A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



6. That every Member absent from Pytch- 

 ley to stand at a Shilling a Day during the 

 Meeting. 



7. That any Member being in England 

 and not appearing at Pytchley House once in 

 the season shall forfeit Three Guineas. 



8. That every Member not appearing at 

 the Annual Meeting in London shall forfeit 

 One Guinea, and if in Town the day of the 

 Anniversary Tvio Guineas. 



9. That any Member be at Liberty to 

 bring One Visitor to Pytchley and to place 

 him in any vacant Room till it shall be 

 wanted by a Member of the Hunt. 



10. That no new Rule be made in this 

 Club except by Ballot. 



All the spring of 1804 the Pytchley had 

 excellent sport, but it is only necessary to 

 mention one run which took them from 

 Abington, over the Northampton racecourse, 

 by Dailington, Berry Wood, Harpole Hills, 

 and Nobottle Wood, to ground in a drain in 

 Mr. Andrew's park, near Harlestone. It 

 would now be indeed a sight worth seeing, to 

 view hounds streaming over the racecourse at 

 Northampton. 



As showing the pace at which hounds went 

 a century ago, Lord Althorp states that on 

 one occasion a run from Cank ' began with a 

 burst of half an hour, so severe that to ride to 

 hounds it was necessary never to open a gate.' 



It appears that there was some dissatisfaction 

 at the removal of the hounds from Pytchley, for 

 on 28 May, 1804, Lord Althorp wrote from 

 St. James's Place that at the Pytchley meeting 

 on Saturday, ' We settled that the first meetings 

 should begin the first Monday in November, 

 and last four weeks, and that the second 

 should begin the second Monday in February, 

 and last six weeks ; and Jack VVarde said that 

 the hounds should hunt from the Pytchley 

 Kennel during both meetings.' 



Shortly after this Lord Althorp wrote to 

 Lord Spencer to tell him that Sir Charles 

 Knightley and others were pressing him to 

 take the hounds, but that he wished to have 

 his father's full consent before doing so. The 

 answer was satisfactory, and in the next letter, 

 dated 24 January, 1808, Lord Althorp said 

 that he had ' applied to Andrew, Payne, and 

 Han bury, and found that they would at all 

 rates subscribe 400, and perhaps 450 among 

 them. . . As I thought this a very satisfactory 

 beginning, I told John Warde that you had 

 given me leave to take the hounds provided I had 

 a sufficient subscription, but that if he wished 

 to keep them on I would not make use of your 

 permission. He thanked me for my offer. . . 

 The next day he sent Jem Butler over to me 

 to know if I would take him for my huntsman.' 



Mr. Warde asked such an enormous price 



for his hounds that Lord Althorp would not 

 then take them, but resolved to set to work 

 at once to form a pack by other means. The 

 arrangements were satisfactorily carried out. 

 Later Lord Althorp agreed to pay Mr. John 

 Warde ^^ 1,000 for the hounds. 



Mr. John Warde stood pre-eminent as a 

 breeder of hounds, and when he sold his pack 

 to Lord Althorp he reserved three couple of 

 bitches from which he raised another pack to 

 hunt the New Forest. 



After hunting many of the countries in 

 England for the long period of 56 years, he 

 died in London on 9 December, 1838, at the 

 advanced age of 86. 



Lord Althorp, in a letter to his father dated 

 2 March, 1808, describing the new master's 

 first few days' hunting, may be given in full. 

 'John Warde has put the hounds entirely 

 into my management, and never comes out 

 himself, so that at present I am answerable for 

 all the merit or badness of the pack which 

 comes out. My luck as yet has been extreme. 

 Monday was the first day I took them out in 

 the open country. We had a bad scent, but 

 I had the old pack out, who hunted quite per- 

 fectly, and we run from Sewell Wood to 

 Drayton Park, but lost our fox. I took the 

 young hounds out yesterday, who are as bad 

 a pack as anybody ever saw, but fortunately 

 we had a very good scent, and after a toler- 

 able run we found a second fox in Harrington 

 Dales, and went away with him at the best 

 pace to Short Wood, then hunted at a forward 

 hunting scent over Lamport Earths to Maid- 

 well, where we again set to very hard running 

 over Harrington Wharf, up to Harrington, 

 over Harrington Field, Rothwell Field, 

 through Thorpe Underwood, through the 

 enclosure by Rothwell, over the brook and 

 through Gaultney Wood, and run into view 

 of him in a patch of furze near Dob Hall, 

 and came back in view to Gaultney Wood, 

 where we killed, in an hourandtwentyminutes. 

 From Maidwell to killing was a decided burst 

 without a check, and every horse was tired 

 except Poacher and Felton Hervey's horse. I 

 do not often give you an account of a run, 

 but I think you will be pleased to hear of my 

 beginning so well, as it will make people 

 sanguine about my system, though it has 

 nothing to do with it, and keep up the sub- 

 scription. I am very eager to stay in the 

 country because the weather promises better 

 than it has all the year, but if you have any 

 desire for me to come up to town I hope you 

 will have no scruple in sending for me. 

 P.S. — I have gained some credit for not hunt- 

 ing on Ash VVednesday, when every pack in 

 the neighbourhood did.' 



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