THE BILSDALE HUNT. 49 



Hughill's family also carried the horn. The old school — of 

 whom much later — were too wrapt up with the doings of 

 the pack from their own induction into office to talk of 

 earlier times. Indeed, no small tact was required to get 

 them to talk at all. They were jealous lest one should appear 

 more enthusiastic, in print, than they, or that the name of 

 one should be connected with a greater number of runs and 

 incidents than the other. Yet it was advisable to have them 

 all together, for then they did not indulge in " romancing 

 tales " — as they term reminiscent extravagances. For ten 

 years J. Hughill retained office, giving place to W. Medd 

 (Crookleth), whose era spread over a decade, but here the 

 history of the Hunt, as after the death of Forster, becomes 

 very vague. In his deposition in support of the home pack 

 in the Bilsdale v. Hurworth trial (in 1898), already men- 

 tioned, Robert Dawson said : — 



"I am 77 years of age, and have lived in Bilsdale all nay life. I have 

 hunted with the Bilsdale ever since I was a child. The first meet I 

 went to was at Ewe Cote, when about 5 years old, and I have hunted 

 regularly ever since. . . . The first master of the Bilsdale I can remem- 

 ber was Richard Tate." 



It then would be about 1826 that Tate and Leng werd 

 masters, and it is probable they followed "Hunter Garbutt," 

 who took the reins of office about 1810, though there might 

 possibly be some one at the head of affairs betwixt the twain. 

 In " North Countree," Mr. Scarth Dixon says : — 



In those days it was by no means uncommon for neighbouring 

 packs to join for a day's hunting, and this custom still prevails in 

 some of the Yorkshire dales. Accordingly, we find that Mr. Andrew 

 agreed to join packs with his neighbour, Mr. Rickaby (Sic Rickitson), 

 who kept hounds at Swainby Castle, and hunted a considerable portion 

 of what is now the West portion of the Cleveland country. We learn 

 from Andrew's diary that Rickaby brought five couples and a half and 

 rode well. 



Rev. J. C. Fowler, M.A. (Vicar of Whorlton), wrote to 

 me : — 



" I find that John Temple's grandfather (also John Temple) was 

 the huntsman of the Bilsdale hounds (trencher-fed), and that he was 

 succeeded by Mr. John Rickitson, who lived at Whorl Hill Farm — long 

 the residence of that family. His son, Mr. Kilvington Rickitson, now 



D 



