i86 Reminiscences of a 



heard of a broken leg being set and mended in five minutes ! " 

 Mr. J. W. Clarke, called by his friends Mr. "Jock" 

 Clarke, of Guisborough, occasionally had a day with us. As 

 a young man he was known as a " bruiser." I remember 

 he had a very good grey mare by the " Drake," about 

 seventeen hands high, on which he was bad to beat. 

 Captain and Mrs. Towers-Clark used to hunt with us 

 towards the end of my time. Captain Towers-Clark had 

 been, I think, master of the West Meath from 1883-6, 

 and was, I suppose, like Mr. Forbes, driven out of Ireland 

 in consequence of the wholesale poisoning of hounds and 

 foxes. Occasionally there came out Major O'Shaunessy 

 and Captain J. Burn-Murdock, a fine rider to hounds, and 

 as gallant, I am told, on the field of battle. A Friday meet 

 often brought out also Mr. Robert Colling, always a keen 

 foxhunter, and his son, R. W. Colling, the well-known ex-jockey, 

 whom I have seen going very well ; amongst other Hurworth 

 men were the late Mr. Thomas Wilkinson, of Neasham 

 Abbey, a rare sportsman of the old school, who seemed 

 to love sport for sport's sake, and was descended from a 

 line of foxhunting masters, the Wilkinsons of Neasham 

 Abbey. Mr. Thomas, too, was unbeatable as an otter 

 hunter, and no one, I believe, knew more of the science 

 of hunting in the water than he did ; I never was very 

 fond of cold water myself, and preferred sport on " terra 

 firmer,'' as they call it. 



I must not omit the name of George Hirst, who was 

 one of the keenest of our foxhunting farmers when I 

 came into the country in 1874; he had, I believe, originally 

 been a sailor, and like all sailors, was apt to be a little 

 excited when he got astride a horse, and didn't always quite 

 know where he was going to. He had, at one time, a very 



