CHAPTER XIV. 



EARLY MASTERS OF THE SINNINGTON. 

 THE KENDALL FAMILY. 



As already stated, the records of the Sinnington Hunt 

 are exceedingly sparse, and we are left somewhat in the 

 dark regarding its personnel after the Duncombes gave 

 up the hounds, or after they became the property of 

 the country. One of the earliest masters was Mr. John 

 Kendall, of Pickering — whose descendants have for so long 

 been connected with the Sinnington. Indeed, it is a re- 

 markable fact, that when one looks at a representative 

 fixture of the Bilsdale or the Sinnington Hounds to-day, 

 there are the descendants of the families who were amongst 

 the first to follow fox-hounds in this part of the world. 

 They have handed down from generation to generation a 

 sporting legacy which is still strong in these countries, 

 though possibly not so unanimous as years ago. Particularly 

 does one see this hereditary love of the chase in the Kendall 

 family. Of course, they are but one of many, though, 

 peradventure, their name is more prominently brought before 

 us in this stage of the history of the Sinnington than any 

 other. One often hears a yeoman farmer spoken of as a 

 " good awd hunter," a colloquialism which means much ; 

 for as a rule it speaks of a father, and a grandfather, possibly 

 a great-grandfather, who, in his own day, has been to the 

 fore with hounds. Such a man must this Pickering Kendall 

 have been. Whether or not he followed a committee as 

 masters, whether the old Hunt Club had the management 

 of affairs (if then extant), or whether, as seems probable to 

 me, hounds were hunted pretty much as the Roxby and 

 Cleveland in this day, by some person, nominally huntsman, 

 but actually assisted by each one who walked a hound, 

 I cannot say. At any rate, the Sinnington some time prior 



