A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



Galway, who left in 1838. By this time the 

 boundaries of the Ruffbrd Hunt were well defined, 

 and they have remained practically the same ever 

 since. 



At this period there comes a gap in the history 

 of the pack, no one being forthcoming to take 

 over the mastership for a space of three seasons. 

 At the end of that time, in 1841, Captain Percy 

 Williams began his long reign of twenty years' 

 mastership. He had the assistance of the Saviles 

 of Ruffbrd Park, and new kennels were erected 

 here at the beginning of Captain Williams' career. 

 Whether the old pack was still in existence it is 

 impossible to say. It had probably been broken 

 up at the end of Viscount Galway's mastership 

 in 1838. At any rate during Captain Williams' 

 stay the establishment of the Rufford was for the 

 first time put upon a sound foundation, and fresh 

 blood was introduced from all the neighbouring 

 kennels of repute. 



By the time that he relinquished the mastership 

 Captain Williams' pack had become famous all 

 over the country, and buyers from every part 

 attended the sale by Tattersall's in April 1860, 

 when the hounds were dispersed for a sum not 

 far short of ^3,000. Among the notable pur- 

 chasers was Lord Fitzwilliam, who bought ten 

 couples for 550 and other lots as well, making 

 in the aggregate a purchase of some ^1,400. 

 The Honourable Mark Rolle also secured some 

 good hounds, which helped to lay the foundation 

 of his pack ; and the Honourable Ernest Dun- 

 combe, subsequently created Earl of Feversham, 

 who was at that time master of the Bedale, was 

 another considerable purchaser. 



Major Welfitt, who succeeded Captain Percy 

 Williams in 1861, had to begin all over again, 

 and at once set to work with drafts from noted 

 packs, including the Belvoir, the Cottesmore, and 

 the Duke of Buccleuch's. With this pack he 

 hunted the country for seven seasons, being suc- 

 ceeded by Mr. X. Harvey Bayly in 1867. The 

 new master found himself in the same position 

 as his predecessor, the hounds having once more 

 been dispersed. He therefore secured drafts 

 from the kennels of the Belvoir, Atherstone, and 

 Fitzwilliam, among others, and gradually built 

 up a sound pack, which during his five years of 

 mastership attained a high state of efficiency and 

 won for themselves a great reputation. 



In 1872 Mr. Bayly retired and was succeeded 

 by Mr. j. L. Francklin, who only remained for 

 a single season. After him came Mr. J. J. Bar- 

 row with another short period of mastership, his 

 stay only lasting from 1873 to I %75- Then 

 came that good Sussex sportsman, Mr. Charles 

 A. Egerton, who had held the mastership of the 

 East Sussex for the previous five years, the first 

 two of which were spent in partnership with 

 Mr. W. E. M. Watts. Mr. Egerton stayed 

 with the Ruffbrd for five seasons and eventually 

 returned to his old love, the East Sussex, with 



which he put in two further periods of master- 

 ship by himself from 1884 to 1893, and with 

 that other hard rider, the Honourable T. A. 

 Brassey, from 1899 to 1902. 



After Mr. Egerton's retirement in 1880 

 Mr. A. Legard took hold for a season, and then 

 Mr. T. Harvey Bayly resumed control once 

 more, his return being welcomed with enthusiasm 

 by his many previous supporters. The quality 

 of the pack had been well maintained during the 

 period that intervened between Mr. Bayly's two 

 periods of mastership, but the old master spared 

 no expense on his return in introducing new 

 blood, of which he felt that his kennel was by 

 this time in need. New drafts were brought in 

 from the South Nottinghamshire, the Brocklesby, 

 and the Fitzwilliam, and with the help of these 

 importations the fame of the pack rose even 

 higher than before. Among the more famous 

 hounds bred by Mr. Bayly were Galliard and 

 Ganymede, both, we believe, out of the litter 

 got by Oakley Rhymer out of Gipsy, the latter 

 bred in Mr. Charles Egerton's time by Belvoir 

 General out of Bounty, a bitch with Brocklesby 

 and Belvoir blood in her veins. 



Mr. Bayly's death in 1889 deprived the pack 

 of a master who had done more for the RufFord 

 than any of his predecessors, and no two men 

 of the period could have been more justly proud 

 of their kennel than were Mr. Bayly and his 

 huntsman Sam Hayes. The unexpected gap was 

 filled for a single season by Mr. Lancelot Rolles- 

 ton, and upon his retirement in 1900 the vacant 

 post was occupied by Earl Manvers of Thoresby 

 Park, who succeeded to the title in the same year. 

 Since that time and up to the present his lord- 

 ship has shown capital sport with the assistance 

 of his successive huntsmen, Tom Ashley and 

 Alfred Capon. 



As at present constituted (1908) the RufFord 

 pack consists of fifty couples of hounds, meeting 

 three times a week, with kennels at Wellow, 

 near Ollerton. Alfred Capon, the present hunts- 

 man, has been with the pack since 1903, when 

 he was appointed second whip. He became 

 first whip in 1906, and huntsman in 1907 in 

 succession to T. Ashley ; the whippers-in are 

 H. Land and G. Thorne. Land joined the 

 pack as second whip in 1906, and succeeded 

 G. Travis as first whip the following season. 



The RufFord country lies chiefly in Notting- 

 hamshire, but runs into the adjoining county of 

 Derby, where it meets the territory of the Barlow. 

 To the south are the Earl of Harrington's, to the 

 south-east the Belvoir, to the east the Blankney, 

 and to the north Earl Fitzwilliam's (Grove). 

 It is a wide piece of country in proportion to its 

 length from north to south, and covers, roughly 

 speaking, an area of some three hundred square 

 miles. The Nottinghamshire side of the terri- 

 tory is a fence and ditch country, and a strong 

 horse with good jumping powers is needed. In 



384 



