CHAPTER XVI. 



MB. THOMAS PABRINGTON. 



With the change of mastership came a new Secretary in 

 the person of Mr. Alfred Pearson, familiarly and appropriately 

 enough known as "Nimrod." These two ardent sportsmen at 

 once put their shoulders to the collar and pulled uphill with an 

 enthusiasm born not only of a love of hunting, but a peculiar 

 local patriotism for the Sinnington Hunt, which one finds 

 so strong in Yorkshiremen for their local pack. Mr. Parring- 

 ton was a stranger to the Sinnington country, but for nearly 

 twenty years prior to wielding the secretarial pen, Mr. Pearson 

 had followed the pack. Mr. Parrington was no mere nominal 

 master, and at once set to work to bring the pack to a 

 higher state of perfection. Says Mr. Dixon, he " soon put 

 fresh life into the hunt, and began to import fresh blood, 

 especially from the Bramham Moor, and the Quorn." Quorn 

 Alfred was a hound of which Mr. Parrington thought highly, 

 and he continued to get some of his blood into the Sinnington 

 kennels. He was no novice either across a country or in 

 kennel, for he had hunted with most of the Northern packs, 

 and in his day was one of the leading lights of the Cleveland 

 Hunt. As Sir A. E. Pease tells us in his book on " The 

 Cleveland Hounds," in the compilation of which Mr. Parring- 

 ton was of considerable assistance : — 



For the account of the doings of the pack (the Cleveland) during 

 the next decade (1835-45) I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Parrington, 

 of Ravenswyke, Kirbymoorside, who kindly placed his journals at my 

 disposal. This sportsman, whose name is now known throughout the 

 kingdom as one of the first authorities on horses and hounds, who has 

 hunted hounds, and for several years was master of the Sinnington, 

 began his hunting career in Cleveland, and, although, now residing 

 outside the district, is often seen in the Cleveland field, judging at 

 horse and fox-hound puppy shows, and re-visiting the haunts of his 

 youth. From October, 1835, to April 2, 1854, he was Secretary to 



