THE EARLS OF YARBOROUGH. 



Among the great aristocratic houses who, by their 

 influence and wealth, have contributed enormously to 

 the maintenance and development of the sport of 

 fox-hunting in England, the Earls and Barons of 

 Yarborough take a very high place. Claiming lineal 

 descent from the Pelhams, who are said to have held a 

 lordship of that name in Herefordshire before the 

 Conquest, the Earls of Yarborough are a younger 

 branch of the Sussex Pelhams whose present repre- 

 sentative head is the Earl of Chichester. The first of 

 these Sussex Pelhams of whom there is any authentic 

 record was Sir William Pelham of Loughton, in that shire, 

 whose chief distinction, as far as I can discover, is that 

 he was the father of a famous son. The second Sir 

 William was but a younger son, with neither interest nor 

 patrimony, and was left therefore to carve out fame 

 and fortune for himself by his own good sword. Adopt- 

 ing the profession of arms, he proved himself a brilliant 

 soldier on many a hard-fought field in the Low Countries, 

 France, Scotland, and Ireland. But, besides a stout 

 heart and a strong hand, he was gifted with a shrewd 

 brain which made him as valuable in the council- 

 chamber as in the camp. Queen Bess thought so highly 

 of his capacity, both as warrior and administrator, that 

 she appointed him Chief Justiciar of Ireland in 1579. 



