SHROPSHIRE SPORTSMEN 161 



It is a natural inference that where the state of a 

 country' is adapted and inviting for sport the inhabi- 

 tants should be distinguished for their sporting propen- 

 sities. By habit sporting becomes an acquirement, 

 metaphorically, indigenous to the soil. Shropshire 

 may justly boast of being the native land of a greater 

 number of sportsmen of high caste and repute than any 

 other county in England of equal magnitude ; among 

 whom may be introduced the late Mr. George Forester 

 of Willey Park, who hunted the country during the 

 latter part of the past and at the commencement of the 

 present century, co-temporary with Mr. Meynell and 

 Mr. Corbet ; and if he did not enjoy the advantages of 

 so good a country as theirs to exercise his talent in, he 

 was by no means deficient in zeal and enthusiastic love 

 of fox-hunting. His country must, like most others 

 in those days have been very extensive ; for including 

 a great portion of what is now called the Shropshire, 

 he had the coverts at Enville, Dudmaston, and Apley, 

 in the present Albrighton Hunt. 



This gentleman's nephew, the late Lord Forester, 

 who succeeded to the estates on the death of the Squire 

 of Willey in 1811, also a Salopian, when known as Mr. 

 Forester, was a distinguished rider to hounds in 

 Leicestershire ; and likewise his friend the late Mr. 

 Childe of Kinlet, characterised in those days by the 

 title of the " Flying Childe," from the pace at which 

 he rode over the country. These two gentlemen are 

 said to have introduced the fashion of hard riding, 

 which has increased up to a more recent date. "It is 

 the pace that kills," was an expression made use of by 

 Lord Forester ; a truism universally correct. The 

 present Lord Forester, so well-known in Leicestershire, 

 is another nobleman who graces the list of Shropshire 

 sportsmen. The gallant Lord Hill patronised fox- 

 hunting on all occasions, and the late Sir John Hill, 

 Bart., of Hawkestone, the father of so many valiant 

 sons who attracted the notice of their sovereign, was a 

 master of hounds several seasons; also his son. Colonel 



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