Ube JEarls Spencer '^ti 



Spencer family, for, in default of direct male heirs of the 

 great duke, his grandson Charles Spencer, eldest son of 

 the said third Earl of Sunderland, succeeded to the ducal 

 title in 1733. From John, the youngest brother of Charles, 

 the present Earl Spencer derives his descent. This John 

 Spencer was the favourite grandson of Sarah, Duchess 

 of Marlborough, and she left him the bulk of her large 

 personal property. His son John was the first Earl 

 Spencer and the founder of the Pytchley Hunt and Club. 

 It was about the year 1760 that Lord Spencer removed 

 his hounds from Althorp to kennels in the little village 

 of Pytchley, and established at the Old Hall there the 

 Pytchley Club. On his death in 1783 he was succeeded 

 by his nephew John George, who for thirteen years was 

 Master of the Pytchley, with the celebrated Dick Knight 

 as his huntsman. Dick's name still lives in the traditions 

 of the Chase as one of the greatest huntsmen of all time, 

 and the following particulars of his career, for which I am 

 indebted to Mr Nethercote's admirable ' History of the 

 Pytchley Hunt,' will not, I am sure, be considered out of 

 place. 



' Born at Courteen-hall, of parents in whose eyes there 

 was " nothing like leather," he was brought up to make, 

 rather than to wear, a top-boot ; but a natural love for 

 all things pertaining to sport soon got him among 

 hounds and horsemen ; and, advancing step by step, he 

 succeeded in attaining the pinnacle of his ambition by 

 becoming huntsman to the famous Pytchley Hounds. 

 In the well-known picture by Mr Loraine Smith, of 

 Enderby Hall, Knight is portrayed as finishing the run 

 on a cart-horse taken from a plough, his own animal 

 being completely knocked up. In a second picture, by 

 the same skilful hand, he is depicted jumping a fence 



