Park, to Cran-
ford Gorse ; turned back and to ground under the
cross-ridings in Grafton Park.'' Contrary to his
usual custom he did not attempt to dig out either
fox.

After a blank day at Rushton on 19th October,
in the course of which he '' found Weekley Hall
Woods full of shooters," the hounds left Brigstock
and went for a week to Fawsley Park, where Sir
Charles Knightley then lived.

'* October 30th. Sywell Wood. — Twenty-three
couples ; old pack. Found in Sywell Wood, where
we had several foxes on foot; ran them about

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 187

with a wretched scent for some time, till they all
went over to Wilmore Park ; got up to one at
Orlingbury Wold, and ran him very quick a ring
back to Sywell Wood, where we killed a cub dog-
fox.

*' Found again in Overstone Park ; ran down to
Billing Lings, Ecton, and brought him back
dead beat into Overstone, where he went into a
small sough under the road; left him for future
sport; an hour and twenty-five minutes. Rode
Yaffil and Skylark; Will, Charlotte; Jack,
Emperor.

'' October 31st. Sibbertoft. — Twenty-four
couples ; young pack. Found at Northorp ; ran
him quick up to Marston Wood, where he was
headed, turned back ; ran him all the line of
Northorp Hills, sunk the valley, tried the earths,
crossed the Harborough Road, and ran him into
a drain close to the canal, but as it was Osbaldes-
ton's country we left him. Found in a spinney
close to the W^oollies, three foxes; came away
with one, the best pace, through the Woollies,
by the Reservoir, over the turnpike road, by
Cold Ashby, and up to Thurnby Grange without
a check — twenty-seven minutes' best pace ; there
came to a long check; went on with him past
Guilsborough up to Cottesbroke, where we got
upon the line of another fox, and he beat us at
last — a very fair day's sport. Rode Beeswax ;
Will, Cardinal; Jack, Duchess."

The cub-hunting thus finished with two good

i88 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

days. Although the Diary calls October '' the
worst hunting month I ever recollect/' sport does
not seem to have been so bad.

Hunted thirty-five days, but only killed fifteen
foxes.

'* November 7th. Church Brampton. —
Twenty- two couples ; Y. P. Drew Cank blank;
found in Wright's Gorse ; went away very sharp
past Ravensthorpe, and killed close to Coton —
twenty-six minutes — a cub bitch-fox. Found a
brace in the spinney close to Blackthorn ; ran up
to Holdenby, then turned to the right and came
down to the corner of Harleston Park — fifteen
minutes, best pace without a check; ran him
through the park and pheasantry, and into the
heath, where we had several foxes on foot.
Rode Leopold and Weaver; Will, Shepherd;
Jack, Rainbow.

'' November loth. Stanford Hall. — Twenty-
two couples ; young pack. Found in the first
gorse, but the people, both foot and horse, halloed
and disturbed the hounds so that they did not
settle ; however, we ran him nearly to Misterton,
but the hounds were so flashy and wild we soon
lost him. Drew Yelvertoft Field Side and Elking-
ton Bottoms blank ; found in Nethercote's
Gorse ; ran him beautifully over Naseby Field, and
just as he had nearly reached the end some
cursed greyhounds picked her up — a cub bitch-
fox. Rode Skylark and Wellington ; Will,
Taffety; Jack, Runner.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 189

'' November 13th. Kelmarsh. — Twenty-five
couples ; old pack. Found three foxes by the
Engine Pond; ran a fair pace past Hazelbeech,
over a corner of Naseby Field, by Parson's Hill,
over the Cottesbroke Vale, nearly to Brixworth ;
turned to the left over the turnpike road, past
Lamport, and ran him to ground one field from
Short Wood — one hour and ten minutes. Found
again in Scotland Wood; went over Naseby
Field, and along the brook in the bottom nearly to
Thurnby; crossed over the turnpike road to
Thurnby Grange ; was there headed ; went past
Guilsborough Grange and down to Coton Planta-
tion, where we were running into him when a
fresh fox jumped up ; up to Coton — an hour at a
very good pace. Went on with the fresh fox up
the valley to West Haddon ; left it close on the
right ; after that we went over some magnificent
country, but not knowing it sufficiently I cannot
describe the places by name ; however, it ended by
our running into our fox at Watford, the hounds
killing her in a sheet of water in front of the
house — an old bitch-fox ; an hour and twenty
minutes from the time we changed at Coton.
It was by far the best day's sport I ever saw —
only five horses were up when we killed, all
the others being stopped long before. Rode
Hesperus and Weaver ; Will, Cardinal ; Jack,
Emperor."

The Diary says that he got a fall at the first
fence on i6th November, and saw nothing at all

igo FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

of a good run from Crick Osier Bed, past Long
Buckby and Whilton, to Brockhall.

Very fair sport continues, hounds running
every day ; the following two seem about the
best at this period : —

" November 28th. Clipston. — Twenty-one
couples ; old pack. Drew Marston Wood blank.
Found at Hothorp ; ran him very quick the line of
hill ; back again away past Sibbertof t, close to
Nethercote's Gorse, over Naseby Field, and killed
her at the Woollies — a cub bitch- fox ; very nice
forty-five minutes. Drew Scotland Wood blank.
Found at the Engine Pond; went away to the
Dales by Hazelbeach on to Pursers Hills, and
back again, and kept ringing round with several
foxes till near dark. Rode Beeswax and Weaver ;
Will, Gravenell; Jack, Lightning.

'' November 29th. Glendon. — Twenty-two
couples; young pack. Drew Glen Gorse, Rush-
ton Spinney, Gaultney Wood, and found in
Alder Wood; ran very fast through Gaultney
Wood up to Brampton Wood, through it very
quick, through Hermitage Wood down to Bray-
brook, and ran into him in one of those large
fields near Arthingworth ; fifty minutes — an old
dog-fox ; a very excellent run. Rode Yafiil and
Leopold; Will, Sally; Jack, Shepherd."

His field appears to have been unruly at times.
On the 1st of December at Kelmarsh their first fox
was headed in every direction and chopped.

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 191

Later in the day '' found in Rokeby Gorse, but
the hounds were halloed so much and made so
ungovernable by that and the field riding close
upon them, that I stopped them/' In spite
of these difficulties they had a fair day's sport,
and killed two foxes.

'' December 7th. Thurnby Lane. — Twenty-
two couples; O. P. Drew Stanford Hall blank.
Tried an osier bed close to Welford, where we
found, but the hounds were so close to him in
coming away that he turned back, and the tail
hounds caught him — an old dog-fox. Found
in Nethercote's Gorse; went away very quick
near to Marston Wood; turned to the right
almost to Farndon, up to Marston Wood — very
fast for forty minutes ; we then came to slow
hunting, and we finished by running him into a
drain at Farndon ; a ver}^ pretty run. Rode Sky-
lark and Richmond ; Will, Sally ; Jack, Duchess.

'' December 22nd. Arthingworth. — Twenty-
four couples ; B. P. Found in the gorse, and went
away the best pace past Kelmarsh Earths,
through Scotland Wood, on to Maidwell Dales,
where we had two or three scents and got beat.
Drew Nethercote's Gorse and Kelmarsh Spinnies
blank. Found in Faxton Corner ; went very fast
to Short Wood, headed back, through the
Corner, over Harrington Dales, Rothwell Field,
by Thorp Underwood, through Scotland Wood,
and killed, about three fields on the other side

192 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

of it, a bitch-fox ; an exceeding good run of
fifty-nine minutes. Rode Thunderbolt and
Banbury Horse ; Will, Sledmere ; Jack, Tilton.
Hesperus went home early, lame.

'' December 23rd. Badby. — Twenty-two
couples ; D. P. Found a brace immediately ;
went away quick over Fawsley Park ; he then
turned to the left near to Newnham, on to Dodford
Wold, past it and into a drain close to the canal
near Brockhall — a very pretty run for forty-five
minutes. After some trouble, bolted him ; ran
him a terrible pace of ten minutes and killed
him, a very old dog-fox. We were so long at
the drain I did not draw again. Rode W^el-
lington and Victory ; Will, Gravenell ; Jack,
Rummer.''

Frost then stopped hunting till loth January,
when, although '' the grass land was a sheet of ice,
and it was scarce possible to hunt," they suc-
ceeded in getting out.

The next day he was riding a new horse,
Grimaldi, who refused every fence with him,
and lost him a good gallop (he does not appear
to have ridden him again), but in the afternoon
they had '* an exceeding fine run of one hour
and seventeen minutes from Wilmore Park,
first a ring to Hardwick, and back through the
park, then away past Cransley, Thorpe, and
Broughton, to ground at Pytchley Earths.*'

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 193

"January 22nd, 1821. Fox Hall. — B.P. Drew
Faxton Corner, Mawsley Wood, Cransley blank.
Found in Gibb Wood ; ran through Wilmore Park,
and over to Sywell Wood ; came away to Hard-
wick and up to Orlingbury, then to the right,
and lost him at the back of Great Harrowden.
Drew the Harrowden Gorses, as usual, blank.
Found later in Hardwick Wood, and went at a
capital pace past Hardwick and up to Great
Doddington in twenty-four minutes ; he there
got run by some cur dogs, and we hunted into
the Gardens about Wellingbro' at dark. Rode
Beeswax and Yaffil.

*' January 26th. Charlton. — B. P. Found in
Staverton Wood, and went away up to the
village; there the fog was so thick, and the
hounds turning short, flung the whole field, and
after a great deal of scouring about the country,
I with a few others succeeded in getting up just
in time enough to see them kill their fox two fields
from Dodfold Wold — an old bitch-fox ; one hour
from the time we found. Found in Dodfold
Wold ; ran him up to the left of Badby Wood,
over Knightley's Park, and to ground in one of
the Fishpond Drains ; a very good day. Rode
Wellington and Beanstalk.

'* February 5th. Naseby. — B. P. Drew the
Woollies, Hothorp, Nethercote's Gorse blank.
Found at Engine Pond ; ran him about a little
time, and he went into a stable ; got him and
turned him down below the house ; he ran about
ten minutes and we caught him close to Har-
13

194 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

rington — a dog-fox that had been wired. Found
in Arthingworth Gorse; went away very quick
by Langborough, over the Turnpike road, then
to the right nearly to Oxendon ; turned again
over the road, along the Braybrook Grounds,
and up through Hermitage Wood — thirty-nine
minutes' capital; ran him up on to Brampton
Wood, brought him back over the Earths, and
killed him in the Hermitage Wood — an old dog-
fox ; an exceeding good run. Rode Skylark
and Leopold.''

Soon after this the Diary ceases, and it is only
mentioned that hunting continued four days a
week until the end of the month. Sport appears
to have been quite excellent throughout, and the
Pytchley was what he had long wished for;
but why Sir Bellingham left that splendid
country after one brief season must for ever
remain a mystery. Whatever the cause may
have been, it was evidently not in order to
retrench, as the following autumn of 1821 he
was to be found Master of the Quorn, with his
hunting establishment on a larger scale than ever.

THE QUORN

1821-23

Sir Bellingham this season started cub-hunting
on 6th August at Lee Wood ; he appears to have
been well off for hounds, as he twice brought out
fifty couples in August.

Ground very hard and dry, but they made a
good start, killing eleven foxes in the first nine
days ; on 5th September, although they did not
kill, hounds had a good day's sport ; after hunting
two foxes in the morning at Swithland, found in
a small gorse, and ran very fast by Woodhouse
and Beaumanor to Swithland and back, '' losing
him when they got on the fallow — a good twenty-
five minutes/'

He says later on : '* Dry and bad weather for
hunting beyond what I ever recollect " ; and 2 gain :
'' The hounds were running near eight hours
under a burning sun " at Widmerpool. One day
in October he appears to have enjoyed himself
much, when hounds slipped away with a fox from

Whittington Rough, and they ran by Thornton

195

196 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

Rough and Bagworth into Nailstone Whigs,
changed foxes there, and ran by Odstone House
back into Odstone Gorse to ground — '' a very-
excellent run of an hour and a quarter ; no one
got away but myself and Will."

Forty days' cub-hunting, and killed twenty-
nine foxes.

The opening day was at Kirby Gate, 4th
November, but did not do much, eventually killing
a fox in Somerby Village.

'' November i8th. Quenby. — Twenty - two
couples ; D. P. Found in Coplow and killed ; went
away with another by Tilton and Marefield, going
for Owston, and killed — thirty-one minutes.
Found at Baggrave ; ran two severe rings, then
went away, and killed two fields from Ashby
Pasture — one hour thirteen minutes; capital day's
sport. Rode Peter and Toby.

*' November 21st. Kettleby. — Twenty - two
couples ; O. P. Found at Goodyear's Gorse ; went
into Saxilby by Wartnaby Stonepits, up the
hill to Grimston, then down into the vale; back
to Dalby Wood, Grimston, Frisby, Rotherby,
Brooksby, and Hoby, two fields from which we
ran into him — two hours ten minutes; very good
day. Rode Beeswax and Jury."

They had a good thing on 26th November.
Found in Norton Gorse ; went away past Galby,
and killed close to Billesdon — a very quick sixteen

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 197

minutes. *' I got a hard fall and was taken
to Rolleston."

This fall kept him in till 3rd December, when
they had a good gallop. After killing a fox in the
morning at Barkby Holt, found at Scraptoft,
went away by Keyham, Thurnby, Barkby Holt,
Baggrave, Quenby Hall, and up to Newton Hill ;
there he was coursed by some cur dogs and lost ;
'' a very good run of an hour and fifty minutes.'*

Three days later, finding at Foxton, went away
by Peatling through Walton Holt nearly to
Stanford Hall, where he was lost in a violent
storm ; *' a very good run — straight nine miles in
fifty minutes.''

'' December loth. Loseby. — Twenty - one
couples ; O. P. Found in the Gorse and ran by
Quenby, Hungarton, and into a drain at Baggrave.
Drew Ashby Pasture and Cream Lodge blank.
Found in Thorpe Trussells ; went away over
Burrow Hill, by Somerby, through Orton Park,
Brook, Manton, and stopped the hounds at dark
going for Beaumont Chase ; a capital run of an
hour and twenty-five minutes. Rode Peter and
Norton."

Frost here intervened for ten days.

" December 23rd. Quenby. — Twenty - one
couples ; O. P. The ground so hard, there was
not a soul out except Frank Needham of Hun-

198 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS

garton. Found in Botany Bay ; ran like the wind,
by Billesdon, towards Galby, then to the left by
Tilton, and killed him close to Loseby; thirty-
five minutes very capital. Rode Peter.

''January 3rd, 1823. Beaumanor. — Twenty-
nine couples ; Y. P. Went out for exercise as the
ground was very hard. Found in Macklin Wood ;
ran by the Outwoods, Holywell Hall, over
Garendon Park by Shepsted, and killed close
to Oakley W^ood — a very good run of one hour
and five minutes. Rode Leopold.

'' January 7th. Oadby. — Twenty-one couples ;
O. P. Found in Glen Gorse ; ran a sharp ring, and
to ground at Stretton. Found again at Norton
Gorse ; ran fast to ground at Burton. Found again
at Norton Spinney ; ran very fast by Glen, and
on for Houghton, where we lost — a bad foggy day.
Rode Peter and Houghton.

'' January 8th. Kibworth. — Twenty-four
couples ; Y. P. Found at Gumley ; ran very fast
up to Laughton Village, and killed. Found at
Fleckney ; ran a wide ring by Bruntingthorpe and
lost. Found at Laughton Hill ; ran ten minutes
and killed. Went away with another fox by
Walton Holt and Misterton, pointing for Stanford,
and stopped the hounds at dark — a capital
straight fast run of an hour and sixteen minutes.
Rode Baron and Norton.

'' January 31st. Braunston. — Twenty-nine
couples ; Y. P. Did not find till we got to Whet-
stone ; ran a ring back to Whetstone and away
down to Narborough, very fast for twenty

FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 199

minutes, but soon lost, as there was so much snow
water on the ground. Drew Enderby blank.
Rode Oculist and Freemason."

There appears to have been much snow and
frost this season. After the 9th of January, except-
ing one or two days, there was no hunting for
many weeks, and subsequently these notes were
not resumed ; but it is clear that after two
apparently successful seasons with the Quorn,
Sir Bellingham quitted Leicestershire for ever,
though he continued as M.F.H. elsewhere for a
few more years. Owing to some of the old
diaries being incomplete it has been difficult to
produce more than a general summary of what
occurred, omitting mention of doubtful days and
recording only periods of the best sport.

This, indeed, has been my constant aim
throughout the pages of these rambling recollec-
tions, and from first to last I have been much
inclined towards the maxim of those words on
the old sundial :

" Let others tell of storms and showers,
I only mark the sunny hours."

INDEX

Ailesbury, Marquis of, S$.

Albrighton Hunt, The, 149, 160-162.

Andover, Viscount, 19, 146.

Antrobus, Sir Edmund, 89, 94.

Ashburton, Lord, 9.

Atherstone Hunt, The, 149, 151, 168-184.

Badminton, 17.

Badsworth Hunt, The, 149-150.

Beaufort, Duke of, 11-12, 14, 37, 56-61, 87.

Beaufort Hunt, The, 13-17.

Bedale Country, The, 128-148.

Bentinck, Lord Henry, 22, 24.

Bicester Hunt, The, 25, 124.

Bissett, Mr. Fenwick, 16-17.

Blankney Hunt, The, 22, 24.

Bronte, Charlotte, 128.

Brown, Mr. Gilpin, 140.

Burton, Dick, 81.

Burton Hunt, The, 22, 23, 32, 62, 79.

Carter, George, 81.

Chaplin, The Right Hon. Henry, 19, 23, 25, 33, 52.
Chapman, Bob, 15, 37, 38.
Chesham, Lord, 25, 124.
Cirencester, 37.
Compton, Mr. Henry, 64, 72.
Cotswold Hunt, The, 35, 45.
Cotswold Hunt, The North, 38, 41.
M

202 INDEX

Coventry, Lord, 38, 41.
Crimea, The, 2.

Davenport, M.P., Mr. Bromley, 15.

Day, John, 7.

De Crespigny, Sir Claude, 69-70.

Devon and Somerset Staghounds, The, 1 6.

Doneraile, Viscount, 23.

Drake, Mr., 30.

Ede, George, 18.

England, General Sir Richard, 3, 5.

Freeman, Frank, 137.
Fricker, Jack, 83-86, 99.
Fritham, 71, 76.
Foljambe, F. J. S., 24, 28.

Gilbert, of Lambs Corner, Mr., 49.
Goddard, Jack, 53, 67.
Graham, Sir Bellingham, 130, 1 49-199-
Graham, Lady, 123.

Hambledon Hunt, The, 6, 149, 152-153, 167.

Harborough Market, i.

Harriers, 142-147.

Hawtin, Charley, 22, 23, 24, 33, 67, 70-71.

Hills, Tom, 36, 38.

Holland, Fred, 135.

Hurworth Country, The, 25, 101-124.

Hursley Hunt, The, 7.

Jockey Club, The, 19.

Kemble, Adelaide, 8-9.
Kemble, Fanny, 8-9.
Kingscote, Colonel, 15.

Leeds, The Duke of, 130, 135-136.
Leigh, Sir E. Chandos, 33, 34.

INDEX 203

Le Marchant, General Sir Gaspard, 5.
Little, Captain, 16.
Londesborough, Lord, 59, 65.
Long, Walter, 7, 59.
Lonsdale, Lord, 24, 116, 164.
Lovell of Hincheslea, Mr., 47, 48.

Mandeville, Alfred, 72, 73.
Milbank, Squire, 129-130.
Miles, Colonel, 15.
Mytton, John, 160, 161, 165.

Netheravon House, 8^, 100.

Nevill, Mr., 7.

New Forest, The, 25, 46-78.

Newmarket, 20.

Nicoll, Will, 116.

"Nimrod," 101-109, 154, 157-158, 164-165.

Norton Conyers, 2, 123, 125-128, 135, 142-143, 149, 159.

Osbaldeston, Mr., 62, 141, 153, 159-160, 164, 183.
Osborne, John, 18.

Park, Mr. A., 122.

Paulet, Sir Henry, 59, 64.

Payne, George, 20, 21.

Pitt, Rev. Joseph, 43-45-

Poitou, II, 12.

Powell, Colonel Martin, 59, 65.

Pytchley Hunt, The, 21, 62, 137, 149, 152-153, 160, 185-194.

Quorn Hunt, The, 15, 62, 79, 149, 153-160, i95-i99-

Raby Hunt, The, 128, 137-142.
Rokeby, 141.
Rous, Admiral, 20.
Russell, Hon. Edward, 11.

Sandhurst, Royal Military College, 2.
Sartoris, Edward, 8-9.

204 INDEX

Sartoris, Mr. Edward, see Adelaide Kemble.

Shropshire Hunt, The, 149, 162-167.

Smith, Thomas Assheton, 79-81.

Somerset, The 14th Duke of, see Lord Algernon St. Maur.

Somerset, Q.C., Granville, 16, 17.

Somerset, Colonel Poulett, 14.

St. Maur, Lord Algernon, 59, 89, 94.

Sutton, Sir Richard, 15, 31.

Tailby, Mr., 142.

Ted worth Country, The, 79-100.

Travess, Charles, 39, 40.

Tredcroft, Edward, 6.

Tregonwell, Mr., 7.

Tubb, John, 8.

Vane-Tempest, Lord Henry, 122-123, 140.

Vyne Hunt, The, 7. , ^

Warde, Mr. John, 50.

Warnford Court, 8.

Webb, Mr. Godfrey, 86-87.

Whyte-Melville, George, i, 51, 159.

Wilkinson, Matthew, "Nimrod's" account of a hunt with, loi-

109.
Wilkinson, Mr. T., 122.
Winchester, 6.
Wolf-hunting, 11, 12..
Wolverton, Lord, 51.
Wootton, Will, 143.
Worcester, Lord, 11, 14, 57.
Wyndham, Hon. Henry, 11.
Wyndham, Hon. Percy, 88, 94, 95.

Yorkshire Hound Show, 66.
Zetland, Lord, 137-142.

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