THE WARWICKSHIRE HOTTNDS. 



Mr. JohnWarde to have commenced until a decade later, from which 



• date there is an unbroken succession down to to-day. 



Mr. Wrightson is said to have been a good sportsman 

 and to have spared no expense, as far as expenditure on 

 hunting a country went in those days. He was assisted 

 by a huntsman and two whips, whom he provided 

 with four horses a-piece. 



A brief account of a day's sport enjoyed by him in 

 1780 has been preserved, and is, no doubt, the earliest 

 account of a hunting run in Warwickshire in exist- 



^^ed^day'^sport e°ce. Alveston Pastures first provided a brace, but 

 in Warwick- both were lost. Eatington Grove was then tried and 

 a fox turned out, which, after running a ring for an 

 hour, was killed. Another fox was found in Honing- 

 ton Spinnies, which took them over Idlicote Heath, 

 and over a good bit of country, at a fast pace to Shut- 

 ford Hill, where he gave up his brush. Of the 

 length of time for which Mr. Wrightson hunted in 

 Warwickshire there does not seem to be any record. 

 The Earl of Thanet and Mr. Willoughby also pro- 

 vided sport with their hounds during these early 

 days. Of the latter I shall have more' to say when 

 I come to the period, when, as Lord Middleton, he 

 took the head of affairs in Warwickshire in succession 

 to the celebrated Mr. Corbet. 



The • celebrated For some seasons previous to that of 1791, the 

 JohnWarde. celebrated John Warde hunted in Warwickshire, 

 having his kennels at Newbold, five miles from 

 Shipston and six from Stratford, and from this time 

 downwards we have an uninterrupted chronicle of 

 the chase in this country. Mr. Warde was at the 

 same time hunting in Oxfordshire, what is now theBices- 

 ter country, and took Warwickshire in addition. 

 Called *• the Father of the Field," he. may, indeed, be 

 looked upon as the first great M.F.H. He kept 

 hounds for 57 years, and the length of his services to 

 the chase was only equalled by the energetic manner 

 in which he went through with everything 



