THE END OF BUCKINGHAM. 39 



Excise, High Sheriff, and afterwards Lord Mayor of London, 

 who was a native of Buckinghamshire. 



Now one comes to a question of no small interest — how 

 did the Sinnington, the Bilsdale, and the Farndale Hounds 

 become established ? My own opinion is this, that such 

 hounds as had been kept for the late Duke in Bilsdale were 

 retained, and an absolutely independent pack formed. 

 There would be no master, no committee of management, 

 no subscription, and withal, no " capping," but there would 

 be hounds, and there is no doubt Forster did hunt- the dale 

 after the demise of his ducal master. Possibly the hounds 

 at Helmsley remained at the Castle with the servants, who 

 remained there ; probably they were scattered amongst 

 those who had followed them. A somewhat analagous case 

 is cited by Cecil in his " Records of the Chase " — 



" About that period (1811) a pack was established by subscription 

 at Bridgenorth, when it was called the Wheatland Hunt. Mr. Skelding 

 had the principal management, and was joined by Mr. Thomas Baker, 



the elder brother of the present master It was distinguished 



as a most sporting coterie, and continued till about the year 1818, 

 Mr. Skelding having previously resigned his post as huntsman to one 

 John Chorlton, a kind of amateur yeoman, and the death of Mr. Thomas 

 Baker taking place, the hunt was broken up. The taste for hunting 

 is innate in the inhabitants of this soil, and the farmers kept the hounds 

 on for several seasons, some in a small kennel, under the care of the 

 aforesaid John Chorlton, who still acted as huntsman, and the others 

 at the farmhouses, from whence they were collected on the hunting 

 morning. 



At any rate, it is certain the Duncombe family had hounds 

 and hunted the fox very shortly after they purchased 

 Helmsley. 



There are records of this, and Mr. W. S. Dixon tells us : 



" The Bilsdale have at times been hardly put to it, and have scarcely 

 been able to make a muster, although they have always kept a few 

 hounds in the dale, and managed to have an occasional hunt. With 

 the Sinnington, however, matters are different. Although they have 

 had many a hard struggle, and the fortunes of the hunt have often 

 sunk to so low an ebb that it seemed as if extinction was inevitable, 

 there has always occurred an opportune revival, and the country has 

 been hunted continuously since the Duke of Buckingham was at the 

 head of affairs, two hundred and twenty years ago (in 1689). The 



