^8 Frank Coates. 



farmer, who was a tremendously keen and very popular man. 

 Every Wednesday he used to attend Stockton market and 

 meet the Cleveland men, either at the " Black Lion " or 

 "Vane Arms," and compare notes as to sport. He was wont 

 to chaff the Cleveland fellows a good deal about their partiality 

 for running bagged foxes, but Mr. Parrington tells me the 

 Hurworth at this time used to have just as much affection for 

 " a baggy " but were not quite so open about it as their neigh- 

 bours in the adjoining country. I am told that Coates had a 

 drain put down on his farm for the especial purpose of catching 

 foxes which came down from the hills, and they also had a 

 man rigged up with a capacious-pocketed coat in which he 

 could carry the bagman. He did his work well, liberated his 

 foxes just at the right moment, and then gave the view-halloa 

 which brought up Frank Coates and the Hurworth in quick- 

 sticks. Coates, says tradition, was a beautiful horseman and 

 " an elegant man in the saddle." Squire Wilkinson often used 

 to go over and stay with him during the hunting season, when 

 the following day's fixture was in that part of the country, and 

 thought a great deal of him. Frank Coates lived some years 

 after he retired from the position of huntsman. 



Mr. W. Armstrong, of Stockton, better known with the 

 South Durham than the Hurworth (though he used to often 

 hunt with the latter pack so long ago as forty years), tells me 

 that the hounds were tremendously fond of Coates, and used 

 to make a dash towards him when they saw him awaiting them 

 at the tryst. His last day's hunting was on a young horse by 

 "Perrion," which belonged to Prince Stockdale, of Leven. 

 He rode well up to hounds on this occasion, and was delighted 

 that the old hand had lost none of its cunning. He was buried 

 in Hilton Churchyard, and there is a tombstone to his memory 



