A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



His successor, Lord Petre, who became 

 master against his inclination, never really 

 took much interest in them, and was unfor- 

 tunate in having incompetent hunt servants. 

 We read in Mr. Parry's diary of the season 

 of 1831 that 'in consequence of Lord Petre's 

 men being badly mounted and knowing 

 nothing of the country, and none of them 

 anything about hunting except the huntsman, 

 who could not ride at all to his hounds, we 

 lost all our best foxes that would have shown 

 us runs. Never recollect so many foxes in 

 Herts, nor so well found, and with proper 

 management we must have had a capital 

 season.' 



Lord Petre was succeeded by Mr. Dalyell, 

 who had been master of the Forfarshire 

 Hounds. He was a good sportsman and 

 hunted his own hounds, but for some reason 

 was not popular in the county, and after 

 three seasons was glad to resign. 



In 1838 Mr. John Archer Houblon pur- 

 chased the Puckeridge Hounds, and became 

 joint master with Mr. J. Calvert of Albury 

 Park and Mr. Nicholas Parry. Mr. Parry 

 subsequently became sole master and owner 

 of the pack, which he retained until the year 

 1875. He was a most thorough sportsman, 

 and gave up nearly the whole of his time to 

 the management of his hounds in the kennel 

 and in the field. 



It was entirely owing to his perseverance 

 that the Puckeridge became at that time a 

 first-rate pack. The drafts from these hounds 

 were keenly competed for by the masters of 

 most of the best packs in England. 



Mr. Parry, during his thirty-six years of 

 office as master of hounds, and also previously, 

 kept a regular hunting diary, which occupies 

 seven volumes of commonplace books. He 

 records during the forty-seven years between 

 1827 and 1874 no less than 4,432 days' 

 hunting, describing the runs and the doings 

 of the hounds and naming the horses he rode 

 each day. A mare named Cinderella was 

 ridden by him forty-seven times during one 

 season. 



He appears to have had very good sport 

 considering the country was arable and not 

 good scenting ground. It was no uncommon 

 thing for him to kill on an average more 

 foxes in a season than the number of days he 

 hunted ; and this was not done, as sometimes 

 is the case, by mobbing the cubs before the 

 regular season began. In 1860 he found 

 twenty-six litters of cubs. He records that 

 his first four seasons as master cost him on an 

 average 2,069 a se *son, which appears very 

 moderate for four days a week. 



At the end of each season Mr. Parry in 



his diary gave a short account of the weather, 

 sport and working of his hounds and horses, 

 from which we find that no matter whether 

 the season had been good or bad for scent the 

 hounds worked capitally. Of course, in so 

 many seasons, a great many good runs are 

 recorded, and it is difficult to single out the 

 best. Long hunting runs of three and some- 

 times four hours were enough to please the 

 most exacting. 



One run from Broadfield Spring on De- 

 cember i, 1838, was an extraordinary one, 

 for without going through any covert worth 

 mentioning, the fox ran for two hours and 

 five minutes over twenty-three miles of coun- 

 try before he was killed at Langley Warren. 

 Mr. Parry says, ' It was the best run I ever 

 saw in my life with one fox.' 



Another good run is recorded on February 

 25, 1842, with a fox which was found at 

 Gilston, and ran through Eastwick, Shirley 

 Green, across the water at Blakes Ware, on 

 to Nimley Bourn, through Camelhall Springs, 

 Thorley and Tednambury, crossed the Stort 

 to Hyde Hall, on to Hallingbury, and was 

 killed in Hatfield Place after a run of two 

 hours and fifty minutes, nearly the whole way 

 at a severe pace. 



But probably the best run ever recorded 

 was on March 5, 1846. Meet at Throck- 

 ing. ' Found at Friars, went to Broadfield 

 to drain at Throcking, from which he was 

 bolted, ran for Hyde Hall and made a ring 

 to Friars, leaving it on the right and back 

 very fast to Broadfield, skirting Horney in 

 a line for St. John's to Tannis and Barton 

 Green and on to Great Munden church, 

 through Hamels to Membly and Puckeridge 

 to Old Hall, to Adam's covert, Blackney 

 Mead Springs, and was killed within one field 

 of Bartram's Wood. Distance about 28 

 miles.' 



Shortly before Mr. Parry gave up the 

 hounds he had a bad fall, from the effects 

 of which he never recovered. He lay for 

 a long time unconscious, and his first words 

 on coming to himself were, ' Did they kill 

 him ? ' 



In 1875 Mr. Parry sold his pack to Mr. 

 Robert Gosling of Hassobury, who hunted 

 the whole country until 1885. Mr. Gosling 

 took as much interest in hound breeding as 

 Mr. Parry had done, and bred on much the 

 same lines, chiefly from Belvoir sires. Mr. 

 Gosling, who hunted the country practically 

 at his own expense, mounted his men well 

 and kept up the reputation of the pack. He 

 was fortunate in obtaining the services of 

 William Wells as huntsman, who had been 

 tutored by George Carter, and had been first 





354 



