MR. THOMAS PARRINGTON. 223 



all born Nimrods, and as one reads the accounts of sport a 

 few decades ago with the Cleveland, the Hurworth, and other 

 Northern packs, their names frequently occur amongst those 

 who took part in the great runs of that epoch, especially 

 the great run with the Lambton Hounds from Foxhill to 

 Wynyard Park, and recorded in song by the late Mr. George 

 Sutton. Mr. Thomas Parrington, whose connection with the 

 world of venery mainly concerns us in the present history, 

 was the life and soul of sporting gatherings half-a-century 

 ago. He wrote a few hunting songs, and sang them at the 

 hunt dinners, and always had a stock of stories and experi- 

 ences which few could tell better than he. On leaving his 

 farm at Marton-in-Cleveland, in 1852, he moved to Lazenby, 

 near Redcar, and so on from place to place to Kirbymoor- 

 side in 1897, where in his charming home at St. Hilda's, 

 he hopes to live out the remainder of his days. In 1875, 

 he became agent to Lord Feversham, and soon began to 

 distinguish himself across country. He was, and is, a popular 

 man too, straightforward, always " speaking his mind," 

 but possessed of a wonderful tact born of an innate know- 

 ledge of the Yorkshire farmer. It was at the unanimous 

 request of the country that in 1879 he followed Mr. Robert 

 Ellerby as Master of the Sinnington. 



Gradually the Sinnington was procuring for itself a name 

 and fame, not only as an exceedingly sporting little hunt, 

 but also something more than was perhaps expected from a 

 trencher-fed pack — for the Sinnington were still trencher-fed. 

 There were at this time three of the best sportsmen in York- 

 shire at the heads of the various departments of the hunt 

 management. The Master was conversant with every phase 

 of his work and every corner of his country. Mr. " Nimrod " 

 Pearson carried, and still carries, with him all that tact and 

 sympathy essential to the Secretary of hounds, together with 

 an enthusiasm which has never grown less ; whilst Jack 

 Parker seemed to become keener and harder as years rolled 

 on. 



Mr. Parrington's era in more ways than one marked a 

 new chapter in the history of the hunt. It seemed to gain 



