8 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



as its actual first master, and doubtless his pack was 

 quite a private one. At the same time, seeing that 

 much of his hunting took place in what has since been 

 known as the Quorn country, and that Mr. Hugo 

 Meynell established his hounds in the year following Mr. 

 Boothby's death, the claim of the country, if not of the 

 individual Quorn Hunt, must be recognised, and if it is 

 allowed on the evidence of the horn that Mr. Boothby 

 confined his operations solely to foxhunting the claim is 

 perhaps the strongest of the lot. 



The Sinnington and the Bilsdale claim to go back to 

 " 1680 or thereabouts," when the Duke of Buckingham 

 established a pack, and it is pretty certain that hounds 

 have been maintained in the neighbourhood ever since. 

 But that they began as buckhounds, or harriers, is more 

 than likely, and the present writer has been unable to 

 fix any date when fox became the permanent quarry. 

 It is, however, the case that the Sinnington country was 

 at one time much larger than it now is, and notably it 

 included what is now known as Sir William Cooke's 

 country, while it has also been asserted that the Bils- 

 dale country was originally part of it. And here it 

 may be mentioned that there are several packs in North- 

 east Yorkshire, each claiming to be older than the 

 other. Thus the Bilsdale makes a claim to be the 

 legitimate successor of the Duke of Buckingham's 

 Hunt; "the Goathland Hunt goes back to a remote 

 period ; it is mentioned in the records dating back to 

 about 1650, which are preserved at Pickering"; and 

 lastly the Stainton Dale is popularly supposed to have 

 been created by royal charter in the days of King 

 Stephen. As to the Bilsdale and Sinnington it is 

 almost certain that both countries were within the 

 district where the Duke of Buckingham hunted, but 



