142 ROYAL ROCK BEAGLE HUXT. 



Ubc 36rocfUet»anI?5. 



" O, it is excellent 

 To have a giant's strengtli, but it is tyrannous 

 'I'o use it like a giant." 



Measure Jor i\h'asiire, act ii, scene 2. 



ls\x. Ralph rrocklebank, of Childwall Hall, Lancashire, though in the 

 prime of life when the Royal Rock Beagles started on their career, yet lived 

 to such a good old age that he was a familiar figure to most of the present 

 generation of beaglers. Born in 1803, he died in his ninetieth year in 1S92. 

 He was an important member of the commercial world of Liverpool, where 

 his firm had a world-wide re[)Utation as shii^owners and merchants. He 

 was very active in the development of tlie dock estate, and one of the 

 Liverpool docks Ijears his name. He was an ardent sportsman to the end 

 of his life. It has been said of him that in Kircudbrightshire he held the 

 longest shooting lease ever known, and he went out pheasant-shooting when 

 eighty-five years of age. It is to be feared that Mr. Brocklebank did not 

 regard hunting with as much favour as he did shooting. Holding, as he did, 

 an extensive sporting property at Tranmere, Prenton, and Oxton, it was 

 essential for the R.R.B. in their early days, when the chief part of their 

 hunting was confined to the northern part of Wirral, to secure his favour, 

 and that of his tenants. In the very first year of their existence, indeed 

 within ten days of the inauguration of the R.R.B., they got into trouble 

 with Mr. Brocklebank, as detailed in the chapter devoted to the securing of 

 country. Thds matter being satisfactorily arranged, IMr. Brocklebank, in 

 1848, appears as a member of the Hunt, but there is no record of his 

 having paid his subscription : doubtless he was an honorary member. His 

 grandson, Eric Brocklebank, is now one of our members, and one of the 

 leaders of the field. 



Milliam Mcbstcr, JEeq., of Xllptou. 



'' Jos on, jog on, tlie foot-path way, 



And merrily hent the stile-a : 



A merry heart goes all the day, 



Your sad tires in a mile-a." 



U'inier's Tnie, act iv, scene 2. 



Upton has always been a favourite hunting-ground for the Royal Rock 

 Beagles. From the first they frequently met there, and for the first few years 

 of their history the village inn was the scene of their annual dinners to the 

 farmers. Hares have always been j^lentiful at Upton, and as it is conveni- 

 ently situated for access from Oxton and Ijirkenhead. it has perliaps 

 furnished its full share of sport to the R.R.B. through the last half-century. 



Upton Hall was built by the late Mr. John Webster, for his son, the 

 present lord of the manor, Mr. William A\'ebster, who has always been a 

 good sportsman and a preserver of game, In the early days of the R.R.B., 



