AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



Dechmont were prepared to hunt the country 

 during the following season.^ In this scheme 

 Mr Gillon acquiesced, and while all deplored the 

 loss of his services, which had been of the greatest 

 value, the arrangement was welcomed as a most 

 satisfactory one. Mindful of Mr Gillon's good 

 work, his hunting and other friends did not allow 

 his retirement to pass without proof of the regard 

 in which he was held, and towards the end of April 

 last, an opportunity was taken of presenting him 

 with a silver hunting-horn and a couple of hunters 

 as a memento of his mastership.^ But this was 

 not the only compliment paid to him ; and the 

 fact that he received other gifts — one from the lady 

 members of the field, and another from the second- 

 horseman in the Hunt — shows how extremely 

 popular his mastership had been, 



Mr Meldrum, who now joins Sir Robert Usher, 

 is no stranger in the country. Between the years 

 1891 and 1901 he and his brothers, the late Mr 

 E. B. Meldrum, and Mr T. Meldrum, and his sister, 

 now Mrs Stephen, all hunted from Dechmont, 

 which, then as now, might have been termed a 

 home of sport. For besides a considerable stud 

 of hunters, there were beagles there in those 

 days, and many good runs were enjoyed with this 

 little pack. Several of the hunters ran well both 

 between the flags and in point-to-point races, — 

 Williamston, Patrician, and Cumberland Lass being 

 victorious on more than one occasion ; while Tyro- 



' Minute-book, vol. iii. p. 24. 2 Ibid., p. 27. 



333 



