A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE brated action was brought against him by his brother, the Earl of Essex, for trespass. The Old Berkeley Hunt had been warned off Lord Essex's land, and yet Mr. Capel, hounds and huntsmen rode through Cassiobury Park one day in pursuit of a fox. Lord Ellenborough decided that as the trespass was committed for the purpose of diversion and amusement, and not as the only means of destroying a noxious animal, the verdict must be in favour of the plaintiff, the Earl of Essex. Many curious stories are told of Mr. Capel, who was quite a character in the neighbour- hood of Watford. On a Sunday, after per- forming the morning service, he constantly was obliged to take the coach at Watford so as to be at some distant meet of his hounds on the Monday. One Sunday he requested the Aldenham parson to come over and take his duty, but this gentleman declined to do so as he was busy clipping his horse, in those days a laborious occupation. Nearly all the Capel family were keen sportsmen. Mr. Harvey Combe, in recom- mending one of the Hon. William's sons to ' Nimrod,' says : ' He is well bred for a sportsman. I remember one day with the Old Berkeley Hounds there were out (all mounted) his grandfather, his grandmother, his father, his mother, two of his sisters and two of his brothers.' When Mr. Capel re- signed, Mr. Harvey Combe took the hounds about the year 1 820, and with Tom Oldaker as huntsman hunted the Berkshire and south Oxfordshire countries, in addition to the pre- sent Old Berkeley country, from the Gerrard's Cross kennel. In 1826, though he gave up the Berkshire country, he still hunted the south Oxford- shire. And the Old Berkeley Hunt country then extended from Scratch Wood (seven miles from London) to Cirencester in Glou- cestershire, or, as it was said, ' from Barnet to Bath, with leave to draw the Zoological Gardens.' Mr. Harvey Combe was a real good sports- man of the old school, and travelled immense distances to be with his hounds, his home being in Surrey. No one could have been more zealous, and he spared neither trouble nor expense to show good sport. In 1833 Captain Freeman was master for one season, with Baily as his huntsman. In 1834 Mr. Harvey Combe became master a second time. He bought Mr. Osbaldeston's celebrated pack of hounds that had been previously bought in at Tattersall's for 4,600, and the kennel was at Parsonage Farm, Rickmansworth. Richard 'Hills was huntsman, succeeded by Will Todd. A great run at this time was from Denham Marsh through Ruislip, with a kill at Hen- don seventeen miles, the last twelve being all over grass. In 1840 Mr. Thomas Allen of The Vache took the mastership for a short period. After his retirement, Lord Lonsdale hunted the Old Berkeley country round Tring and Chesham from 1842 to 1862. In his later years he used to bring down foxes with him from London, which practice was celebrated in verse. The first lines run as follows There is an earl of ancient name Who hunts the fox, but prefers him tame. His father had mounted his thoroughbred horse, And viewed the wild fox from his native gorse. His son has come down by a second-class train Worried the bagman, and home again. These bagmen were occasionally captured alive and turned out again another day. Jem Morgan, his huntsman, was killed by a fall, and was succeeded by Godard Morgan, a fine horseman with a reputation for gate jumping. Lord Lonsdale gave up the Old Berkeley Hounds to Lord Maiden in 1862, who kept them on Chorley Wood Common, where they still are. In 1867 Mr. C. A. Barnes, who had before kept harriers, became master for two years, being succeeded by Mr. Lei- cester Hibbert of Chalfont and Mr. Blount as joint masters. These gentlemen kept the hounds until 1875, when they were suc- ceeded by Mr. A. Longman as master, who built kennels at his place at Shendish, near Kings Langley, and moved the hounds there from Chorley Wood. In 1881 the country was divided, Mr. Longman taking all the country in Hertfordshire under the name Old Berkeley East, and Mr. Austin Mc- Kenzie taking all the Buckinghamshire part of the country under the name Old Berkeley West. This arrangement lasted until 1885, when the country was united again and hunted by Mr. Harding Cox. He took great interest in the hounds, and had a very good pack, owing largely to the purchase of the Blank- ney pack ; but in 1888 the country was again divided into the same divisions as before, both divisions being managed by committees. The committee of the Old Berkeley East which hunted the Hertfordshire side of the country consisted of the Earl of Clarendon, who acted as field master, with the Hon. A. Holland Hibbert as hon. secretary. In 1891 Mr. R. B. Webber (whose father had kept a pack of harriers at Aldenham) succeeded the committee, and remains still the master of the Old Berkeley East. For 356
