104 England's oldest hunt. 



in common with his Bilsdaie contemporary, still he saw a 

 great deal more sport, and in his days was a hard man to 

 hounds over the Cleveland country, and often had a day 

 in the Bilsdaie country. To the end, Bob could give a 

 holloa, and on the last occasion the writer saw him he could 

 scarcely walk, but had come to see a meet of the Cleveland 

 Hounds at Marton, around which he farmed and lived for 

 so many years. On this occasion he took off his hat when 

 hounds passed him. It was on the same occasion I heard 

 him say, " Fox first, then the hounds, then any other sports- 

 man you like." The above dictum might well be followed 

 now-a-days. Brunton — the last of the old Roxby and 

 Cleveland School — died on September 17th, 1907. 



At the Hunt dinner some months after the death of 

 Bobbie Dawson his presence was much missed, and a toast 

 was proposed in his name, and honoured by the members 

 standing in silence. Many were the reminiscences recalled 

 of the old man. The present writer related how, on the 

 first occasion he saw Bob at a meet of the Bilsdaie at Chop 

 Gate, the old fellow said : — " Ah say, young man, you'll 

 excuse me, but you ride like a cat on a darning needle." 

 Glancing through my diary, I find an account of the previous 

 Hunt dinner taken from the " North-Eastern Gazette," in 

 which the following passage occurs : — 



The toast of the evening, " The Bilsdaie Hunt," was proposed 

 by Mr. John Wood, who spoke of the age of the Hunt and the loyal 

 manner in which the inhabitants of the dale had stuck to it through 

 thick and thin. He hoped it would long continue to nourish. On the 

 suggestion of Bobbie Dawson, the veteran whip, who was one of the 

 principal guests, the toast was extended to " The Bilsdaie and other 

 Hunts." Mr. Chappie Garbutt proposed the health and long life of 

 Bobbie — the immortal, who was, he said, one of the oldest supporters 

 of the world's finest sport. In responding for Bobbie, Mr. J. Fairfax 

 Blakeborough, Vice-Chairman of the Hunt, said next to the Duke of 

 Buckingham, the connection of his old friend, Bobbie Dawson, was the 

 most interesting in the personnel of an essentially interesting Hunt 

 Club. 



At a subsequent meeting of the Bilsdaie Hunt Committee 

 (June, 1903), on the motion of the Master (Mr. F. Wilson 



