A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



the pack had been further improved by the 

 introduction of fresh blood from the York and 

 Ainsty, the Ledbury, and other hunts, and in 

 1882 the Earl of Harrington purchased the whole 

 establishment from Mr. Rolleston. Since then 

 his lordship has maintained the excellence of the 

 pack quite in accordance with its old traditions, 

 and there is no more popular master in the whole 

 of England. Some of his country is decidedly 

 difficult, and it would tax the ingenuity of any 

 but a native of the district to show good sport 

 in the big woodland districts. 



Lord Harrington hunts hounds himself, and 

 has some sixty couples, which meet five days a 

 week, kennelled at Gedling near Nottingham. 

 Until the season 1907-8 the master had the 

 assistance of a professional huntsman, his last 

 being German Shepherd. The new arrange- 

 ment involves the engagement of three whips, 

 Fred Earp (who has lately joined the pack), 

 G. Travers and E. Jolland. 



Lord Harrington's country lies chiefly in 

 Nottinghamshire, extending into Derbyshire 

 on the west side. To the south are the Quorn, 

 whose committee lend a strip of their country to 

 his lordship who hunts it twice a week. On 

 the north-west the Barlow territory adjoins, and 

 the Ruffbrd are to the north. The Belvoir 

 country joins Lord Harrington's boundary on 

 the east side, and the Meynell are to the south- 

 west. Roughly speaking, the country extends 

 over between 400 and 500 square miles. The 

 greater part of it lies to the north-west of the 

 Trent, and this portion is hilly with some heavy 

 land and extensive woodlands. On the other 

 side of the river the land is of a more even 

 character, and affords heavy going after rain. 

 Some of the best of the woodland country is in 

 the Oxton Forest neighbourhood. There are 

 not very many stiff fences, but a well-built 

 horse with plenty of bone and muscle is needed 

 for the hilly part of the country. A moderate 

 jumper will usually suffice. The honorary 

 secretaries of the hunt are Lieut. -Colonel Birken 

 of Basford, and Mr. John Ford, King's Walk, 

 Nottingham. 



THE GROVE 



The early history of the pack, known as Vis- 

 count Galway's up to the year 1 906, and since 

 then as Earl Fitzwilliam's (Grove), is very vague, 

 but it is generally supposed that the hunt as 

 at present constituted was not in existence until 

 1827. There had been hunting of sorts in 

 these parts for years before that, but there seems 

 to have been no regular pack of foxhounds 

 until the latter part of the 1 8th century. Be- 

 fore that time the packs of these parts had 

 hunted anything stag, fox, or whatever they 

 could find. 



In the later years of the i8th century we 



meet with the name of Mr. Francis Foljambe, 

 who was the father of the famous Mr. George 

 Savile Foljambe, a subsequent master of the 

 pack. After Mr. Francis Foljambe's death in 

 the early years of the last century the hounds 

 were taken over by Lord Thanet, of Osberton, 

 for the space of three seasons, and in 1807 he 

 sold the establishment to Richard, sixth Earl of 

 Scarbrough, who held the mastership from 

 1807 till 1822. In the latter year Lord 

 Scarbrough came to an arrangement with Mr. 

 George Savile Foljambe to hunt the country, 

 but the hounds did not actually pass out of his 

 possession until some years later, when a re- 

 arrangement of the country was made. 



From 1832 to 1837 there was a dual master- 

 ship and a temporary division of the country. 

 Mr. Foljambe hunted the Grove side, and 

 Colonel Fullerton, acting for the committee of 

 which he was the chairman, hunted the Sand- 

 beck portion of the country with a scratch 

 pack. In 1837 Mr. Foljambe resumed the 

 control of the whole country and continued as 

 master, until failing eyesight obliged him to give 

 up his hounds in 1845. 



The actual name of the hunt before the year 

 1845, when Mr. Foljambe gave up office, is not 

 very clear, but it was certainly known as the 

 Grove from that time and probably before, for 

 Mr. Foljambe had his kennels at Grove, a village 

 2 or 3 miles from Retford. Mr. Foljambe was 

 generally his own huntsman, and during his reign 

 the pack earned a great reputation, as may be 

 gathered from the fact that when the establish- 

 ment was broken up in 1845 the hounds were 

 sold for ^3,500, the majority of them being 

 purchased by the sixth Viscount Galway. Mr. 

 Foljambe was a very clever man with hounds, a 

 good judge of horse and hound, and a splendid 

 horseman. 



Lord Galway only stayed one season, from 

 1845 to 1846, and was succeeded by Mr. 

 Richard Lumley, afterwards ninth Earl of Scar- 

 brough. He remained until 1858, when 

 failing health obliged him to hand over the reins 

 of management once more to Viscount Galway, 

 whose second term of office lasted till 1876. 

 The pack became his lordship's property in 1862 

 for the sum of , 2,000. Lord Galway was 

 master, with Jack Morgan as huntsman, until his 

 death in 1876, and Morgan died a year or two 

 later. Sam Morgan, son of Jack, was kennel 

 huntsman and first whip to Viscount Galway's 

 for several years, and became huntsman to Earl 

 Fitzwilliam's (Wentworth) in 1907. 



On the death of his father in 1876, the seventh 

 Viscount Galway succeeded to the master- 

 ship of the pack, the name of which was altered 

 to 'Viscount Galway's' in 1887, when hounds 

 were removed from Grove to Serlby, where new 

 kennels had been erected. Lord Galway held 

 office till 1907, when he retired, and the name 





386 





