170 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. 



CHAPTER XV. 



MR. a A. STATHAM, M.R.C.V.S. — GOOD RUN IN THE WALTON 

 COUNTRY — GREAT RUN FROM BIRCHWOOD PARK — DEATH 

 OF JOE LEEDHAM — A FAST RUN. 



About the year 1851 there arrived in Sudbury a young 

 man of the much respected old Derbyshire family 

 of Statham, who was destined later on to be known 

 far and near, to rich and poor, by the familiar 

 soubriquet of the " old Doctor." He and his cart 

 became as much a feature in the country as Hanbury 

 Church Tower or the hounds themselves. It seemed, 

 indeed, as impossible to imagine the roads for miles round 

 Sudbury without the frequent appearance on them of 

 George Statham in his cart, as to think of the country 

 without the roads themselves. In the hey-day of his 

 youth he was a tall, handsome man, with a herculean 

 frame, almost unequalled for pluck and endurance. And, 

 even in his declining years, when the once tall figure was 

 bent through rheumatism, the flat back rounded, and the 

 active limbs crippled, there was something left to suggest 

 the ancient strength, symmetry, and vigour. His still 

 handsome face was good to look upon, with its kindly 

 expression and the smile of infinite humour which lit it 

 up as he brought out some of the dry sayings, for which 

 he was famous. He was something of a hero too, this old 

 doctor of animal ills. In spite of intense suffering, he was 

 out in all weathers, with a Spartan disregard of discomfort, 

 which set a noble example in this luxurious age. To the 

 very last he despised what he called " coddling." His 

 friends — and enemies he had not — begged him to accept 

 fur coats, warm driving boots, and so forth ; but he would 



