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Ill-health compelled Mr Villebois to give up the 

 V.W.H. in 1854, but after a severe attack of fever at 

 Plymouth, which nearly proved fatal to him, he recruited 

 his shattered constitution by a prolonged yachting cruise, 

 and in 1857 was once more able to take an active part in 

 the sport to which he was so passionately attached. He 

 became Master of the West Norfolk, and hunted that 

 country till 1875 in a style which endeared him to the 

 sportsmen of East Anglia. The hospitality he dispensed 

 at Marham House was princely ; everything he did was 

 done as perfectly as it was possible for unlimited ex- 

 penditure of time, thought, and money to compass. 



He was, like his father, a first-rate coachman, and there 

 was not a more popular or enthusiastic patron of the Leash 

 in all East Anglia than Henry Villebois. The Market 

 Downham Meeting owed to his liberal patronage the 

 prestige which made it noted among coursing fixtures, 

 and there was no form of out-door sport which he was 

 not ever ready to help with his purse and patronage. 

 Frank, generous, open-hearted and open-handed, the 

 soul of honour, a right royal host, and a sportsman 

 without fear and without reproach, Henry Villebois was 

 indeed the very type and model of a fine old English 

 squire. It is sad to think that he should have been the 

 last of a race of such good sportsmen and true gentlemen. 

 When he died in March 1886, at the ripe age of seventy- 

 nine, the direct male line of Villebois died with him, 

 and Marham House is now the property of his sister, 

 Eve Maria, Viscountess Glentworth, to whom her brother 

 bequeathed his Norfolk estates. 



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