SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



in 1 86 1 should have coincided with the acqui- 

 sition of a large slice of the Raby country, and 

 the accompanying subscription of ;^500 a year 

 from the second Duke of Cleveland. 



On Mr. Wilkinson's death the hounds were 

 sold by his executors to a committee of the 

 hunt, and the mastership was offered to and 

 accepted by Mr. Cookson of Neasham, well- 

 known as a breeder of blood stock. Mr. J. 

 Parrington,*" who had latterly acted as huntsman 

 for Mr. Wilkinson, remained in the same capa- 

 city with the new master. From this date, 

 however, it is impossible to write a detailed 

 history of the Hurworth Hunt, owing to the 

 frequent changes of mastership. In twenty- 

 seven years there were no fewer than nine 

 changes in this respect, and we can merely note 

 these up to the present time. Mr. James Cook- 

 son was master from 1862-5, when he was 

 succeeded by Major Elwen, who continued in 

 office till 1869. In that year Mr. Cookson 

 returned again until 1872, when he retired in 

 favour of Lord Castlereagh, the present Mar- 

 quess of Londonderry. He, in turn, in 1875 

 gave way to Major Godman, whose mastership 

 lasted until 1879, when Mr. Cookson came 

 forward for the third time. He finally retired 

 in 1884, when he was succeeded by Mr. 

 W. H. A. Wharton of Skelton Castle, who gave 

 up the Hurworth two years later to assume the 

 mastership of the adjoining Cleveland country, 

 which he has held ever since. Sir Reginald 

 Graham followed him as the master of the Hur- 

 worth in 1886, but his tenure of office only 

 lasted till 1888, when he retired in favour of the 

 present master, Mr. William Forbes of Callendar. 

 The old adage that it is ' an ill wind that blows 

 nobody good ' was never better exemplified than 

 in the case of the Hurworth Hunt and Mr. 

 Forbes, who from 1877 to 1884 was master of 

 the Kildare. In 1882, owing to agrarian agita- 

 tion fostered by the Land League, hunting was 

 stopped in the Kildare country, and Mr. Forbes, 

 bringing his horses to Croft, near Darlington, to 

 hunt from there, was so pleased with the sport 

 he enjoyed that, on resigning the Kildare 

 country two years later, he returned to York- 

 shire and accepted the mastership of the Hur- 

 worth in 1888'^ a post he has now held 

 for eighteen years. During this long period he 

 has shown admirable sport, practically at his own 

 expense, hunting the country three days a week 

 on a guaranteed subscription of only ;r400 a 

 year ! As, in addition to Bishopp, his present 

 huntsman, Mr. Forbes has three whippers-in in 

 the field, while the pack consists of forty-six 

 couples of working hounds, it will be understood 

 that the subscription does not go far towards the 

 expense of such an establishment. 



^ Mr. Parrington was subsequently master of the 

 Sinnington Foxhounds. 



*' TAe Sedgefield Country. 



The Hurworth is a good hunting country, 

 though plough predominates, especially on the 

 Yorkshire side, but this carries a good scent, and 

 its grass is considered by many to be the best in 

 Durham. There is a little moorland, and the 

 woods are small ; six new coverts have been 

 planted within recent years. Every variety of 

 fence is to be met with, and it requires a good 

 man and a free-jumping horse to live with 

 hounds over the best of the country. 



THE BRAES OF DERWENT 



The Braes of Derwent Hounds hunt the 

 extreme north-west of the county and a slice of 

 Northumberland to boot. This country was 

 originally hunted by one of those trencher-fed 

 packs formerly so common in the north of 

 England, and records of its existence date from 

 the middle of the eighteenth century, when it 

 was founded by Mr. Humble of Eltringham. 

 On his death it became known as the Prudhoe, 

 and later still, about 1837, as the Prudhoe and 

 Derwent. Though no reliable record exists of 

 the latter, it is certain that Mr. Thomas Ramsay 

 of Park Head was master for several seasons ; but 

 beyond that nothing is certain, and even the date 

 when the pack ceased to exist is unknown. 

 However, in the late 'forties' we find the 

 country being hunted by the Slaley Hounds, 

 under the mastership of Mr. Nicholas Maughan, 

 afterwards the master of the Tynedale. This 

 pack was soon dissolved, and for a few seasons a 

 pack of hounds was kept at Castleside by the late 

 Mr. Jonathan Richardson of Shotley Lodge, 

 who founded his kennel with a draft given to him 

 by the second Duke of Cleveland. Although 

 these hounds were essentially a private pack, and 

 probably but few people have ever heard of 

 their existence, they must always possess an 

 interest for hunting men, when it is known that 

 their huntsman, Joe Kirk, was the original 

 James Pigg of Handley Cross.^'' 



The exact date at which the Slaley Hounds 

 ceased to exist cannot be traced, but it would be 

 presumably about 1850, when the Derwent 

 Valley remained unhunted for four years, save for 



'' Mr. Surtees, whose own residence of Hamsterley 

 Hall was within a few miles of Mr. Richardson's, 

 used frequently to hunt with his hounds, and many 

 of the Doric witticisms attributed by him to Pigg are 

 known to have been actually used by Kirk. More- 

 over, some of the incidents in Handle^ Cross ire known 

 to have been associated with the latter, notably the 

 melon-frame one which Leech's pencil has immor- 

 talized, and which took place in a market-garden at 

 Hexham ; while I am informed, though I confess 

 I have not verified the statement, that, ' gin ye 

 gan to the Newcassel Formory ' you will see the 

 charitable bequest of one Kirk ' clagged agin the walls 

 in great goud letters.' 



399 



