1886-1899.
This will of necessity be a short chapter, as I have received few letters
referring to the period. A terribly large number of those who were
officials of the pack served both in the South African and in the late
War, with the result that comparatively few are still living. It was not
a particularly successful period as regards sport. Many fewer hares were
killed than in the previous ten years, owing chiefly to a deterioration
in the pack. Probably this was the fault of Lock. He was getting older
and fatter, and began to think more of saving himself trouble than of
keeping up a good pack of hounds. One of the Masters, A. M. Grenfell,
horrified him by making him feed the hounds on oatmeal. Moreover, there
was a tendency to make the pack a dog pack and exclude all bitches. In
1891 only four old bitches remained. As A. M. Grenfell remarked: “Of
course this is the best plan for Lock, as it saves him no end of trouble,
but that does not mean that it is the best plan for the hunt. There
ought, in my opinion, to be at least three couples of bitches to breed
from.” But there was no uniformity of opinion, and, while one Master bred
puppies freely, another would say that he did not believe in breeding at
Eton. And so the pack really deteriorated and provided on the whole less
sport than during the ten years previous to this time.
We do not wish to run Lock down. In a way he was an excellent kennelman.
But, like many excellent men, he was old-fashioned and a trifle
pig-headed, and several Masters had considerable difficulty in making him
understand that he was there to do what they told him. However, he was
wonderful out hunting, and, like old Mr. Mumford to-day, always seemed to
be viewing the hunted hare. This is what an old follower says about him:
“He used to run a Turkish Bath up town somewhere opposite Devereux’s
shop, and was enormously fat. He always carried a sort of policeman’s
whistle out with the beagles, and generally seemed to be in the right
place for viewing the hare. Both hounds and field had supreme confidence
in him and always went straight for his whistle regardless of the horn.”
During the Mastership of T. W. Brand (now Lord Hampden) an amusing
incident happened. He says: “We had a great run from near Langley Station
to beyond West Drayton. We swam the Colne and came back by train without
paying for our tickets. A bill was sent in to me for forty tickets. I
asked how they had got at the numbers, and was informed that they found
forty wet imprints of our seats in the carriages.
“There was a marvellous hound called Landlord, and I should say his was
the greatest personality in connection with the Eton beagles while I was
at Eton. He lasted for years and was a marvel. Of course the kennels
were poor things, but the hounds were fit and hunted well, and I am sure
it was a great advantage to be able to drop in there any time of day. I
usually went there after 10.”
Here is a letter from Mr. G. Fenwick:
“In the year 1888 a hound van was first used, chiefly, I believe, because
Lock, who then was kennel huntsman, had got too old and fat to stand
the, sometimes, longish journeys home at night. I know that the masters
and whips much appreciated the lift home after hunting. There also was a
picture painted of the hounds that year, and I think a certain number of
prints were sold, but what happened to it I don’t know. My recollection
of the print is that the whole thing was so bad that I wouldn’t buy one,
and I never have seen a copy since. It is so many years since I have seen
the Eton country that I expect there have been very many changes. My
chief recollection is of the soil and plough beyond Dorney, and the water
which at times was over the fields below Aldin House, Slough, after heavy
rains. I expect the same conditions still obtain. The most successful
Master in my recollection, if one may take the number of hares killed in
the season (in those days we only hunted in the Easter Half), was F. P.
Barnett, who I think accounted for 17. He was Master in 1886, and in my
opinion the finest runner over a really heavy country I ever saw.”
There were two important changes in uniform about this time. A. M.
Grenfell introduced the white knickerbockers and white stocks, and W.
R. O. Kynaston, now Hon. Secretary to Sir Watkin Wynn’s foxhounds,
introduced the hunting caps of brown velvet. Another innovation was a
trap for two guineas a week, which took the hounds to the meet and back,
accompanied by the Master and whips. This, though much abused by the
_Chronicle_, was a good thing on the whole, especially as it enabled Lock
to come beagling regularly, which he might not otherwise have been able
to do.
A. M. Grenfell, now the most successful Master of this period, has sent
me this letter:
“Campbell (E. G. Campbell, Master 1891) died of fever during the South
African War. Ward’s _régime_ was chiefly remarkable for the purchase of
the hound van. It was during a hunt when Ward was Master that I swam
the lake at Ditton. The hare had crossed to the island and the hounds
wouldn’t cross. So I very stupidly gave them a lead, and got a bad go
of ‘flu,’ in spite of being dried in the kitchen by the Duchess of
Buccleuch—aged about 90. Reggie Ward, my whip, died, but Bobbie and his
brother (Sir John) are still alive. They succeeded each other as Masters.”
Grenfell’s successor, W. R. O. Kynaston, has also written to me. He says:
“There was one day I remember well, you will probably find all about it
in the _Field_, hounds changed once or twice, ran straight and right away
from us. I sent ‘the field’ back in time for lock-up and went on with
the whips after them. We got to hounds eventually when it was pretty
dark; there was no sight of the van, and being near Richings Park, Mr.
Meeking’s, went in there; Hume Meeking was whipping in that day. Had our
dinner there, and took hounds back to Windsor in the guard’s van from
Langley station, getting to Windsor station about 9 p.m. Attended the
Head Master next morning, explained the hounds changed hares and went too
fast to be stopped, was told I was responsible, and if we couldn’t stop
the hounds must have smaller ones! Offered to be swished, but had all
‘bills’ stopped for the rest of the Half, instead, much to my disgust.
Hope you will have a good season; best of luck to the Hunt.”
Here is a letter from Sir Edward Davson, third whip in 1894, which
contains two anecdotes of beagling in the nineties:
“I do not know if you are dealing with the question of costume worn,
but, when I first ran with the hounds, I think that the only distinction
between the Master and whips and the field was that the former wore the
existing beagle coat, otherwise wearing ordinary knickerbockers and
colour caps. I think that white knickerbockers and white stocks were
introduced about 1892, and that the hunting caps were introduced by
Kynaston in 1893.
“The kennels in my year were in a miserable part of the town, kept by old
Lock, who also ran a Turkish Bath there, and my recollection of Lock was
that he was to be found either up at the kill, wherever this might be,
dressed in a brown knicker-bocker suit, or else wandering round his own
place dressed only in a very brief pair of scarlet bathing drawers.
“I remember that there was an old lady who lived out Horton way who had
a strong objection to hounds hunting round her place, as she declared
that they disturbed her fowls and ruined the flower-beds in her garden.
We were accordingly requested by the Head not to go near the place, and
did our best to carry out instructions, but on one occasion, when we met
at Datchet, the hare made a bee-line for the place, the hounds in close
pursuit. As we drew near we discovered the lady in command of a force
consisting of two gardeners armed with pitchforks, who endeavoured to
ward off the attack. The hare, however, meant reaching what it evidently
considered a sanctuary, and in the end there was a beautiful kill in the
middle of the lawn, with the old lady rushing up and down screaming, and
the two men brandishing the pitchforks but not knowing what to do with
them, as they were evidently as reluctant to provoke bloodshed (except on
the hare) as we were. A strategic retreat was then carried out, but our
unpopularity became if possible even greater, and I expect that if we had
had occasion to visit the lady again we should have found a battery of
guns masked behind the laurel bushes.
“On another occasion I remember a great run we had from Dorney to Taplow,
where the beaten hare endeavoured to elude us by getting through a
palisade surrounding a private park. One of the whips promptly scaled
the paling, another sat astride on the top and the third lifted up the
hounds, with the result that in a short time we deposited the whole pack
in the grounds. We did not at the time realise that the grounds were
really the private pheasant preserve of an eminent J.P., but, as he
happened at the moment to be taking a walk round to inspect his birds,
he very soon made his presence known by addressing to us a volley of
the most abusive language that I think up to then it had ever been our
privilege to hear. Meanwhile the hounds were busy coursing the pheasants,
and it was only on our pointing out that he was himself causing a
prolongation of his troubles that we all were summarily ejected by the
gate. A letter of complaint to the Head Master caused our appearance
in Chambers a few days later, where we were suitably, if mildly,
reprimanded by the Head and were also requested to write an ample letter
of apology. This was duly done, and apparently so ably that it touched
the heart of our host-by-compulsion, who promptly wrote that he would be
glad to see us again, and invited the Master and whips to go and lunch
with him. All therefore in this case ended well.”
The most successful Masters of this period were A. M. Grenfell, in whose
season fourteen hares were killed in twenty-six hunting days, and G.
Robarts, who in thirty hunting days killed fifteen hares.
Perhaps it would be interesting to some to give the opinions of the
various Masters on Lock and his kennel management.
“I think Lock looks after the hounds pretty well, but a Master must show
to Lock that he (the Master) intends to look after his pack, or Lock may
be inclined to impose.”—A. M. Grenfell, 1892.
“Care ought to be taken with Lock, who does not look after the hounds
satisfactorily, unless he is made to understand that he is _not_ boss of
the show.”—H. B. Creswell, 1894.
“As regards Lock and the hounds, I think there is not much fault to find.
The hounds were always in good condition, and I think he took a great
deal of trouble with them. The way to manage him is to make him clearly
understand that you are boss.”—G. Sanford Hodgson, 1895.
“Lock is very pig-headed!”—G. E. F. Ward, 1896.
“I entirely disagree with many former Masters, who say that Lock looks
after the hounds badly, and I am sure that no beagles could have been
fitter the whole season than these were. The only thing about him is
that he is a bit pig-headed and always wants to feed the hounds on
‘greaves.’”—R. Milvain, 1898.
However, it must be remembered that having no paddock adjoining the
kennels was a terrible drawback, and made the task of keeping hounds fit
and the kennels clean infinitely harder than it would otherwise have been.
Lock must have been an extraordinary character. He used to say to the
whips as they walked along the road: “Pop your whip, Sir; pop your whip,”
every other minute without any reason whatever. Another habit he had was
that of accusing any rustic he met at the end of any sort of a hunt of
“picking up the hare.” He used to threaten the unfortunate individual
with a whip, and the more boys he had round him at the time the more
insistent he was.
Here is an incident of R. A. Ward’s Mastership:
“Hounds bustled her through Mr. Taylor’s covert and were close behind
her, and would without doubt have repeated our feat of the previous week
of killing three hares in one day, when bang! was heard followed by a
volley of oaths from Lock, and we found a sportsman (?), Mr. Haynes by
name, had shot our hare in front of the hounds. Lock immediately called
upon the field to place our shooter in a duck pond which was near; but
the latter thought discretion the better part of valour, making off as
hard as he could go.”
Before we close this period there are two letters to be recorded, the
first from Mr. C. M. Black, first whip in 1896.
“I have been looking over old _Chronicles_ and old photographs—in fact,
to quote from J. K. S., I have been raking the glacier of years gone by,
but really I am afraid my rake has not produced anything very exciting. I
ran with the beagles for four seasons and was in the photograph for three
years. I don’t know whether you still have a photograph, but in my time
one was always taken of the Master, whips and a selection of the ‘first
flighters,’ and when fairly junior one was very pleased at being asked to
come up for the photograph.
“1894 was a fairly good season. H. B. Creswell was Master, the whips
being T. D. Pilkington, who was killed in the South African War, Maurice
Atkinson-Clark at my Dame’s (Hale’s), who died during the same war, and
E. R. Davson. We had some very good runners that year, amongst them
being G. A. Hodgson, D. O. Dunlop, G. D. Baird and Harold Chapman.
The last-mentioned was also at my Dame’s. We always ran together and
were generally near the front. He was fourth and I fifth in the School
Steeplechase that year. In 1895 I turned the tables on him, for I was
third to his sixth. He had left by 1896 when I won it. There were two
‘bills’ that year, the first to Wooburn, the Gilbeys’ place; I did not
go there, but I went to the other—about the end of February—Maiden
Erleigh, the Hargreaves’ place near Reading. We had an excellent day,
killed one hare and should have killed another, but it ‘disappeared’ near
the station after a fast run. I fancy some loafer picked it up! Bear
Hargreaves, as he was called when at Mitchell’s, rode that day (he had
left Eton), and I remember holding on to one of his leathers when I was
getting beat. We were nobly entertained at the house afterwards, and it
was a first rate day altogether, one of the best I can remember.
“In 1895 there was a meet near the beginning of the Half, and then not
another till well on in February. It was the year of the long frost
after ‘the floods.’ I rowed in Trial Eights that year, so I missed the
hunting in the latter part of the Half. G. S. Hodgson was Master, and A.
W. F. Baird, D. O. Dunlop and Jerry Ward the whips that year. Hodgson and
Dunlop were magnificent runners, and were famous for running a dead heat
in the Mile.
“In 1896 Jerry Ward was Master. Poor fellow, he was killed in the late
War. I was first whip, the others being Charlie Cavendish, killed
at Diamond Hill in South Africa, and Timmy Robarts, of whom I have
lost sight. I think we were very unlucky that season. So far as I can
remember, we had a considerable number of days when there was little
or no scent—owing to cold winds and rain. Jerry Ward made an excellent
Master and he knew the country well. He and I had run for several
seasons. He left hounds to themselves and let them work out their line,
and did not continually lift them, as is so often done. We were all very
keen, and I feel sure that with a little more luck we should have had
a good season. As it was, I believe it was one of the worst on record.
We were also very unlucky with fresh hares. I can remember fresh hares
getting up in front of hounds on several occasions when we had our hunted
hare done.
[Illustration: A DISAPPOINTING FINISH.]
“The holes in the Stoke Park palings were a terrible stumbling block in
those days; hares continually used to baffle us by reaching them and
‘safety.’ I don’t know whether they bother you still.
“I remember a good hunt being spoilt by a retriever dog at Langley
Village. It chased our hare into some nursery gardens, in which we
later found it again. A. D. Legard, Robin Lubbock, who died a few years
later from a boating accident, Henry Burroughes and the two Pawsons
were amongst the first flighters that year. I had to row again in Trial
Eights, which cut my season short, and in the photograph of a meet I see
A. D. Legard is carrying a whip—the famous Grenfell brothers are in that
photograph too. Old Lock was going strong all the time, his knowledge of
the country was marvellous, and he always turned up at the right place.
He ran a Turkish Bath too. I used to visit it, as I was bothered with
rheumatism, and the old fellow used to pommel you to bits after the bath.”
The other letter is from H. R. Milvain, Master of the Hunt of his own
name near Alnwick in Northumberland. He hunted the E.C.H. in 1898, the
last year of the High Street kennels.
“1898 was the year I hunted them, my whippers-in being Chapman, A. D.
Pilkington and W. Hodgson. Hodgson was laid up for some time in March,
and one of the Grenfells usually whipped in instead of him. I am sorry
I have no note of the number of hounds I had, but remember had to buy a
few at the beginning of the season from Wilton, the dealer at Hanwell—one
of them in particular, ‘Windsor,’ was a very good hound. Up till and
including my Mastership practically no hounds were bred, and at the end
of the season they were taken away to walk by any fellows who could
manage them, generally returning to kennel some time during the Christmas
Half. I brought about six or seven couples up here during the Christmas
holidays, December 1897, and hunted them here. Lock was still kennel
huntsman, and hounds were kennelled in the town behind his shop, which
wasn’t at all a good arrangement; old Lock did most of the walking out,
etc. I think Grenfell, who followed me, got the new kennels built and
got Champion as kennel huntsman. Lock by that time was getting old, and
couldn’t get about very well. You will probably have the old official
diary with accounts of all the hunts, but if not I’ve got it all down
in my hunting diary and can give you any more information you want if
you let me know. We had a good season and a fair number of hares in most
parts of the country.
“The best days I think were Saturday, February 12th, Shepherd’s Hut.
Found at once and ran fast for 55 minutes, killing in the open. Found
again near river, and running up to Dorney Village turned back over
Dorney Common and killed on river bank opposite Water Oakley in 20
minutes.
“Tuesday, March 12th, Shepherd’s Hut. Found Dorney Common, ran fast for
15 minutes, losing her on river bank near Water Oakley. Found again near
Dorney and ran hard for 1 hour 10 minutes, having to stop hounds in the
dark close to Bray Lock. Had some good days in Hargreaves Park country,
too.”
Right up to this time the E.C.H. was rather a scratch concern. Rowland
Hunt has established it on a proper basis, and many Masters had shown
extraordinarily good sport. But proper kennels and a proper kennelman
were needed, as was a definite standard of height, and in the next
chapter we shall see how all these difficulties were solved by Francis
and Riversdale Grenfell of glorious and honoured memory.
[Illustration: “HOLD HARD!”]