68 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1813 



In the original list several hounds are mentioned as 

 having been drafted, on February 4th, to Charles. This 

 may be Mr. Charles of the Moors. Also hounds are 

 mentioned as having been sent to Mr. Harbord as fox- 

 hounds. The question of the origin of the Hoar Cross 

 hounds is definitely settled, for it was with these harriers, 

 of foxhound blood, that he began hunting what is now 

 known as the Meynell country. Even before 1816 he 

 hunted a fox when he could find him, and occasionally 

 turned down a bagged one. It is most probable, though 

 it cannot be ascertained for certain, that the squire 

 carried the horn, while his brothers, Edward, who was 

 afterwards in the 10th Royal Hussars, and Henry (the 

 Admiral), whipped in for him, and Tom Leedham was 

 kennel huntsman and whipper-in till 1816, when the 

 latter took the horn. The people who hunted with him 

 were General Grosvenor, Mr. Harbord, Sir Bellingham 

 Graham (who, about 1818, hunted part of the South 

 Stafford country), the Hon. Frederick Curzon, Mr. 

 Boucherett, Mr. Whitewick, Mr. Chadwick, Rev. C. 

 Landor, Mr. Meeke, Lord and Lady Anson, Captain 

 Pole, Mr. Hall, Mr. Saunders, Mr. Shawe, Mr. Arnold, 

 Mr. Bott, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Robert Peel, Sir L. Salusbury, 

 Lord Alvanley, Miss Eleanor Sutton, Lord E. Belgrave, 

 Mr. Jaggard, Mr. Boothby, Lord Bective, Hon. E. Curzon, 

 Mr. Bromley Davenport, Mr. R. Bagot, Lord C. Talbot, 

 Sir James Fizgerald, Mr. Kershaw, Mr. Hacker, Mr. 

 Stone, etc. 



The first mention of Tom Leedham occurs March 30th, 

 1813, when the diary says, "Met Tom with his hounds, 

 joined him, ran hard twenty minutes, and killed." This 

 looks as if Tom Leedham at that time was kennel hunts- 

 man, for Mr. Meynell, with his hounds, was running a 

 hare when they met. This year they found two foxes, 

 killed one. At the end of the next year they ran a 

 bagged fox and killed him. " Afterwards ran a drag 

 with his head for twenty-five minutes as hard as they 

 could go." 



