TH

CHAPTER XI

The Badminton Hunt and its

Followers

HE Badminton, Belvoir, Brocklesby and Fitzwilliam hounds have the distinction of never having changed hands. They have each been for 150 years or more the property of one family. Of them the Badminton is the oldest as an established pack. The link between the staghounds of old and the foxhounds of to-day, is supplied by the Badminton kennel book. The Belvoir pack have no doubt had a greater influence on the modern foxhound than any other; but so far as I am able to trace their pedigrees, they owe their first start towards excellence to the introduction of Badminton blood. Only the Badminton and the Brocklesby, however, have never had as masters any but members of the family to which they belong. The Dukes of Beaufort have never yielded up even the titular mastership. Relatives, as in the case of Captain Somerset or Sir William Codrington, may have officiated, but the Dukes have always been masters in their own country.

This fact has affected considerably the character

of the hunt, and the peculiar uniform also having its influence, the members of the Duke's field have always regarded themselves as a sort of chosen people among foxhunters. Indeed, they have been fortunate, and consequently the hunt has drawn to itself a full share of hard riders and keen sportsmen.

Two other influences have greatly increased the fame of the Badminton hunt. In the early days of the eighth Duke, when he was still known as Lord Glamorgan, the hounds hunted the Heythrop country. Thus few Oxford men in the days of our fathers but learned to look on a day with "the Duke" as the greatest of pleasures. Then, too, the hunt was one of the first to become accessible by rail. It was and is possible to travel down from town by the Great Western Railway over night, hunt the next day and travel back the following evening. So a day with the Badminton became a welcome holiday to the busy man who loved hunting, but was obliged to earn his living in London. The fame of the hounds, the splendour of the turn-out, the skill of the huntsmen and the courtesy of the Duke, gained a fame beyond the limits of the country. I well remember hearing how my grandfather, when one of his sons, after hard work, secured a commission in the Engineers, took him down for a fortnight's hunting with "the Duke," as the greatest treat he could give him.

If we turn back to the early days of the century, we shall find that the Oxfordshire, or, as for the sake of convenience we may call it, the Heythrop country, was the most favoured by the Dukes. A few years before the date (1824) of which I am writing, there were some famous riders who regularly sent their horses to Woodstock, Chipping Norton, and Chapel House. Among these were Sir John Fagge, a Fagge, a Kentish baronet, and Jack Willan, who drove the Brighton coach up and down in a day, and who often exchanged ideas on driving with Lord Worcester (seventh Duke). Lords Granville and Charles Somerset, too, were both fair riders to hounds. But the most famous men in hunting story who gained their experience in the Heythrop country, were the two brothers Rawlinson. Of these, one, who later bore the name of Lindow, went into Leicestershire, where he gained great fame, being not only a very hard man to hounds, but a fine horseman, who could make the most of his horses, and see the end of a long run. His portrait on the lids of snuffboxes and in the print shops "going a slapping pace," was very familiar to our sporting forbears.

Then there was Jack Bunce, who used to come down either to Chipping Norton or Woodstock. He was a very hard man, especially on his favourite horse, Vagrant, bought for £40, but which eventually was sold to the Lord Erroll of that