Hound Sales, Past and Present.
The more closely hounds are studied the stronger must grow the
conviction that no animal can excel the well-bred foxhound as an example
of perfect conformation. It is permissible to think also that the man
whose eye is accustomed to the points of the foxhound is pretty certain
to be a judge of horses, the “points” of either being in a sense nearly
identical. To take the high-bred foxhound, the lay of his shoulders are
perfect for movement, the blades meeting well into the back, the fore
ribs very far down or deep in proportion to the frame, the brisket below
the elbow, the back also level shaped, muscles united to a loin wide for
the size of the hound, the quarter very full, and the hock straight.
Then we have the make-up of the beautiful neck that must mean ease in
stooping for a line, and the legs and feet, over which some people
differ, the majority of good judges wanting a big bone down to the toes,
and others being content with less bone, and less inclined to be
critical about the straightness of the fore limb. The late Lord
Macclesfield and Mr. G. Lane Fox, both excellent judges, thought more of
necks and shoulders than legs and feet, and Mr. H. Chaplin, great on
both horses and hounds, thinks more of the quality of bone than the
quantity. But, allowing for these slight divergencies of opinion, it
must be acknowledged that the judgment of many has brought the foxhound
to an extraordinary standard of perfection. His pace is very wonderful,
and, unlike that of the greyhound, it is lasting. In the Great Wood run
of the Badminton Hunt of three hours and forty minutes’ duration, all
but three hounds out of seventeen and a half couples were up at the
finish when the horses were all settled, most of them an hour before,
and yet the hounds were comparatively fresh. They all fed well the same
night, so Charles Hamblin told the writer, and were right enough the
next day. There have been many other examples in which longer runs have
been quoted, but the Great Wood was perhaps the greatest in regard to
pace.
Three hours and three quarters’ hard galloping in a twenty-seven mile
point is like seven Grand Nationals thrown into one. The development of
such powers in the foxhound must be regarded as the work of past masters
in the selection always of the fittest, and the great sales of the last
century have proved most conclusively the individuality of those
masters. To take Mr. John Corbet, of Sundorne, in the very earliest days
of the century. He had seen all the qualities above alluded to
compressed, as it were, in Trojan, who could race to the front of the
pack, stay the longest runs, hunt a colder scent than others, jump
higher and cleaner than any hound ever seen, and was able to run in his
eighth and ninth seasons. His fitness was so great for the hunting field
that Mr. Corbet absolutely bred a pack of hounds from him, and when he
sold that pack to the sixth Lord Middleton for £1,500 the latter wrote,
when enclosing his cheque, that he thought them remarkably cheap. This
they turned out to be, as they gave Lord Middleton a vast amount of
pleasure in hunting and hound-breeding for many years. It enabled him to
breed a second Trojan in Vanguard, and such Masters, as Mr. Foljambe,
Lord Henry Bentinck and Mr. Arkwright, of the Oakley, in a measure
continued the line to the days of present hound-lovers. There was,
again, Osbaldeston with his Furrier. The Squire would believe in nothing
else, and consider what tremendous sales he had from the progeny of the
old hound, to count those he sold, which some say he lent, to the late
Mr. Harvey Combe; and the ten couples of bitches he sold for £1,000 to
the Master of the Pytchley.
Other sales by auction, though, have perhaps been more famous in
illustrating the judgment of both buyers and sellers, as, for instance,
the great sale at the Bicester kennels in 1851, through the retirement
of Mr. Tom Drake. The latter had been a very noted master of hounds for
twenty-one years, and possibly long before that, in a less ostensible
way, than in governing the Bicester. At any rate, he had taken a lot of
trouble in his search for hound blood, and every hound in the sale
catalogue had been bred by himself. He had bred from the Brocklesby
Herald, and a great deal from Mr. Foljambe’s Stormer, so full of the
Osbaldeston Furrier blood. His Duster had been used at Belvoir, but the
latter celebrity was not in evidence on the sale day, although he might
have been as he was then only seven years old. Lord Henry Bentinck was
the most notable buyer on that May afternoon; he bought lot 2 of four
couples for 200 gs., lots 5 and 6 for respectively 91 and 135 gs., and
lot 10 for 165 gs. In all he bought twenty couples, and that must have
helped to make his Burton pack, as, although he had been building it up
for eight years from hounds he got from Lord Ducie, the latter were not
so good as Mr. Drake’s. The first Drake sale, though, led up to another
of still greater importance, as Mr. Tom Tyrwhitt Drake, better known to
a later generation of sportsmen, took on his father’s old country, the
Bicester, in the year of the sale, 1851, and he bought a few lots of the
old pack, eight couples of entered hounds in all, and three brood
bitches in whelp.
Here was the nucleus of another pack, but Tom Drake, as he was
familiarly called by his friends, must have been an extraordinary good
judge, as he bred from such bitches as Melody one of the hereditary
stock for whom he gave 18 gs. in whelp to Duster; and Skilful, by Mr.
Foljambe’s Stormer. He bought a lot of drafts also from Belvoir, Lord
Henry Bentinck’s and Badminton, and before the sixties his hounds were
very much talked of. He had, in fact, formed a beautiful pack in eleven
years, as it was in 1862 that he decided to sell it, and once more the
Messrs. Tattersall journeyed to the Bicester kennels, by this time at
Stratton Audley, to dispose of another Drake pack. Albeit a large
proportion of the hounds were not home-bred, I have always put this sale
down as the most important on record, as such famous results can be
traced from it and the hunting public expressed such confidence in Mr.
Drake, as shown by the capital prices made. Moreover, some of the best
hound judges living were amongst the buyers and bidders, including Mr.
Tailby, Mr. John Chaworth Musters, Lord Middleton, Mr. Villebois, the
Hon. E. Duncombe, afterwards Lord Feversham, and Sir John Trollope. The
largest buyer was the late Lord Eglinton, then just commencing his
career as a master of hounds—his lordship, taking three lots, twelve
couples in all, for 420 gs., and they furnished foundation stock for the
splendid pack now at Eglinton Castle. Mr. Tailby got two high-priced
lots for 230 and 185 gs., but there were four in them by grandsons of
Duster, and a five-year-old dog by old Lucifer, bought at the first
Drake sale and almost as famous as Duster himself. Mr. John Chaworth
Musters, with much discrimination, took lot 13, as, although there were
in it some that were ostensibly drafts from Belvoir, they were pretty
good ones. Good they turned out to be, as the four couples included
Sportly, almost the ancestress of the future South Notts pack, and some
say, of the Warwickshire as well. This famous daughter of Mr. Foljambe’s
Sportsman and the Duke of Rutland’s Rampish made the lot of four couples
exceedingly cheap at 225 gs. It has been well said, too, that the Bedale
pack was made by the purchases here of the Hon. E. Duncombe; and Lord
Middleton’s two lots that cost 310 gs. must have done the Birdsall pack
some good, as there was much Belvoir, Stormer, Singer and Comus blood
included in them, all, in fact, Drake classic blood so to speak, as
Singer, the sire of Senator, was by Comus out of Syren, by the Drake
Duster. In all, and perhaps before the most distinguished audience ever
brought together by a hound sale, Mr. T. T. Drake’s hounds realised
2,911 gs., whereas the senior Mr. Drake’s pack eleven years before had
only made 1,728 gs.
The next greatest sale of public importance, according to my view, was
that of the Rufford, held in 1860, two years before Mr. Drake’s. Captain
Percy Williams, one of the finest foxhound judges ever known, had been
exactly twenty years making the pack, beginning with drafts; but by
careful breeding from quality—both for good looks and work, with the
advantages also of capital walks—he had got together a beautiful pack of
hounds that were the talk of the country. The late Lord Fitzwilliam, who
was very thorough as a hound man, had a strong belief in these Rufford
hounds, and nobody could outbid him for some of the lots, which were all
in five couples, and so the prices do not seem so extraordinary. Lord
Fitzwilliam gave 310 gs. for one lot, 300 gs. for another, 240 gs. for a
third, and in all bought a little over 1,300 gs. worth of hounds during
the afternoon. What they might have done was never quite tested, for two
years afterwards hydrophobia broke out in the Wentworth kennels and most
of these hounds were destroyed. The Hon. Mark Rolle gave the highest
price of the day, viz., 370 gs., for five couples that included
Telegram, who was a host in himself, and 270 gs. for another lot, the
Devonshire M.F.H., altogether expending 775 gs. on three lots; and a
beautiful pack of hounds he bred from such purchases, with several other
West Country packs getting beholden to Telegram.
A sale that had much to do in adding lustre to the Foxhound Stud Book
was that of Sir Richard Sutton’s, at the death of that popular
sportsman, December 13th, 1855. Lord Stamford had taken on the Quorn and
was naturally anxious to get as much of the pack as possible, but there
were hounds in the pack for which the connoisseurs of blood sought very
eagerly, and Mr. Richard Sutton, Sir Richard’s son, who had taken on the
Billesdon side of Quorn Country, was determined that some of the lots
should not slip through his hands for any money. He outbid everyone when
coming to lot 13, that included three couples from which certainly a
great pack could have been formed. There was the stallion hound Dryden,
then only six years, and thought by a very able huntsman to have been
the best hound ever seen in Leicestershire; he was by Lord Henry
Bentinck’s Contest, which made him all the more valuable; and he had
already been the sire of Destitute, the dam of the ever-celebrated
Belvoir Senator. Then, amongst his companions in lot 13 were Vaulter, a
son of the Drake Duster; Lounger, a second season son of Dryden; and
Doubtful, an unentered daughter of the same, besides a dog called
Roderick by the Brocklesby Roderick. The bidding was very keen, but Mr.
Sutton silenced everyone at 260 gs., and reports at the time said he
would have gone on. Mr. Sutton’s pack, however, came to the hammer again
in less than six months after the above date, and once more Dryden was
put up, but with a different result, as in a lot of four couples he was
sold for 85 gs. to the Duke of Cleveland, then Master of the great Raby
and Hurworth country, who paid in all 240 gs. for twelve couples. The
sensation of the sale, though, was when Lord Stamford completely outbid
everyone for lot 2, and never left them until his reckoning with the
Messrs. Tattersall was 470 gs. for the four couples, or over 58 gs. a
hound, the odd part of it being that two couples were first season
hounds. Lord Henry Bentinck was a big buyer also, as he started the sale
by giving 200 gs. for five couples.
Another sale much talked of in 1858 was that of Mr. James Morrell’s
hounds, as the Old Berkshire pack at that time had a great reputation;
and the Badminton is said to have been improved immensely by the
purchase of eight couples of hounds for 400 gs., and two brood bitches
for, respectively, 50 gs. and 25 gs., the acquisition of the five-season
hunter, Fleecer, by Lord Fitzhardinge’s Furrier, in one of the 200 gs.
lots being of the greatest value, as shown in after years.
The greatest sale of the century, in regard to prices, was Lord
Poltimore’s in the spring of 1870, when twenty-two couples of dog hounds
made 3,170 gs.; two of the lots, one of three couples, and the other of
three couples and a half, made 600 gs. each, or, in one case, 100 gs. a
hound. Another lot went for 500 gs. and others for 460 gs. and 400 gs.
Whether they were worth it has been a matter of discussion amongst
experts in hound-lore; but this much can be said, that Lord Poltimore
was an exceptionally good judge, and he had a splendid adviser in Lord
Portsmouth. I saw the bitch pack and had a day’s hunting with them
shortly after the sale, and I do not think I have ever seen anything
more beautiful out of Belvoir. Then for the good they have done!
Whipster by Woldsman, purchased in a 600 gs. lot by Sir Algernon Peyton,
proved a tower of strength to the Bicester pack, and several bought by
Major Browne did an immense amount of good to Lord Eglinton, and other
masters of the North had good reasons to recollect them. Woldsman, who
was not amongst those sold, will ever do honour to the hound judgment of
Lord Poltimore, as, besides being the sire of the above-named Whipster,
he had Lord Zetland’s Wanderer to his credit as well, and the latter has
been the corner-stone of the Aske kennel. I could mention five or six
other descents from Woldsman and also from Lexicon, Latimer, Roman and
Limner, all but the last-named of the 100 gs. order.
The above reference to hound sales in these days of the past may be
lessons to those inclined to pursue the very enchanting pleasures of
hound-breeding. If fewer packs have come into the market of late years
than formerly, owing to so many counties now possessing their own packs,
such as the two Warwickshires, Pytchley, Grafton, Southwold, Cotswold,
Meynell, Rufford and others, prices have been kept up to former
standards, as instanced by the valuation put on the Quorn at 3,000gs.,
the North Warwickshire at 2,500 gs., and the Atherstone at 3,500 gs. The
Messrs. Tattersall made a capital move at quite the right time when they
established their sales at Rugby, as it gave them opportunities of
selling entire packs outright, but more especially for the drafts,
which, however, may be of very different material from that suggested by
such a conventional term. The great Knightsbridge firm have erected most
convenient kennels just outside Rugby station, and the little saleyard,
surrounded by comfortable stands, is admirably arranged to permit hounds
to be seen at their best. There have been many good results already from
the Rugby sales. In 1888 the late Lord Bathurst bought a lot from the
Chiddingfold that included a bitch called Buttercup, and the present
Lord Bathurst considers she was the corner-stone of his beautiful pack.
Then Lord Zetland bought Rockwood at the break-up Puckeridge sale, and
his Lordship acknowledges a great deal of good from him. Such
recollections were bound to occur at the Messrs. Tattersall’s first sale
of the season, on April 20th, when excellent opportunities were offered
by Mr. J. R. Rawlence, who always occupies the Rugby rostrum, and is
reckoned to be the greatest arbitrator in the kingdom on hound values.
Two entire dog packs, sold for no fault whatever, were in the catalogue;
those from the Woodland Pytchley, owing to Mr. Wroughton’s reduction of
his days hunting, and the Northumberland and Berwickshire, through the
lamented death of Sir James Miller. Most of Mr. Wroughton’s were
veritable stallion hounds of the most telling blood, and Mr. Pollok, the
new Master of the Kildare, made no mistake in getting the biggest
portion of them. They must make his Irish pack, for it is the blood of
all others to perpetuate long generations of workers, being the cream of
Mr. Austin Mackenzie’s kennel, that was formed out of Mr. Longman’s and
the Blankney, with the most judicious breeding from the Belvoir,
Warwickshire, Fitzwilliam and Pytchley. Mr. Pollok will probably have
the best pack of hounds in Ireland. He just missed one lot of useful
ones in Nelson, Harold, Shiner, and Wicklow, which sold cheaply enough,
I thought, for 85 gs.
It was history repeating itself to see a son of the famous Mr. Tom Drake
picking out the gems of the Southwold, a rare pack, to get good hounds
from; it looks as if judgment in the kennel is hereditary, as did he not
get one good enough to make a pack when he secured a lot that included
the little bitch Guilty, by the Brocklesby Wrangler? The present Squire
of Shardloes, Mr. W. Tyrwhitt-Drake, who is an old hand in all that
pertains to foxhounds, will have another great pack to hunt the Old
Berks country with, if he will only stay long enough. Another buyer of
the Southwold was Mr. Isaac Bell, of the Galway Blazers, and he will
have nothing to regret in the six couples he secured; and with Mr. Nigel
Baring, of the Duhallows, snapping up the Brocklesby stallion hound,
Sandow, for 45 gs., it may have been called almost an Irish day. Some
English packs, though, will be the gainers, as it will be astonishing if
Captain Kinglake, of the Taunton Vale, does not do some good with two
couples he got from Sir James Miller’s pack; most certainly Dashwood,
Catcher, Trampler and Wayward are grand workmanlike-looking foxhounds,
and almost ridiculously cheap at 58 gs. The sale of the Dowager Lady
Craven’s pack a fortnight later, for nearly 1,100 gs., has been a
feature in the disposal of hound property, but I expect they were very
cheap, as they were bred by Mr. C. B. Wright, who has no superior in
Stud-book lore and as a judge of hounds.
Features of the hound sales throughout the spring have been the numerous
purchases by Mr. Pollok and Mr. Isaac Bell for the Kildare and Galway
Blazers, and, by the way these gentlemen bought, it is very evident that
hound breeding in the Sister Isle will be very much improved. Besides
his purchases on the first day’s sale, Mr. Pollok got a nice lot of
entered bitches from the Atherstone that might breed anything, and two
unentered lots from the Heythrop that might do a deal of good. Mr. Isaac
Bell was buying several very racing-like bitches from the South
Cheshire, including a couple one noticed by the Warwickshire Traveller,
which give a denial to the idea that the beautiful son of Belvoir Handel
and Tragedy was no use at the stud. Doubtless there are some more of his
get at Kineton, or a couple of his unentered daughters would not have
been missed. I shall be curious to know how these young Travellers,
Credible and Captious, do in their new Galway home. Apart from the Irish
efforts in the cause of improvement, it was seen that Lord Southampton
was intent on keeping up the standard of the Grafton, as his lordship
expended 210 gs. for five couples of choice bitches from Lady Craven’s
pack, or 21 gs. a hound; no gs. going for the couple and a half,
Fabulous, Grenadine and Roundelay. Lord Leconfield also gave 110 gs. for
one lot as an addition to his Goodwood pack. At the third sale, on the
11th of the month, Lord Southampton was again buying some dog hounds
from the Burton pack, but as they have been hunting in Suffolk, they may
have become a little sticky for a country like the Grafton. For that
reason, perhaps, they did not make much money. The Atherstone were voted
the best of all at this final sale, and a great bargain was made by Mr.
W. Drake, when he took Stormer for a fourth of 17 gs., and both Lord
Huntingdon and the York and Ainsty are to be congratulated on the
bargains they got amongst the young hounds, that made about twice as
much as any unentered drafts have ever made before, and this says much
for Atherstone breeding. In all, more than thirty countries will be
benefited by the Messrs. Tattersall’s sales this season, besides help to
the Dominion of Canada and far-off India, with a few examples also of
what England can boast of to Russia. May the Rugby sales continue and
prosper.