A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



gentleman coachman of his day, and his three 

 teams of grey, black and cream were admitted 

 to be unsurpassed by any in England ; he it 

 was who taught George IV. to handle the 

 ribbons. Some idea of his expenditure on 

 his stables may be gathered from the fact that 

 after his death ninety-five of his horses and 

 ponies were sold at Tattersall's. 



Mr. Delm6 married a daughter of Mr. 

 Radcliffe of Hitchin Priory, and his son, 

 who took the name of Radcliffe, was the 

 author of Noble Science. Mr. Delm Rad- 

 cliffe's first venture as a master of hounds was 

 with a pack of harriers on his large estates 

 at Hitchin Priory, which had been granted to 

 his ancestor by Henry VIII. after the sup- 

 pression of the priory. Mr. Delm6 Radcliffe 

 subsequently sold this pack of harriers to Sir 

 James Flower, and himself became master of 

 the Hertfordshire foxhounds in succession to 

 Mr. Thomas Sebright. 



Sir John Sebright, father of Mr. Thomas 

 Sebright, had also a celebrated pack of harriers 

 with which he hunted the country round 

 Beechwood prior to his son taking the 

 mastership of the foxhounds ; these harriers 

 were all well marked black and tan, and 

 were sold for a high price to the duke of 

 Brunswick. 



In 1852 the late lord Brownlow estab- 

 lished a small pack of six couples of beagles 

 at Ashridge to hunt in the park and home 

 farms ; and in 1854 Mr. Fernie, who was 

 the field master, bought a pack of harriers 

 from Parson Jack Russell. And with this 

 pack came Richard Rawle as huntsman, he 

 having whipped in with his father to the 

 famous parson who hunted his own hounds 

 in Devonshire. Lord Brownlow kept this 

 pack at Ashridge until ill health compelled 

 him to give up hunting, and the hounds were 

 removed to the kennels on Berkhampstead 



Common. The grand sport that they showed 

 for several years was enjoyed not only by 

 visitors at Ashridge but by the farmers and 

 hard-riding sportsmen in the Vale of Ayles- 

 bury, some of whom still remember it with 

 pleasure. These harriers were hunted by 

 Rawle up to the year 1867, when they were 

 sold, and Rawle purchased Sir Clifford Con- 

 stable's Staghounds. 



Many other packs of harriers have been 

 kept in Hertfordshire, as for instance Mr. 

 Cheshyre's pack, which was hunted by him 

 for a great number of years in the neighbour- 

 hood of Hertford until 1888, when Mr. Abel 

 H. Smith of Woodhall became master. This 

 country has not been hunted by harriers since 

 he retired, after many successful seasons. 



The Aldenham Harriers, which still exist 

 and hunt the district round St. Albans and 

 Aldenham, were established by Mr. George 

 Gibbs. He was fortunate enough to get on 

 well with the farmers in the Elstree neigh- 

 bourhood, where the best of his country lay. 

 He was succeeded in the mastership by his 

 cousin, Mr. Herbert Gibbs. In 1885 Mr. 

 Herbert Gibbs resigned and presented the 

 hounds to the country. They have since 

 been called the Aldenham Harriers. Mr. 

 Lionel Rickards, one of the editors of the 

 Harrier Stud Book, succeeded as master, and 

 he and his successor, the Hon. C. Bampfylde, 

 brought the pack to such perfection that the 

 champion prize has several times been won 

 at the Peterborough Show with hounds from 

 the Aldenham kennel. The hounds are now 

 hunted by Mr. H. Bailey of Cuckmans, who 

 is very popular with the farmers. Harriers 

 have also been hunted by Mr. Barnes at 

 Rickmansworth, Mr. Heysham at Staganhoe, 

 Mr. Alfred Taylor at Hochrill, Captain Fair- 

 man at Bishop Stortford, Mr. Cox, West 

 Mill, and Mr. Archer at fiendish. 



STAG HUNTING 



There are two packs of Staghounds that 

 hunt in Hertfordshire the Berkhampstead 

 Buckhounds and the Enfield Chase. 



The Berkhampstead Buckhounds were es- 

 tablished in 1870, and were the successors of 

 a well known pack of harriers kept for about 

 twenty years by the late Lord Brownlow at 

 Ashridge, which were much appreciated by 

 the hard riding farmers in the vale of Ayles- 

 bury. Mr. Richard Rawle became huntsman 

 to the Ashridge Harriers, but these hounds 

 were sold in 1867 and were replaced by a 

 pack of Staghounds. The Staghounds and the 



deer were bought from Sir Clifford Constable, 

 and were established at the kennels on Berk- 

 hampstead Common. At first these hounds 

 hunted buck, which were taken to the meet 

 in a crate on a van. The sport became 

 popular in the neighbourhood, and very soon 

 red deer were used for hunting instead of 

 bucks and many very good runs were 

 enjoyed. 



Mr. Richard Rawle, whose quaint figure 

 was well known to all visitors at ' Tattersall's,' 

 became master and hunted the hounds for 

 many years. He still occupies the post of 



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