THE MIDDLESEX 



The Hunt dates from 1 897, when the Ridgewood Beagles were hunted 

 under the joint Mastership of Messrs. R. B. Baker and A. Henry Higginson 

 in a small area which is now a portion of the present Middlesex country. 

 For several years the hounds were kenneled at Mr. Baker's place near Wal- 

 tham, and it was not until 1 90 1 that recognition from the National Steeple- 

 chase and Hunt Association was applied for and granted. At that time the 

 present Master had been hunting the little hounds around South Lincoln for 

 about a year, with the two Messrs. Baker acting as amateur whippers-in. 

 The Hunt grew by degrees, and presently, as is always the case, the need for 

 better and faster hounds was felt. A draft of foxhounds was accordingly 

 purchased from the Myopia, but as these did not prove to be just what was 

 wanted, a friend in England was pressed into service and a draft sent from 

 there. These first hounds came from the Brookside Harriers, an old pack, 

 which Mr. Steyning Baird had just given up, and were really miniature 

 foxhounds. They served very well for a year or two on the drag, and if 

 that kind of cross-country riding had remained the only form of sport, matters 

 might not have taken the turn they did. But one day, late in the season, the 

 harriers were taken out after foxes, stumbled on to a good line and furnished 

 such a good run that it was promptly decided that the acquisition of a good 

 pack of foxhounds was the next step. 



With this object in view the Master went to England in the spring of 1 904 

 and there was lucky enough to fall into very good hands. Mr. C. W. B. 

 Femie of Leicester was kind enough to let his draft for the year go a bit 

 early, and with eleven couples from this well-known pack, which is full of the 

 peerless Belvoir blood, the Middlesex pack of today was founded. Early in 

 August, twenty more couples came over from England and wath these came 

 Will Ryder, who had been engaged by Charles Isaac, Mr. Fernie's hunts- 

 man, to act as whipper-in. Then followed a series of calamities ; the Master 

 was ill and out of the saddle most of the autumn, and although Mr. J. I. 

 Chamberlain was an efficient Field Master, he was handicapped by the loss 

 of Ryder, who had to go home to England. 



About this time, however, Mr. Foxhall P. Keene gave up the Master- 

 ship of the Meadow Brook Hounds on Long Island, and Bob Cotesworth, 



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