in the Seventies and Eighties. 4i 



mastership of the hounds, to the great sorrow, it need 

 hardly be said, of everyone connected with fox-hunting in 

 the North of England. A committee was accordingly 

 appointed at a meeting held at Stockton-on-Tees in April, 

 1878, and presided over by the late Marquis of Londonderry 

 (who though he did not actively participate in the chase, 

 was always most solicitous for its welfare) to approach Sir 

 William Eden, Bart., of Windlestone, with a view to his 

 acceptance of the vacant mastership ; the preliminaries were 

 quickly and easily arranged, Sir William being anxious to 

 throw no obstacle in the way of sport, and the office of 

 M.F.H. was accepted by him with a guarantee of £900 per 

 annum from the members of the Hunt on condition that he 

 hunted the country at least two days a week. Though 

 undertaking to provide only the limited amount of hunting. 

 Sir WiUiam, like a good sportsman, made up his mind from 

 the first to give the members of the Hunt and followers of 

 his pack as much sport as a country not more than fifteen 

 miles square would permit, and with this end in view moved 

 the hounds from the Hardwick Kennels to commodious 

 premises which he had erected for the purpose at Rushy- 

 ford; there is no greater drawback to a master of hounds 

 than to reside a long way from his kennels, and Sir William 

 recognised this when he took a step which placed him in 

 near and constant touch with them at a convenient distance 

 from Windlestone. The old hunt servants were retained, 

 Claxon as huntsman, and John Bevans as first whipper-in, 

 save and except that Robert Jay* from the Bedale suc- 

 ceeded to the place of second whipper-in vacated by George 

 Sheppard, who had acted in that capacity for two or three 

 seasons. With this establishment some excellent sport was 



• Bevans says that Robert Jay afterwards went into the "flat-hat" country! 



