SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
country, and they were capital killers. They went off latterly; I've seen 'em run tail for a mile. They were never so good after the madness; that would be in 1830. Lambert wasn't so keen. My lord, he built a kennel at Stocking Hall; then he brings them back to Cottesmore and lived there a many years. He was a grand man for hounds, was his lordship. . . . The oldest gentleman as kept hounds in this country was that Mr. Noel of Exton. Arthur Abbey was his huntsman; he was a big, heavy man, with a rasping, strong voice. Many a tuppence I've had for taking off his spurs when he come home from hunting. Lord Gainsborough kept on the hounds as usual after Mr. Noel; and when he dies, Lord Lonsdale — Sir William Lowther as was then — took them with Philip Payne. Philip was a first rate little fellow — always swore by Lord Lonsdale's blood. His lordship gave them up to Sir Gilbert for a few years, and then he had them back again.
Speaking of his post as head groom to Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Dick Christian said:[1]
He bought Sir William Lowther's hounds, and gave me head over forty or fifty horses. I was head groom ten years; the last two we had no hounds; he gave them up when Sir William came to the title. Sir Gilbert used to buy the biggest three-year-old thorough-breds he could lay his hands on; he wouldn't stop at £300 for them. When Sir Gilbert gave up the hounds, thirty of them were sold at Tattersall's, and they made all manner of prices, from £250 to £500. After the sale he gave me £100 for the condition I had put them in; there wasn't one I hadn't broke myself.
Sir Richard Sutton succeeded Lord Lonsdale in 1842, bringing his own hounds from the Burton country. His reign was a comparatively short one of five seasons, and then he moved on with his pack to become master of the Quorn.
Then came Mr. Henley Greaves, a welter weight, 'a great sportsman and wonderful houndman,' but, like John Warde, erratic and fond of change, being in his time master of the Pytchley, Essex, and Old Berkshire. Five years was enough for him in the Cottesmore country, and Mr. Burrows, who followed him, only retained the mastership three seasons, to 1855.
Sir John Trollope, afterwards Lord Kesteven, must be considered one of the greatest masters of the Cottesmore. He was in office fifteen seasons, from 1855 to 1870. A large landowner on the Lincolnshire side of the country, he built kennels at Bytham near to his residence, Casewick Park. At first Sir John hunted the country with a pack borrowed from Mr. Drake of the Bicester, Ben Goddard coming with them as huntsman. At the end of two years Mr. Drake reclaimed his hounds, and Sir John resigned, but the following autumn saw him in harness again with a new pack, made up chiefly of big hounds drafted from the Belvoir, the Brocklesby, the Grove, and Lord Henry Bentinck's. Jack West, who came from Badminton, where he had whipped-in to Tom Clarke, was his huntsman.
A provisional arrangement was made between Sir John and Mr. Tailby; the Cottesmore hunting east of Melton, Oakham, and the Uppingham road, whilst Mr. Tailby took the rest of the territory, which for a time was joined to the district now hunted by Mr. Fernie.
In 1870, when Lord Kesteven resigned the mastership. Colonel Henry Lowther bought the pack, from which the present-day Cottesmore hounds are descended. Colonel Lowther built kennels and stabling at Barleythorpe, near to his own house, as the kennels at Little Bytham were falling into disrepair.
[2]The portion of country which had been ceded to Mr. Tailby, and hunted by him, was now reclaimed. . . . Colonel Lowther succeeded to the title of Lord Lonsdale soon after taking the country,' which unhappily he did not live long to enjoy, as he died some three years afterwards. He was a very heavy man, and consequently could not ride much himself; nevertheless, he was a good sportsman and knew how the thing should be done. At his death there was some fear that the country would again have been vacant, but arrangements were speedily made for his successor to continue the hounds.
St. George Henry, the fourth Earl of Lonsdale, son of the late master, was in office for only two seasons. Jack West left in the spring of 1876, and William Neal, the first whip, who was promoted to carry the horn in his place, continued to do so until 1880.
During this period the hounds were conveyed in a van by road to distant meets, with four horses and postillions, a practice that was abandoned when Mr. W. Baird came into the mastership in 1880.
The hounds and kennels were lent to the country by the Lonsdale trustees, and Lord Carrington was appointed master. His reign, unfortunately, was a short one of two seasons, from 1878 to 1880. The hunt staff were William Neal carrying the horn, with Jim Goddard as first whip, a combination that was successful in showing many a good run. When Lord Carrington resigned the country, Mr, William Gosling purchased the pack from the Earl of Lonsdale's trustees and presented them to the Cottesmore country, whose property they are to this day.
In 1880 Mr. William Baird came from the north of England to be master of the Cottesmore, and started with William Neal as huntsman, to whom succeeded George Gillson in 1888. Mr. Baird's reign was a consistent one of peace and good sport during the twenty years that he held office. New kennels, roomy enough
- ↑ Silk and Scarlet, 37.
- ↑ J. N. Fitt, Covertside Sketches.
- ↑ He succeeded his uncle as 3rd Earl of Lonsdale of the 1807 creation, 4 Mar. 1872, and died 15 Aug. 1876.
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