52 The Sedgefield Country 



on this eventful day close on to ninety miles, as he has 

 frequently told me that he hacked from Newcastle to Sedge- 

 field twenty-six miles, and thence five miles to the meet, and 

 after the long and severe day's hunting hacked back to 

 Newcastle at night ; where he arrived between 9 and 10 

 p.m. — truly a day's hunting that few, in these days of rail- 

 ways and motor cars, would undertake, however great their 

 reward. But it was a regular custom with Mr. Harvey 

 about this period, and for some years later, to do all his 

 hunting in the Sedgefiejd country from Newcastle, not un- 

 frequently in the company of his friends, Mr. Matthew 

 Clayton and Mr. John Shield, the three becoming members 

 of the Sedgefield Club in the same year, viz., 1834, their 

 annual subscription being the modest sum of £4 4s., which 

 was all that members were called upon to pay. These 

 hardy sportsmen were in the habit of hiring their hacks 

 from a jobmaster named William Sinclair, whose stables 

 were situated in Northumberland Street, just behind the 

 large premises abutting on Elwick Court, and who kept on 

 hand a few stout and reliable animals ; their regular pro- 

 gramme on hunting days in the Sedgefield country, i.e., 

 three days a week, was one that would bring dismay to the 

 keenest sportsman of the present time ; the preliminary ride 

 of twenty-five or twenty-six miles to Sedgefield, where their 

 hunters were located, occupied as a rule about two and a 

 half hours, a start being generally made about 7-30 a.m. 

 At Sedgefield they mounted their hunters, which were in 

 readiness, and rode on to the meet, sometimes a distance of 

 seven, eight, or nine miles further; then they enjoyed the 

 sport of the day with the great master and his pack, for 

 which they made such sacrifices ; rode their hunters back 

 to Sedgefield, had an early dinner immediately on return 



