A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



In the early part of the last century the social 

 side of fox-hunting was an important element 

 in its welfare ; reference has already been made 

 to the ' assemblies ' of the Sunderland Hunt, and 

 the dinners of the old Raby Hunt Club, and 

 Ralph Lambton was responsible for the founda- 

 tion of two Hunt Clubs : The Tallyho, which 

 used to meet at Chester le Street in the northern 

 country, and the Sedgefield, instituted after his 

 acquisition of that territory, in 1804. Unfor- 

 tunately, no precise record exists of the date of 

 either the institution or the dissolution of these 

 clubs, but it is undoubtedly to the former of 

 them that we are indebted for all the three 

 portraits that were painted of Ralph Lambton, 

 the first by Warde in 182 1, the second by 

 Ferneley a few years later — both of these with 

 hounds — and the third of Mr. Lambton only, in 

 1836 by Sir Francis Grant.'' Little is known 

 of the Tallyho Club, but the Sedgefield ' meet- 

 ings ' took place twice during the hunting season, 

 for six weeks from the first Monday in Novem- 

 ber, and again for a month in February. During 

 these periods the little village of Sedgefield earned, 

 and not without good cause, the title of the 

 * Melton of the North.' Not only was every 

 stable in it, or its vicinity, taken, but even the 

 humblest lodging that could accommodate a 

 visitor was secured weeks beforehand, while all 

 the country houses of the neighbourhood were 

 filled with fox-hunting guests. The club dined 

 every night at the Hardwick Arms, where ' every- 

 thing was good and substantial, but without 

 luxury,' while to discourage heavy post-prandial 

 drinking, the landlord was fined a bottle of wine 

 if he neglected to bring in the bill exactly three 

 hours after the members had sat down. Dinner 

 was served at seven o'clock, an hour which even 

 the fashionable Nimrod, fresh from Melton, 

 considered unduly late ; and the dress-coat of 

 the club was black, with a white waistcoat, and 

 a scarlet under-waistcoat of silk or cloth. *^ 

 Nimrod, who gives a very interesting account of 

 the Lambton Hunt and its supporters, stayed 

 several days at the Sedgefield Club, during which 

 time he was fortunate enough to take part in a 

 remarkably good run from Foxyhill to Elstob 

 Whin, where they changed foxes, eventually 

 killing the fresh one after running hard for two 

 hours and seven minutes in all. Only fifteen 

 horsemen, out of more than a hundred, were up 

 at the finish, and at least one horse died in the 

 field. 



Another famous run with the Lambton 

 Hounds was that of New Year's Day, 1820, 



" The Field, 24 April, 1897. 



" NimroJ's Northern Jour. We cannot trace the date 

 when the present blue collar of the South Durham 

 Hunt was adopted for both hunting and dress coats. 

 There appears no solid foundation for the statement 

 sometimes made that it was selected to commemorate 

 the old ' royal ' colours of the prince-bishops of Durham. 



from Wrekenton Whin — now no longer existing 

 — near Gateshead, across the Wear, just fining 

 down after a flood at Hylton, to Houghton 

 le Spring, Painshaw Hill, and then turning east, 

 to the neighbourhood of Seaham Harbour, where 

 the fox was killed.**' This run is specially worthy 

 of note as being the occasion when Mr. John 

 Harvey, then a boy of sixteen, was first entered 

 to fox-hunting, and so well did the lad acquit 

 himself that he was the only person, besides 

 the master and the hunt-servants, who saw the 

 finish. His good performance naturally attracted 

 Mr. Lambton's attention, and with characteristic 

 kindly feeling he piloted him back towards New- 

 castle, the delighted boy little thinking then that 

 the day would come when he, in his turn, would 

 be a master of hounds in the very Sedgefield 

 country, over which Mr. Lambton then presided, 

 and that he had that day laid the foundation of 

 a close friendship which only ended with the 

 latter's death. 



Before quitting the Lambton Hounds it is 

 perhaps excusable to draw a comparison be- 

 tween those great contemporaries. Lord Dar- 

 lington and Ralph Lambton, between whom 

 there were many points of common resemblance. 

 Both were men of old territorial family in the 

 districts which they hunted ; both were ani- 

 mated with that passionate love of fox-hunting 

 which led them cheerfully to accept the drudgery 

 as well as the pleasures of the chase ; both esta- 

 blished fox-hunting on a firm basis in a part of 

 the country where it had been previously in- 

 secure, and both were fearless riders to hounds. 

 Nor did either of them allow sport to interfere 

 with their public duties — the Duke of Cleveland 

 would post from Raby to London to attend an 

 important division in the House of Lords, and 

 Ralph Lambton represented Durham in the 

 Commons for several years.'^ But here the 

 resemblance ceases — the Duke of Cleveland was 

 respected with the awe that rank then inspired 

 to a degree unknown nowadays, but Ralph 

 Lambton was revered with an affection happily 

 common to no particular period — the one — 

 though he cheerfully consented to others sharing 

 his sport as long as he was able to enjoy it him- 

 self — really kept hounds for his own amusement, 

 but the other did so, not only because he loved 



" The Sedgefield Country. It would be a stout- 

 hearted fox, and an even bolder rider that would go 

 straight at the present day from Wrekenton to 

 Houghton le Spring. 



" R.dph Lambton did not share his elder brother's 

 gift of oratory. Having once to address a meeting 

 from the hustings at Durham, after a good deal of 

 hesitation, he finally came to a dead stop for want of 

 words. His predicament was appreciated by a hunt- 

 ing-farmer in the crowd, who holloaed out : ' How 

 way, Mr. Ralph ! Thou's i' Sacriston Wood [a par- 

 ticularly dense covert] noo, ar's warned,' an apt 

 comparison which provoked a roar of laughter, under 

 cover of which Mr. Lambton retired. 



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