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CHAPTER XV. 



LOXLEY THE FOX CROSSES THE TRENT TO DONINGTON PARK 



MR. FRANK NEWTON ELECTION OF THE DEPUTY- 

 MASTER — MR. F. A. BRACE. 



1892-1893. 



In the twelfth century Loxley, like almost every other 

 place of any note in these parts, was held by Robert de 

 Ferrers, as a grant from the Crown. Joanna, a descendant 

 of his, brought it to the Kynersleys by marriage with 

 John de Kynnardsley in 1327, and it descended in un- 

 broken succession from father to son (except when one 

 brother succeeded another), till 1815, when Clement 

 Kynersley, dying without issue, left it by will to his 

 nephew Thomas Sneyd. He was the son of John Sneyd, 

 Esq., of Belmont, and Penelope, sister of Clement Ky- 

 nersley, and, under the conditions of his uncle's will, took 

 the name of Kynersley. 



The present representative of the family and owner of 

 Loxley is now living abroad,* but Mrs. Kynersley, his 

 mother, lives at Highfields, close by. Of late years there 

 has been a succession of tenants — Joseph Mallaby, Esq. ; 

 Colonel the Hon. Thomas Stanley ; Dr. Mould, of Cheadle, 

 who had an establishment for dipsomaniacs ; and Mr. 

 Close, who was followed by Mr. Blount, the present 

 tenant. There is no one more popular in the Meynell 

 country than he is, and deservedly so, for, though he does 

 not hunt himself, his coverts are never drawn blank. 

 Perhaps the most notable run in his time was on December 

 12th, 1893, to Moddershall Oaks. Blount's Hall, which is 



* He has returned to England since this was written. 



