ROBERT VYNER 117 



extensive wcK)dIands at Birchley Hayes and Corley were 

 sometimes visited by the Atherstone, and I believe are 

 still neutral ; at all events they were when Mr. Hellier 

 hunted the North Warwickshire. 



The portion of country already named being literally 

 though not actually, vacant, Mr. Robert Vyner of 

 Eathorpe, a gentleman who had been zealously fond of 

 hunting from his boyhood and whose literary talents 

 have been subsequently devoted to the noble science 

 with very great success, found it a fitting opportunity 

 to establish a pack of hounds in the deserted regions. 

 In this praiseworthy effort he was cordially supported 

 by Mr. Bolton King of Umberslade and other county 

 gentlemen interested in the good cause, and in 1834 we 

 find him with about thirty couples of hounds at 

 Solihull, where some out-buildings were converted into 

 kennels, and Mr. Vyner was occupying apartments in a 

 house close at hand. George Gardner officiated as 

 whipper-in. Most enthusiastically did the new master 

 enter upon his duties. With a scratch pack, a small 

 subscription, no great abundance of foxes, and those 

 from not having been hunted not knowing much 

 country, he showed capital sport the first season. But 

 what cannot a man accomplish, aided by talent and 

 observation, if his heart is in the right place ? Mr. 

 Vyner may be said to have studied fox-hunting from 

 his infancy. Thus was the North Warwickshire 

 country established, but not as an integral one — a 

 reservation being made in the arrangements that it 

 should be given up to any future master of the Warwick- 

 shire who might desire to hunt the whole, as the late 

 Mr. Corbet had done. So great was the satisfaction 

 given by Mr. Vyner that the following year the sub- 

 scription-list was considerably augmented by the 

 inhabitants and visitors at Leamington and the sporting 

 men at Birmingham, shortly after which the establish- 

 ment was removed to Leamington. 



In 1888 Mr. Thomas Shaw Hellier succeeded Mr. 

 Vyner, and however great the latter gentleman's zeal 



