Mr. Henry Hawkins.
The subject of our portrait, Mr. Henry Hawkins, of Everdon Hall, near
Daventry, was born at Kegworth, Leicestershire, in the year 1876. All
his life he has been devoted to field sports of every description, and
has played cricket seriously since he first captained the eleven of his
preparatory school at the age of ten years. Since 1901 he has played for
the county of Northamptonshire, and was one of those selected to play
against the Australians in August last; he also plays for M.C.C.,
Warwickshire Gentlemen, and other clubs.
For some years he went in for racing with no small amount of success,
owning Alpha, Hottentot, Bellamina, Stella III., and other well-known
steeplechase horses, but he has nothing in training at the present time.
It was in the year 1901 that Mr. Hawkins purchased his pack of harriers
from Mr. Horsey, and he has now hunted them at his own expense for more
than five seasons over the beautiful vale which surrounds Everdon. In
the Pytchley, as in every other country, much depends on the good-will
of the farmers, and with the farmers Mr. Hawkins is a great favourite.
He is a thorough good all-round sportsman, and is, in fact, immensely
popular with every one with whom hunting brings him into contact. He has
brought his pack, which consists of thirty couple of hounds, all in the
Stud Book, to a fine state of perfection, and has taken the highest
honours at Peterborough. Last season they accounted for more than twenty
couple of hares, and this year bid fair to exceed the average, for they
have been showing most continuous and wonderful sport.
Recollections of Seventy-five Years’ Sport.
II.
I seldom brought home a tired horse or had a fall. My good fortune in
the latter respect I attribute much to the practice adopted early in
life of riding steadily at fences other than water. Only men without
nerve go fast at their fences. One day with the Pytchley, jumping a
fence uphill, the ground broke away on the take-off, and my horse fell
back on me in the ditch. We had to be dug out. I had the misfortune to
lose a very fine horse close to Thorpe Trussels. Jumping quite a small
fence, he dropped his hind-legs in a grip on landing and broke his back.
I lost another good one (a mare) by a somewhat unusual accident.
Alighting on rotten ground over a very ordinary fence, she snapped a
fore-leg, and of course had to be destroyed.
One can take liberties with a sensible horse. In a run with the Pytchley
one day hounds crossed the Welland, and a man tried to ride over a board
footbridge. When he got to the middle one of the planks broke and he and
his horse fell into the river. Riding a horse of the sensible sort, I
gave him his head to follow; he stepped nicely across the open space,
and we had the rest of the run up to Loatland Wood to ourselves.
The Leicestershire farmers were rare good sportsmen. Once during a
gallop with Mr. Tailby’s across the oxers near Market Harborough my
horse, a young one, fell and broke the curb bit. While I was putting
matters to rights a yeoman came up, slipped off his horse, and seizing
mine by the head put his own double bridle on it, saying, “Look at my
horse, _he_ don’t want a bridle!” Certainly the horse had had enough for
one day, but the fact does nothing to qualify the kindly thought that
prompted his owner. The man was a tenant of Lord Willoughby de Broke’s;
few but a Leicestershire yeoman would have done such a thing. Another
anecdote to illustrate the same spirit:—
Riding along the Leicester and Uppingham road to draw the Billesdon
Coplow one morning, “Cap.” Tomlin, the rough rider, pulled up and
exclaimed, “Look here, gentlemen, you talk about riding; this fence (an
ox fence) has been jumped into the road.” “Yes,” said Sir Walter Carew,
“it has; and the man who jumped it is close to you.” The yeoman who
owned the land, a good friend enough to hunting, made his fences very
strong. On hearing who had jumped his ox fence he sent me a message,
saying he hoped I would never come within the parish without coming to
lunch with him. Most of the Leicestershire farmers gloried in the chase
in those days. The enthusiasm of the people for a good horse was shown
in a rather unusual way on one occasion. In a gallop up to Gumley Gorse
the fox was headed by the foot people. I happened to arrive alone, and
they seized my horse and kissed his face!
It is many years ago that our King, then Prince of Wales, while staying
at Althorp, came to the meet of the Pytchley at Holmby House. Lord
Spencer, thinking the horse His Royal Highness rode was rather too small
for the big fences, offered him a nice one of his own, which was
graciously accepted. In the course of the run the horse, to Lord
Spencer’s horror, came down. The Prince, however, was up in a twinkling,
and regaining his saddle was going again well in front, to the great
delight of the Northamptonshire farmers.
Lord Cardigan was a very bold rider, and got some heavy falls. In a
gallop with Sir Richard Sutton from Walton Holt, I jumped the white
locked gate on Gumley Hill, and had the run to myself. Lord Cardigan and
Colonel Steel, of the Guards, had very bad falls. Lord Cardigan told me
afterwards that the whole front of his body was as black as coal. On
another day, near the same place, he had a nasty fall in a ditch, his
horse lying on him. Lord William Beresford, seeing his plight, stopped,
and called on the Hon. and Rev. Robert Wilson to come and help,
shouting, “He is not half a bad fellow, and it would be a pity if he
died in a ditch.” They got to work, but Beresford found he could not get
hold of Cardigan, and said so. “Pull me out by the nose if you like,”
said the victim. The water was trickling over him, and without help it
is very probable that he would have been drowned in the ditch.
_Apropos_ of falls, there was a little man with a very wry neck who used
to bring some nice horses to hunt in Leicestershire. One day he had a
fall, and was stunned. There were plenty of people at hand to help, and
one man, who did not know him, took him by the head and began to pull at
it in the kindly but mistaken endeavour to straighten his neck. This
usage brought the poor man to his senses just in time. “Born so! Born
so!” he exclaimed, feebly. Another pull would have broken his neck.
Among the good runs I call to mind are two in which, thanks to my horse,
I had the fun all to myself. One was a splendid gallop across the Vale
of Dunchurch without a check to ground on Barley Hill in the Pytchley
country. I was entirely alone with the pack; and the field were so long
coming up that I went home before any one arrived. It was several days
before they discovered who it was had been with the hounds.
Another fine run was with the Cottesmore, when the hounds ran their fox
without a check to mark him to ground in Horninghold Lordship, quite out
of sight of the field. The earth being in the Quorn country, the fox had
to be left.
When I lived in the Atherstone country I had a small stick covert at
Bitteswell, a very sure find. Anstruther Thomson said I had made it too
strong, but I told him it was my business to have a fox and his to get
him out. As a matter of fact, foxes never hung there, though they seldom
afforded good runs; the old foxes used to lie out in the hedgerows.
I told Jack that he would have better sport if he hunted the country
thoroughly. He enquired what I considered would be “hunting it
thoroughly,” and on my saying, “Drawing it blank,” he replied that he
would draw me blank next season. I said I should be ready for him.
He came once a fortnight—no blanks.
The truth was, I had three earths, one natural and two artificial, and
Jack never found out the latter. I always stopped the one most used, and
put the others to in the morning. The last day of that season I stopped
all three, which rather confused him and his hounds. This covert was
very full of rabbits, which were caught in a pitfall, one side of it
being wired in. I have known a fox to be caught in it.
One day, when hounds drew my stick covert, I lost my usual good start,
as I was looking after the foot people. There was a good scent over the
grass, and hounds ran hard, but being on a very fast horse I soon got up
to them. Just in front of me a youth was going well till he came to a
rough fence with daylight in only one place, where an ash tree had been
cut down. His horse slipped on the roots and turned over into the ditch
on the other side, heels uppermost. “For goodness sake,” he cried, when
I asked him to let me come, “don’t ride over my horse.” There was no
help for it; my horse cleared the inverted animal nicely, and I went on
with hounds.
The young gentleman, however, thought he had a grievance, and, when the
fox was killed, reported me to his uncle.
The uncle was a near neighbour of mine, and a good sportsman. He told me
that his nephew over night had been “crabbing” the Atherstone men as the
slowest set in all England, and thanked me for what I had done. “He will
have a different tale to tell to-night,” he concluded.
In a run with the Pytchley a lady following me had a fall; hounds were
running hard, but as she did not get out of the ditch I felt bound to go
and help her. As I got near she jumped on to her horse, and I asked what
she had been about. She said, “I don’t mind telling you, my hair came
off.” She had beautiful hair of her own, and added the plaits which were
commonly worn in those days.
In the Northampton race week there was a very early meet with the
Pytchley at Cottesbrooke. The same lady came up to me and said, “I
reckon you will get a good start this morning.” I said, “Yes,
certainly,” and that with the wind where it was we should have to cross
the stream, which was unjumpable. There was a bridle-gate in the middle
of the ford, and I told her I meant to be in first, and if she was close
up would hold the gate open for her. When we reached the gate I looked
round; she was there, but without her hat. “Dear me, Mrs. A.,” I said,
“What have you done with your hat?” “Lost it following you under that
tree; and if this sort of thing goes on I shall soon lose my head,” she
responded. The acting master, the Hon. C. Cust, made a turban for her
out of his neck wrapper, and she hunted in it the rest of the day. The
gate in the ford became blocked, and we had an enjoyable gallop.
If there was nice hunting weather at Assize time there was often
difficulty in collecting a grand jury, and the judges threatened to fine
us. Going to the meet one morning I fell in with a pompous old neighbour
who was on his way to Assizes, and asked him, if my name should be
called, to respectfully address the judge, and say that I regretted my
non-attendance. “Some domestic affliction, no doubt,” said his lordship,
and he passed me over, and fined several others.
One London season I took up a pretty young horse; he was always full of
vitality and a pleasant mount in the country, but not suited to Rotten
Row, as he used to strike with his fore-feet at other horses cantering
towards him and frightened several young ladies. He seemed just the
horse for a charger. I offered him to a vet, who had a commission to buy
a chestnut horse for an officer, telling him he was more suited to a
younger man than myself. He went on nicely for a while, and became the
crack horse of the regiment. The day of inspection arrived. As he was
passing the general at the head of his troop, with the view of making a
proper display on the solemn occasion his rider touched him with the
spur. He plunged violently, and hoisting his heels exuberantly, cast his
rider at the feet of the general, amid the applause of the assembled
multitude.
It was in 1831 that I bought the small pack of pure harriers kept at
Shotesham. I hunted them for about twenty-five years at my own expense,
and then sold them to the Earl of Albemarle and Colonel Unthank. The
latter crossed the lot he purchased with the foxhound, and in my opinion
spoilt them. I kept as clear of foxhound blood as I could, having only
one or two old bitches from Sir Thomas Boughey all the time I hunted
them. They were fast, but close hunters; mine was the silent system,
rarely going to halloas, and the hounds were not too closely whipped in;
extra work was the cure for unruly ones instead of whipcord. They were a
capital working lot, and a good hare had not much chance if I wanted to
kill her. The country is flat, consequently the hares made better points
than they do where there are hills. They were scarce but stout, as only
those that outstripped the greyhounds and lurchers were left alive in
the greater part of my country.
At Sexton Wood, a fine covert hired by some farmers for shooting, a fox
was constantly seen. One February, when the shooting season was over, I
went to look for him. A large field was out, some in scarlet from
Suffolk. I was a little chaffed, the men asking what I was going to do
with the fox. I said I would make him ask for mercy before sunset, or,
if the wind had anything to do with it, perhaps hunt him on to the top
of one of their houses. As the wood was full of hares I had the fox
driven out by men. He went away directly, but was headed back into the
wood. I trotted to the other end at about the pace I thought he would
travel, and he broke again near me. I got a good start with him up wind,
and ran hard for a mile and a half, when he turned down wind; first
check, thirty-five minutes. He ran down the middle ride of Earsham Wood
with hares constantly crossing, but not a hound left the line. He
crossed the river Waveney into Suffolk, was headed in Flixton Park, and
turned back up wind over grass to the Waveney, fox and hounds all
swimming the river together, and got into a boathouse. I waited till the
field arrived, and they asked me if I had done with their fox. I told
them to look in the boathouse, where the fox was hiding in the boat.
They wanted me to kill him, but I refused, and had him turned into a
coppice close by. After releasing the fox I asked the field to come and
see hounds run a hare, as I must kill one to steady them for another
day. They told me there was a splendid hare close by, often hunted by
Mr. Chaston. As I was some miles out of my own country, I felt a
difficulty about hunting her; but as they promised no harm should come
of it, I gave way. As we entered the field she ran out at the far end;
the hounds settled at once, and killed and ate her in twenty-one
minutes. The field were well satisfied. They wanted me to keep some
foxhounds, and I said I would if they would promise me foxes, which they
failed to do.
I had several first-class gallops after outlying stags, almost always
running up to them, but not trying to take them.
You ask about my shooting recollections. I have repeatedly killed 40,
50, and once over 60 couples of snipe on the Langley Marshes, by the
side of the River Yare. In August, 1846, with Mr. Everard, of Gosberton,
I killed 164 brace of grouse, and on the 27th of that month 103 brace by
myself. As regards the match between Mr. Stirling Crawfurd and Mr.
Osbaldeston, I “managed” for the former, Sir Richard Sutton performed
the same office for the “Squire,” as he was called.
The match came off at Rufford Abbey, between the two Newmarket October
meetings. Stirling Crawfurd gave him ten brace of partridges each day,
on account of his being somewhat older. They shot two days, changing
beats the second day. They tossed for choice of beats, both of which
were good, but one not so good as the other. I won the toss and took the
worst beat for the first day. Shooting began at eight o’clock, and the
men shot till dark. We were beaten by a few brace on the first day, but
on the second Crawfurd won the match by several brace to spare.
Osbaldeston wanted to shoot it over again for a larger sum, on the
condition they changed managers. Crawfurd was to walk all day, and
Osbaldeston, if he liked, to ride; no driving. Sir Richard had some of
the Duke of Rutland’s keepers, from Derbyshire, and some of his own
keepers from Lynford, and his whippers-in from Quorn. He overdid it. I
had only the head keeper’s son and walkers off the Rufford estate. Mr.
Crawfurd gave the value of the stakes among them.
My pointers were bred from two animals given me when I was at college,
by the then Lord Lonsdale, from his and another kennel, crossed with Mr.
Moore’s, of Appleby. When I gave them up I sold every dog I had to the
late Lord Wilton for £25 apiece.
Harking back to my athletic days when at college, I once jumped Mr.
Rhodes, of Trinity, a match over water by the side of Trumpington Road
and beat him. I believe, but am not quite sure, that my opponent was the
father of the famous Cecil Rhodes.
When at Melton, years ago, Count Hugo Nostitz asked me to jump a match.
Six jumps, each to choose three, and go first. If he did not clear it
the other not to follow on. First jump both got over. I cleared all of
Nostitz’s choosing. My second was the Melton Brook, with mud thrown out
on the far side; I cleared brook and mud. Nostitz cleared the brook,
but, to save falling back, had to put his arms up to his elbows in the
black mud. My third pick was the brook again with a rail in front of it.
The late Lord Lonsdale, mischievously inclined, told Nostitz to jump
high enough (the worst advice he could give). He cleared the rail well,
but alighted up to his armpits in the water.
Once he had rather a bad fall with hounds. We went to help him, as he
did not get up, and asked him if he was much hurt. He said, “No, only a
little more than usual.” He tried to get up, but could not for a while.
He was as charming a young fellow as ever entered the town.