CHAPTER XX. 



VISCOUNT HELMSLEY. 



And now we come to the last chapter of Sinnington Hunt 

 history — that which sees a Duncombe at the head of the 

 pack with which the family has ever identified itself. 

 Viscount Helmsley inherits all the love of sport peculiar to 

 the Yorkshireman and almost characteristic of his own 

 forbears. The noble Earl, his grandfather, was, of course, 

 an M.F.H., and the late Lord Helmsley's name is connected 

 with some of the best runs in the country which gave him 

 birth. So the present Master of the Sinnington was reared 

 in a atmosphere of sport, and the remarkable thing would 

 have been had he not found himself a Nimrod. He admits 

 that it was ever one of his ambitions to preside over the 

 pack, and it may also be said that there was not a little 

 reciprocal desire on the part of those sportsmen who have 

 watched him since boyhood's days. He was born on May 8, 

 1879, in Loudon, but in due course came down to Yorkshire, 

 and in a letter to the author he said : — 



" I am afraid there is not much I can toll yon about my early con- 

 nection with the pack, but, of course, I used to go out with them as a 

 boy. I well remember being ' blooded ' by Jack Paiker when Mr. 

 Lesley was Master, which was, I suppose, when I was about five or six 

 years old. 



So it will be seen that Lord Helmsley commenced his educa- 

 tion for the position he now occupies very early in life, 

 and under one of the quaintest and most enthusiastic hunts- 

 men who ever carried a horn over any part of the broad- 

 acred Shire. At this period, his parents were residing at 

 Nawton Towers, whither, by-the-way, the present Sinnington 

 M.F.H. has now removed from Nawton Grange. In due 

 course, he went to Eton, and from a sketch which appeared 

 in " Baily," for June, 1906, we learn that here " he found 

 his most congenial occupation on the river ; he was one of 



