52 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



relative to early foxhunting in Essex. On looking over 

 the collection, culled from a variety of sources, the question 

 suggests itself " What can we point to as being the origin 

 of the Essex Hunt?" The Roothings, the cream of our 

 country, were hunted in the last century by Mr. Harding 

 Newman, and it is only fair to that gentleman's memory, 

 and his services to foxhunting, to lay some stress upon the 

 fact that his hounds appear — though unofficially — to have 

 been called " The Essex Hounds," a designation which does 

 not seem to have been bestowed upon any other pack in 

 the last century. It appears to us, therefore, that it was Mr. 

 Harding Newman's pack, or what remained of it, which 

 was purchased in 1805, by Mr. Henry John Conyers of the 

 Coldstream Guards, which is entitled to be regarded as the 

 foundation of the Essex Hunt ; while in furtherance of this 

 view it may be stated that the Sporting Magazine in 

 recording- the sale to Mr. Conyers of Mr. Hardino- 

 Newman's Hounds says that it was the intention of the 

 purchaser to hunt the country previously hunted by Mr. 

 Newman. Whether this be so or not, it is at least clear 

 that the history of the Essex Hunt goes back without a 

 break to the date of the beginning of Mr. Conyers's first 

 mastership in 1S05, though for several years we find but 

 scanty records of the pack. 



