THE ETON COLLEGE HUNT.
[Illustration: T. C. GOULDSMITH (_Master_ 1921-22).]
THE
ETON COLLEGE HUNT
A SHORT HISTORY _of_
BEAGLING AT ETON
BY
A. C. CROSSLEY
ILLUSTRATED BY J. ROBERTSON
WITH
CONTRIBUTIONS ON HARE HUNTING
BY COLONEL ROBERTSON-AIKMAN,
MAJOR FISHER, MR. G. H. LONGMAN,
MR. HOWARD-VYSE AND OTHERS
ETON COLLEGE
SPOTTISWOODE, BALLANTYNE & CO. LTD.
_First Published March 1922.
Second Impression February 1923._
PREFACE.
There seems to be no real reason for writing a Preface to this book
except for the purpose of thanking the many Old Etonians who have given
me their assistance in its production. At the same time I should like to
take this opportunity of explaining that, when I began compiling this
record of the Eton College Hunt, it was mainly for the purpose of amusing
myself during the intervals of school work, football and beagling in
the Michaelmas Half of 1921, and it was not until the book was nearly
finished that I became bold enough to imagine that it might be of
interest to others who, like myself, have hunted the hare on the ploughs
of Dorney and Datchet.
I am only too conscious of the inadequacy of my own work, but, in spite
of its defects, I hope that this short history of a pack of Beagles which
has been in existence for 64 years, and which has given their first
experience of hound lore to so many eminent amateur huntsmen, may be of
some interest to Etonians past, present and future.
I then decided to enlarge the original scope of the book by obtaining
contributions from recognized authorities on the various aspects of Hare
Hunting. I have added these in the shape in which I received them as
Part II., and I must thank COL. ROBERTSON-AIKMAN, MAJ. FISHER, MR. G. H.
LONGMAN and MR. HOWARD-VYSE for their great kindness in giving me their
help.
I would also like to thank MESSRS. LONGMAN for their kind permission to
include Ch. III. of Part II. which has already appeared in the ‘Hare’
volume of the Fur and Feather series published by them: MESSRS. ARNOLD
for their kindness in allowing me to give a story of Rowland Hunt; MRS.
GRAZEBROOK for lending me the diaries and photographs of her father,
EDWARD CHARRINGTON; and COL. MEYSEY-THOMPSON for the loan of his diary
and for his many letters which have helped to throw light on an otherwise
dark period.
A. C. CROSSLEY.
ETON, _December 1921_.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAPTER
I. THE OPPIDAN BEAGLES 1
II. THE COLLEGE HUNT 12
III. THE AMALGAMATION 21
IV. ROWLAND HUNT AND HIS SUCCESSORS 35
V. FROM 1886 TO 1899 51
VI. THE GOLDEN AGE, 1899-1914 60
VII. THE WAR AND THE FINAL TRIUMPH 80
PART II.
CHAPTER
I. HARES, BY MAJ. ARTHUR T. FISHER 91
II. KENNEL MANAGEMENT, BY H. H. HOWARD-VYSE 98
III. BEAGLING, BY G. H. LONGMAN 101
IV. THE HUMANITARIAN ASPECT, BY COL. ROBERTSON-AIKMAN 107
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX
I. LIST OF MASTERS AND WHIPS 113
II. RECORD OF SPORT 118
III. LETTER FROM F. GRENFELL TO _Eton College Chronicle_,
DECEMBER 1899 121
IV. “BEHAVIOUR AND CONTROL OF THE FIELD,” BY A MASTER OF
HOUNDS OF FORTY YEARS’ EXPERIENCE 124
V. THE USE OF THE HORN, BY H. H. HOWARD-VYSE 125
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
T. C. GOULDSMITH, MASTER 1921-2 _Frontispiece_
EDWARD CHARRINGTON, FOUNDER OF THE OPPIDAN BEAGLES _To face_ 6
THE SORT OF DAY WE ALL KNOW 11
AN OLD-TIME BEAGLER 13
GOOD-NIGHT 20
AN UNPARDONABLE INTRUSION 34
ROWLAND HUNT (CENTRE) WITH HIS HOUNDS AND WHIPS _To face_ 40
AN AWKWARD MEETING 42
“THERE SHE LAYS” 50
A DISAPPOINTING FINISH 57
“HOLD HARD!” 59
FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL _To face_ 60
PLAN OF KENNELS _To face_ 62
1.40 P.M. 64
A TYPICAL INCIDENT 66
HIS LUCKY DAY 70
G. K. DUNNING’S YEAR _To face_ 78
HIS MASTER’S VOICE 79
T. C. BARNETT-BARKER’S YEAR _To face_ 86
THE KILL 90
MAP OF COUNTRY HUNTED BY E.C.H. _To face_ 90
FEEDING TIME, DABBLER, GEORGE CHAMPION, GIPSY AND
RASPER _To face_ 98
THE ETON COLLEGE HUNT.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
THE OPPIDAN BEAGLES.
It was a manly country-loving boy who first undertook the task of
introducing Beagles to Eton; a boy, versed in the etiquette of hunting
and devoted to a healthy open air life, who loved a horse and who loved
a hound, fond of music and fond of dancing, who spent every moment of
daylight in cultivating the instincts of a clean country-bred Englishman.
Edward Charrington is unfortunately dead. He died in 1894, but he left
behind him a diary of his last two years at Eton, and in this he gives
a lucid account of how he initiated the Beagles. He acted on a sudden
inspiration. Within a week he had actually got together subscriptions and
purchased two couples of beagles. But it is better to give the story in
his own words, in extracts from his diary:
“_Monday, Jan. 18th_, 1858. Thought of getting up some Beagles.
“_Tuesday, Jan. 19th._ Got up £7 10s. for the Beagles.
“_Thursday, Jan. 21st._ Ran with Lawless and Hussey. Beagles. Bad run.
“_Saturday, Jan. 23rd._ Went with Vyner after 12 and bought two couples
of Beagles. There were eight to choose from. We tried them all in a
field. Gave £3 a couple for them. Ran a drag after 4, of four miles. I am
huntsman, Johnstone _mi._ whip.”
All this is clear enough except the mention of Lawless and Hussey.
Charrington’s pack was undoubtedly the nucleus of the Oppidan Hunt
which existed till its amalgamation with the College Pack in 1866. But
Lawless and Hussey kept a few Beagles at the same time. The present Lord
Cloncurry, Valentine Lawless at Eton, has given me the following account
of his Beagles and how they originated.
“I shall be glad if I can help in facts for your book about Eton and the
Beagles, but after a lapse of more than sixty years it is not easy to
write from memory without notes. Keeping dogs was an offence under strict
school rules, though the rule had been often broken, and in Oct. 1857 or
Feb. 1858 Dr. Goodford, who was then Head Master, invited me to breakfast
at his house and to talk over the question of ‘Lower Boys frequenting
Tap.’ As you know, ‘Tap’ was a private room in a public-house beyond
Barnes Bridge where beer and mutton chops were served, and where drinking
the ‘Long Glass’ and other time-honoured customs were maintained.
“Dr. Goodford proposed that, if I (as Captain of the Boats) would put
up a notice in Tap, ‘that no Lower Boys be admitted to this room,’ he
would withdraw the rules against dogs so far as to authorise the College
Beagles and he would give recognition and assistance. My notice remained
on the wall in ‘Tap’ for thirty years, it may be there now for all I
know. As Captain of the Boats, I became nominal Head of the Hunt, but I
was a bad runner, and a long-legged boy named Hussey, stroke oar of the
‘Victory,’ became the real Master and Huntsman of the first _official_
Beagles. Before that time, Beach in 1854, and Charrington later, had kept
a few couples.”
Col. Meysey-Thompson of Westwood Mount, Scarborough, has given me most
of my knowledge regarding Charrington and the rival pack of Lawless and
Hussey. He says in one letter:
“I have a hazy idea that Hussey had three or four Beagles, but he did
not do much with them. Nor did in fact Charrington or the Edwards’ (a
third rival pack about which I know nothing). They pottered about with
them, though Charrington’s pack was a little more pretentious. But they
were not recognised by the Masters of Eton; only about seven or eight of
Charrington’s personal friends knew that they existed.[1] It was some
time before the Beagles were allowed, and I can remember conversations
that took place with Balston before they became a permanent institution.”
Again in a letter to the late Vice-Provost (F. H. Rawlins) in 1899 Col.
Meysey-Thompson says:
“Although Charrington kept a few rather nondescript hounds in 1859 (and
1858), they were not really looked upon as a school pack, and had not
much more title to this description than those kept at the same time by
another boy ‘Edwards,’ both packs hunting anything and being taken out
just when the whim of their owners seized them. Charrington’s, however,
were undoubtedly the nucleus of the present hunt. I remember one hound
he had that towered over the others, and was so very much faster that he
always had a short belt buckled round his neck somewhat to assimilate
his pace to that of his comrades, but even then he was usually about a
quarter of a mile ahead.”
In another letter he writes: “The fact is that in the early
years—certainly up to 1861—it was a rather scratch affair. ‘Joby’ acted
very often as huntsman or whip, and those who were so called ‘whips’
scarcely received a formal appointment at first, but had the whips handed
over to them at the meet.”
W. T. Trench, the Master in 1862, wrote to the late Vice-Provost a letter
in which he questions Charrington’s position as the first Oppidan Master.
I quote from his letter, but I think his evidence is overborne, and that
there is little real doubt that the Eton Beagles owe their existence to
the zeal and enthusiasm of Charrington and his College contemporary, R.
H. Carter (about whom more anon). He says:
“The _Eton College Chronicle_ which you sent me woke up many memories
of the good old Eton days. I think the _Chronicle_ is wrong as to
Charrington having been the first Oppidan Master. The present Lord
Cloncurry (then Valentine Lawless) and Hussey got up Beagles in 1858. I
don’t think there were more than two or three couples. Charrington’s was
a rival pack. He and his supporters hunted _sub rosa_. No one except a
few privileged ones knew where they met. Lawless and Hussey were high up
in the School then, Charrington and his lot much lower down.”
On more than one occasion Charrington combined forces with Lawless,
sometimes with considerable success. The combined meets attracted a big
Field, which proved that the interest in the Beagles was rapidly growing.
Here is an entry from Charrington’s diary:
“_Tuesday, 9th of Feb._ 1858. Wh. Hol. I bought a hare. Got her from
Ipswich and joined packs with Hussey. Met at Sanatorium and turned her
out; over a hundred fellows out. Hussey hunted the hounds. Ran her to
Chalvey and lost her there.”
But, whatever the footing of Lawless and Hussey, it is to Charrington
that we owe the Oppidan Beagles. His was a subscription pack of 8½
couples of hounds. His subscriptions in 1858 we do not know, but his 1859
funds amounted to no less than £52 10s. Thus the hunt was placed on a
sound business footing.
Considering the inconveniences, the sport was apparently good. There were
terrible difficulties. There used to be Chapel at 3 o’clock for all, and
after 12 was too short altogether for a pack of Beagles to wear down a
hare.
Col. Meysey-Thompson writes:
“It should not be forgotten what a very limited time we had in which to
reach the kennels, get the pack out, find a hare, return with the hounds
to the kennels (the Master and Whips), and be ‘changed’ and either in
school or Chapel by 3 p.m.—missing our dinners sometimes. When there
was ‘Absence’ it was worse, for we had to be there, and I remember on
one occasion Balston finding fault because so many boys were late for
Absence, and I pointed out to him that we the Whips were there, although
we had had to go to the kennels, a long distance out of the homeward
path, so that the others should have been there too if they had hurried
up. He accepted this plea. We never got out of school till 11.45, and
were supposed to be at dinner by 2 p.m. In the afternoon when there was
‘short’ Chapel we did not get out of Chapel till 3.20, had to change and
have one run and be in by lock-up, which of course was early. I sometimes
wonder how we did it, when perhaps we had run very nearly to Maidenhead.
It was the getting back which was the crux.”
The pack was kennelled near the Dorney Road beyond the Sanatorium, the
kennel huntsman being Alf Joel, Joby Minor as he was called. There is
always a Joby at Eton, and this one undertook the duties of kennel
huntsman. Charrington used to give him various sums of money (he had no
fixed salary), for which he fed and housed the hounds.
Charringon’s Beagles hunted anything; a bagged fox, which resided at
the kennels “within earshot of the musical harmony of his relentless
pursuers,” an occasional bagged hare; innumerable bagged rabbits, which
invariably met with untimely ends; a drag, usually a hare-skin, and
anything else which presented itself.
Here are some extracts from his diary which illustrate the character of
the sport:
“_Thursday, 28th Jan._ 1858. Went out hunting with the Beagles. Very good
run. Found a rabbit and killed. Finished at Salt Hill. Went in there and
refreshed ourselves.
“_Saturday, 6th Feb._ Went out before breakfast with the Beagles and
found a hare but did not kill it. Met at Philippi. One dozen rabbits
came for sport. We turned them out and killed them. One ran into the
river by Upper Hope.
“_Thursday, 18th Feb._ Stayed out. The Beagles met at the Iron Bridge
over Chalvey. Mitchell _mi._ gave us a live hare to turn out before them.
We turned it out in view and she took us a long round by the gasworks,
where a man caught and turned it out again, and we ran it for 30 minutes
and lost it by Chalvey Village across the road there. Altogether we ran
this hare 55 minutes.”
The most interesting development comes a little later. The Masters did
not all by any means approve of the institution of Beagles, although they
must by now have known of the College pack, which had already existed a
whole season. On the 13th of March the following entry appears:
“Goodford sent for me and stopped the Beagles. Didn’t care for that.
Joined with Hussey after 4, turned out a brace of hares and killed them.
One ran into the Cemetery Churchyard and jumped the wall about five feet
high. Coming home we saw a weasel up a tree. Soon stoned him down, and
after rushing up and down a hedge for some time Modesty killed it. I have
sent it to be stuffed.”
But the Half was nearly at an end, and it closed without further
incident. Dr. Goodford made no further attempt to check the progress of
Beagling during the fortnight that remained, either because he imagined
that his order had been obeyed or because he was disposed to wink at
their existence.
This is what the late Mr. Charles Tayleur of Buntingsdale Hall, Market
Drayton, said of Charrington and his Beagles in a letter to the late
Vice-Provost in 1899:
“Charrington was at my Tutor’s, a friend of mine though a trifle senior,
and we used to go hunting with terriers or anything we could find; till
it was, I believe, at my suggestion that a few Beagles should be got
together, that Charrington adopted the idea. I helped him from the start
in conjunction with Johnstone, and afterwards had as coadjutor Chambers
and I believe Schneider, but in the early days whipping-in was done by
any one appointed that was out. This was certainly the first pack of
Beagles, as those started by Lawless were an afterthought on the part of
some seniors in the School. We ran a drag to start, and hares when we
could find them; but we got into trouble sometimes hunting the latter
at first. The first bag-fox we hunted was sent to me from Leadenhall
Market by my uncle, the late W. Tayleur of Buntingsdale, and he showed
us many a good run—as we kept him pretty fat to prevent him outrunning
our small pack. However we eventually lost him in Stoke Park after a good
run. I myself saw him crossing the Park, but we had to stop the hounds.
The first day we ran him he was taken in the farmyard of a man called
Aldridge. I believe that he showed us many a hare afterwards.”
There is rather a good story about old Mr. Tayleur of Buntingsdale,
who has long since departed this life. He had an old shepherd on his
estate, and one day, shortly after he had changed his name from Taylor to
Tayleur, he met him in his park.
“What do you call your dog?” he asked. “Wal,” replied the shepherd,
“ah used to call ’im ‘Growler,’ but I suppose I shall ’ave to call ’im
‘Growl-E-U-R’ now.”
The 1859 season was a highly successful one. There were, as I have
already said, no less than 58 subscribers. The staff was the same, and
the names of the hounds are given in the appendix at the end. Ricardo
and Lord Parker used to whip in when the regular whips were absent. No
more attempts were made on the part of the Head Master to put down the
Beagles. Here are some of the best runs:
“_Monday, Feb. 28th._ Met at Athens. In coming to the meet the fox
got out of the bag and we could not find him for 1½ hours. Had a most
splendid run to Stoke of about five miles, and he went to ground in a
hollow tree. We could not find him, but since learned where he was and
sent for him.
“_Friday, 11th March._ Met at Easy Bridge. Turned down a fresh untried
fox which came from London this morning. I got him from Rebbets,
Leadenhall Market. He was very wild and gave us a very quick 2½ miles run
to Aldridge’s, where the hounds ran him into a pond, and we could not get
him out, for he got among some rushes in the middle. At last I offered
10s. to any one who would get him out, and Alf Joel took his coat and
waistcoat off and swam in and caught him by the brush and pulled him out.”
The sequel to this incident is not so amusing. The fox was so perished
by his adventure in the pond that he died the same night in spite of
attempts to revive him with brandy before the kitchen fire of a farmhouse.
“_Wednesday, 16th March._ Met at Cuckoo Weir. Had a capital run with the
big fox to Slough, where he ran to ground on the railway line about ¼
mile from the station. We could not get him out of the pipe he had run
up, and two bull terriers and several navvies were at work more than four
hours digging him out. We found a leveret and ran and killed it there.
The hounds did not get home till 6 o’clock.”
[Illustration: EDWARD CHARRINGTON.
(_Founder of the Oppidan Beagles._)]
But the run of the season comes as late as Thursday, 28th of March. The
entry is as follows:
“Half holiday. Met at Sanatorium. Had a brace of bagged hares. The first
did not give us much of a run, but the second gave us a clipper; the run
of the season in fact. Ran a ring to Chalvey, to the Sanatorium, away to
Slough and Upton Park, where we killed. Vide _Bell’s Life_ for Sat. 26th.”
In this run they joined forces with the College pack for the first time.
Two more days they repeated the experiment, and then not again until the
amalgamation in 1866. After such an extraordinary run it is surprising
that the arrangement was not made permanent, but the fact remains that
the packs continued separate for another six years.
Charrington’s last run with the Beagles was the climax of his Eton
career. Here is the entry in his diary. It will describe better than any
words of mine what must have been his feeling of satisfaction at having
accomplished a work that was destined to prosper long after he himself
had died.
“_Monday, April 11th._ The last day of the season. Met at Philippi. Had a
capital run for the wind up and killed our hare in the Field all amongst
the fellows playing at cricket.”
I wish I knew something about Johnstone, but no information whatever
has come into my hands concerning him, except that he was Charrington’s
principal coadjutor.
In 1860 R. E. Moore was Master, and of him I know very little indeed,
except what Col. R. F. Meysey-Thompson says in a letter.
“In 1860 R. E. Moore in Sixth Form was Master, and the pack began to be
looked upon as a recognised institution, though it was not until the next
year 1861 that a regular subscription was made when J. G. Chambers was
Master (afterwards so well known as a ’Varsity oar and champion walker
and for many years the umpire at the ’Varsity Boat Race).”
Moore actually secured the Head Master’s leave to keep Beagles, and
henceforward it became an official sport at Eton. Moore had for his only
whip Baker _mi._, who performed the (?) unparalleled feat of winning the
School Steeplechase while still in jackets.
All through this period the Beagles were growing in importance in the
School. They did not force themselves forward, but almost imperceptibly
they began to assume the position they have held ever since. And they
continued to prosper during the next three years under the Mastership of
J. G. Chambers, W. T. Trench and F. G. Pelham.
Schneider and Senhouse were Chambers’ whips, and at the end of the season
a presentation was made to him as a testimonial. During the next year W.
T. Trench held office with F. G. Pelham and H. M. Meysey-Thompson (now
Lord Knaresborough) as his whips. W. T. Trench in a letter said: “We
wound up the season with a drag to Maidenhead, when the subscribers very
kindly presented me with a silver cup, which I am proud to have on my
dining table now.”
F. G. Pelham was Master during the following season. He won the Mile and
was second in the Steeplechase in 1863. As his second whip he had W.
R. Griffiths, the Captain of the Boats. Pelham also had a testimonial
presented to him.
I have passed over these three years lightly because little information
has come to hand and no anecdotes at all. It is too long ago to expect
much, and what I have are merely isolated statements. But in 1864 I
am on firmer ground. Col. R. F. Meysey-Thompson has supplied me with
a diary which contains a complete record of the season’s sport. H. M.
Meysey-Thompson was Master, and his whips, A. Turnor and S. H. Sandbach,
are still alive. There is so much to be said about H. M. Meysey-Thompson
that a letter from A. Turnor will not be inappropriate here as giving an
excellent and vivid summary of the sport.
“_North Stoke, Grantham._
“The recollection of the Eton Beagles in 1864 is perhaps more
vivid than my recollection of Aeschylus and of Homer. The
kennels were on Dorney Common, a miserable and ramshackle
construction, and a bagged fox resided within earshot of the
musical harmony of his relentless pursuers. Joby Minor, the
most artful poacher in Eton, was kennel huntsman, ran with the
drag and administered to the comforts of the fox. The hounds,
a somewhat unlevel pack, were contributed by the ardent sons
of Nimrod who valued more the hunting lore of Beckford, Silk
and Scarlet, and such like sporting authors, than anything
Greece or Rome could produce in the way of Classics. W. T.
Trench and his brother Benjamin, Lord Worcester, Dick Thompson
and the writer were notable amongst others who brought hounds,
and the Hon. Evelyn Pelham and the present Lord Knaresborough
were amongst those who carried the horn. The sport was of the
finest, and the climax was reached when hounds found a wild
hare, and after a choral service of two hours hunted her to the
death.
“On one of those rare but memorable occasions when the writer
was handling the hounds, a yokel possessed of no sporting or
manly instincts struck the exhausted hare with a spade and
hid it in a cart. The huntsman with the aid of his Beckford
perceived what had happened, and boldly and determinedly
wrested the hare from the yokel and gave it to the hounds, thus
fulfilling the loftiest instinct of venery.
“All concerned enjoyed the sport. The hounds obviously, the fox
because he knew that he could baffle his pursuers, and the boys
because it called for the exercise of skill, sight, intellect
and endurance. Above all Joby Minor because he drew a salary.
“It is recorded that on one occasion a beagle entered the
schoolroom in Schoolyard of Mr. William Johnson, a kind,
eccentric, but very short-sighted Master. Forty voices,
gratuitously and somewhat officiously, informed him of the
patent fact, causing a requisite but temporary cessation of
work. His reply was: ‘Stop. I will deal with the intruder.’ He
seized a large key, gazed steadily and threw it in exactly the
opposite direction to the spot on which the unconcerned hound
was sniffing the untainted air. Due notice was taken by the
class and the Master adequately informed.”
During the Mastership of H. M. Meysey-Thompson the kennels were improved
considerably, and he presented the pack with the first “copper” that they
ever had for cooking the hound food. They had a fairly good season, and
some interesting runs are recorded in the diary which has been lent me by
Col. R. F. Meysey-Thompson. Here is one of the most remarkable:
“_Tuesday, Jan. 19th._ Had a bag-fox. A bright day but a good many clouds
about and a splendid scent. Turned him down by Crosse’s Farm. Away he
went, past the river jump into the road leading to Aldridge’s, down which
he went to the left till he came to the grass field there, up which he
turned to the left through Aldridge’s rushy field straight for Dorney,
where he was coursed by some greyhounds, but he went away through Burnham
Abbey, when he turned to the left to Maidenhead. Here he was headed and
turned to the right to the gardens at Burnham (which are about two miles
distant from the Abbey), where we lost him. Distance about seven miles.
Time, 40 minutes. Crosse was riding, and said it was all he could do
to keep up. He said Ferryman and Boscoe led the whole way. We who were
running got in about twenty minutes after. Only about twelve out of a
field of about forty showed up at the end. We were obliged to get into a
cab, as many of us as could, and just got back for absence.”
The whole principle of the Beagles before the amalgamation was entirely
different from what it is to-day. The pack was privately owned by various
boys, who brought hounds from their homes and lent them for the season.
It may be of interest to give the names of the hounds together with those
of the boys who owned them:
_Hounds._ _Owner._
Rummager, Ruler Buddicom.
Tapster, Gobbler, Music, Ruby Jones.
Cromwell, [2]Coic, [2]Famous, [2]Chorister Turnor.
Ryot, Myrtle Wellesley.
Boscoe, Ferryman, Ranger R. F. M.-Thompson.
Clara, Crafty, Pilot, Boxer Wakeman.
Famous Crosse.
Bellman Gordon-Lennox.
Sprightly, Dilligent Hon. R. C. Grosvenor.
Trueman, Dexter, Music, Trinket C. S. Newton.
Col. Meysey-Thompson says: “Any one lending hounds was entitled to run
with the pack without paying any subscription, though some did not avail
themselves of this exemption. Only Fifth Form were allowed to run with
the pack, but a Lower Boy bringing a hound had the special privilege of
accompanying the pack.”
H. M. Meysey-Thompson (the brother of the Colonel) was a good runner. In
1863 he won the Hurdles and was third in the Mile, and in 1864 he won the
Steeplechase (the ambition of all beaglers) and was second in the Mile.
Turnor and Sandbach were also good runners. The best run the Beagles had
during his Mastership was in the region of Dorney, where they ran a hare
for an hour and five minutes, covering more than six miles. In the end
she burst her heart just in front of hounds.
There was a curious and not altogether pleasant incident at the end of
the season. A presentation to H. M. Meysey-Thompson was arranged chiefly
under the fostering care of a boy named Kennion (now Bishop of Bath and
Wells), and he was offered his choice of an oil painting of the pack or
of a silver hunting horn. He chose the latter. At the breakfast which
was held in honour of the event, W. W. Wood got up, and proposed that it
should be made a horn of office instead.
A very warm discussion ensued, and the question was put to the vote and
carried, to the chagrin of those who had been chiefly instrumental in
raising the subscription. The horn is still in existence. A beautiful
piece of work it is, with the names of every Master since 1864 inscribed
on it. It is now kept on the dining-room table of the house at which the
Master of the Beagles boards.
Kennion was a regular follower in those days. It is surprising how many
churchmen, and eminent churchmen at that, have enjoyed the sport with the
Eton Beagles. Three Bishops to-day, the Bishop of St. Albans, the Bishop
of Bath and Wells, and the Bishop of Cape Town, were all keen followers
at Eton. M. B. Furse, Bishop of St. Albans, was actually first whip in
1889, while the late Canon E. K. Douglas was one of the most successful
of the early Masters. There is scarcely anything so pleasing as to see a
parson taking his own line over a hunting country. They are few in number
these sporting parsons, but very often they are the best sportsmen of all.
In 1865 C. S. Newton was Master with R. F. Meysey-Thompson as his first
whip and E. Royds as the second whip. Royds was a very good long-distance
runner, and won both the Mile and the Steeplechase in 1865, while R. F.
Meysey-Thompson was a good all round athlete.
I have no records of this season at all, and so must pass it over without
comment. The only thing we do know is that near the end of the Half the
Oppidans ran a drag to Salt Hill and invited the Master and whips of the
College Beagles. It was at this drag that the followers were regaled with
champagne and sandwiches, a custom which had become a regular one. And
here the amalgamation of the two School packs was proposed. But I will
leave the account of this for another chapter.
[Illustration: THE SORT OF DAY WE ALL KNOW.]