THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



127 



to be completed, and 

 they had a little field 

 was huntsman, Jack 

 Hicks second whip, 

 soon afterwards 

 the next season. 



served a long and important term in the office, and in Lord 



Mr. North he had a colleague, who was not only zea- Broke 



lously devoted to the chase itself, but who also found a hon^w^ H^ j 

 delight in what is to manv the "dry bones "of the North. 



subject — the details of kennel management. J_ 



There was just the tail of the season, 1860-61, 

 so up to the 18th of April 

 work to do. Tom Matthews 

 Mason first whip, and Joe Tom Matthews. 

 Joe Hicks however, was 

 replaced by Dick Hall. By 

 Lord Willoughby de Broke and 

 Mr. North had got settled in their mastership, and 

 it was very evident that the supporters of the hunt 

 had not misplaced their confidence in consigning the 

 reins of government to their care. A great improve- 

 ment was manifest, indeed it was said that at the 

 opening of the season, 1861-2, the hounds were in a 

 more efficient state than they had been for some 

 years. The efforts of their masters were ably seconded 

 by Matthews as huntsman. Matthews came to 

 •* the Warwickshire " in 1860. He was a native of 

 Shropshire, and inherited the sporting proclivities and 

 capabilities with which his family is accredited. He 

 served his tuition to the chase in his own county. 

 Sir E. Smythe, of Acton Burnell, being his first 

 master. He was afterwards in the employ of Mr. 

 Smythe Owen, Lord Hill, and Mr. T. C. Eyton. He 

 was with ** the Worcestershire," and " the Cottes- 

 more " for a time, and then went to Ireland. 

 After some ten or twelve seasons in the 

 Emerald Isle, he recroased St. George's 

 Channel and entered the service of "the Warwick- 

 shire " under Mr. Henley Greaves. Both in the kennels 

 and in the field he was an excellent man. He rode 

 steadily and never exhibited undue excitement or 

 haste. He soon began to get the hounds to have a 



DE 



