SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



hunting himself, but because he wished others to 

 enjoy it also. One more curious note of dis- 

 similarity may be noted. So far as is known, 

 Lord Darlington never had a serious fall in his 

 life. Ralph Lambton had three. The first 

 occurred in 1825, and for some time paralysis 

 was feared, but thanks to his marvellous con- 

 stitution ^' he recovered so far as to be able to 

 ride about. Then, when only convalescent, his 

 hack fell with him in the followingyear on the road 

 between Morton and Lambton,^* with the result 

 that he carried his head to one side for the rest 

 of his life. Nevertheless he again hunted hounds 

 for eleven seasons, until his favourite hunter. The 

 Kitten, gave him a terrible fall on the flat in 

 1837, from which he never recovered, and 

 though he lingered on for another seven years 

 he was practically a cripple. He died in 1844, 

 the last of the old school of masters of hounds, 

 leaving a blank in the county of Durham that 

 has never since been filled. 



His hounds were sold in 1838 to Lord Suffield, 

 the then master of the Quorn, for 3,000 guineas, 

 but only a year later they were purchased by 

 Sir Matthew White Ridley for about a third of 

 that amount, and came back to the north of 

 England. Mr. Lambton's old huntsman. Jack 

 Winter, was pensioned off, but his three whip- 

 pers-in, Hunnam, Harrison, and Robinson, took 

 service under Sir Matthew at Blagdon.^' 



From the date of Mr. Lambton's retirement 

 in 1838 the history of fox-hunting in Durham 

 becomes somewhat involved. In that year a 

 meeting of those interested was held, when 

 Mr. ' Billy ' Williamson, a brother of Sir Hed- 

 worth Williamson of Whitburn, was elected 

 master, with a guaranteed subscription. Mr. 

 Williamson, who was probably the hardest- 

 riding man of his day in Durham, continued 

 in office for three seasons, and with Glover as 

 huntsman showed excellent sport. On his 

 retirement in 1842 he was succeeded by the 

 third Marquess of Londonderry, who took no 

 subscription, the hounds being kennelled at 

 Wynyard and known as the Wynyard and 

 South Durham Foxhounds. Unfortunately in 

 the following year Lord Londonderry had a bad 

 fall and broke his arm ; a serious matter for a 

 Peninsular veteran, and he was forced to retire 

 in favour of Mr. Russell of Brancepelh. 



This gentleman had already kept hounds of 

 his own for four seasons previously — since 1839 

 — hunting the country round Brancepeth, as far 

 as Harperley on the west and Chester le Street 

 to the north, but not going south of the Wear. 

 His huntsman had been John Swinburne, whose 



"'He was not made of steel; he was of those 

 stub-heads they make gun-barrels of.' 



^° Hounds were kennelled at Lambton, but Mr. 

 Lambton himself lived at Morton House, three miles 

 distant. 



" The Field, 24 April, 1897. 



manuscript diary has been kindly lent me for in- 

 spection by Mr. Russell's grandnephew, the pre- 

 sent master of the South Durham Hounds. The 

 diary records no very eventful runs, but the pack 

 appears to have had capital sport over a wild 

 country, which in those days was not so cut up 

 by collieries and their attendant wagon-ways 

 as at the present time. It is said that although 

 fully cognizant of the great mineral wealth which 

 lay beneath the surface of his estates, Mr. Russell 

 would allow no pits to be sunk on them where 

 he thought this might be injurious to fox-hunting. 



THE DURHAM COUNTY HOUNDS 



Mr. Russell did not long retain the undivided 

 mastership of the South Durham Hounds. In 

 1844 the pack was purchased for ;^300, and 

 renamed the Durham County Hounds ; '' Colonel 

 Tower of Elemore and Earl Vane, afterwards 

 the fourth Marquess of Londonderry, acting as a 

 committee in conjunction with Mr. Russell. 

 This arrangement lasted for a couple of seasons, 

 when Colonel Tower became sole master. He 

 showed excellent sport till 1852, when he retired 

 in favour of the ever-green ' Billy ' Williamson. 

 The latter's reign, however, only lasted for three 

 years, when Mr. Henderson undertook office for 

 the season of 1856-7, making way in this year 

 for Major Johnson of the Deanery, Chester le 

 Street, who, with Tom Harrison and subse- 

 quently Will Snaith as huntsmen, showed ex- 

 cellent sport till i860, when Mr. Henderson, 

 as ever the guardian angel of Durham fox-hunt- 

 ing, once more assumed the mastership for a single 

 season. This year — 186 1 — was a momentous 

 one for the county hunts, being the date on 

 which the second Duke of Cleveland offered to 

 divide the Raby country between the Hurworth 

 and Durham County Hunts, and to give a sub- 

 scription of ;^500 per annum to each of them. 

 This generous offer could not, however, be 

 accepted in its entirety, the existing Durham 

 country being already too large and unwieldy 

 for a single pack, besides necessitating the main- 

 tenance of two sets of kennels, one at Elvet 

 Moor — close to the present (1907) North 

 Durham Kennels — and the other at Sedgefield. 

 Mr. Henderson was succeeded by a committee ; 

 but only a year later he once more came forward 

 and acted as joint-master with Mr. John Harvey 

 until 1872, when the Durham County Hounds 

 ceased to exist as a single pack. Martin Carr 

 was huntsman from 1863-7,'' '" which year he 

 had been succeeded by Thomas Dowdeswell. 



The question of dividing the Durham country, 

 which had been frequently mooted, was finally 

 decided in a very unexpected and tragic manner. 



^^ This was due to the initiative of Mr. John 

 Henderson of Durham. 



^' Snaith went in this year to Devon as huntsman 

 to the Hon. Mark Rolle ; The Sedgefield Country. 



395 



