SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



guarantee to Mr. Hall the payment of a sum not 

 exceeding Three Hundred Pounds per annum, for the 

 above purpose. 



J. Lee Lee, M.P. W. F. Knatchbull W. C. Medlycott 

 J. Goodden H. F. Yeatman R. C. Tudway 



J. N. Quantock J. T. Tatchell Jas. Bennett 



A. Tooke Robt. Leach Thos. Cave 



G. Midlane Sealy Bridge R. Leach 



J. Andrews 

 That whereas a very liberal offer has been made on 

 the part of E. B. Portman, Esq. to surrender his claims 

 to the covers of Inwood, Caundle Brake, Stalbridge 

 Park, Frith Wood, and Fifehead Copse (as neutral 

 covers) provided that Mr. Hall permit Mr. Portman 

 to draw Stock Wood, Rooksmoor, and Thornhill Copse, 

 when, and as often as it suits his (Mr. Portman's) con- 

 venience ; resolved, that in the opinion of this meet- 

 ing it is desirable that such exchange of covers should 

 take place ; it being to be understood that the whole 

 of the Blackmoor Vale country including Stock Wood, 

 Rooksmoor, and Thornhill Copse is vested in Mr. Hall, 

 and that this arrangement is now entered into on the 

 part of Mr. Hall, as a matter of accommodation to 

 Mr. Portman ; and it is further agreed that Mr. Hall 

 shall be at liberty to draw Stock Wood, Rooksmoor, and 

 Thornhill Copse, in each year in the months of Novem- 

 ber and February, on the condition that heaccommo- 

 d:Ues Mr. Portman with a day's sport in the Annis 

 Hill and Cherton Wood Country, in the months of 

 November and February aforesaid ; and that this 

 arrangement is to be binding as long only as Mr. Port- 

 man keeps his fox-hounds ; at the expiration of which 

 period the whole of the aforesaid covers shall revert to 



Signed, H. F. Yeatman, Chairman. 



Resolved, that the cordial thanks of this meeting be 

 given to Mr. Yeatman for his able and impartial 

 conduct in the chair. g.^^^^^ ^_ ^ Medlycott. 



The importance of this document to the 

 county appears from another dated 1853 at the 

 beginning of the dispute with Mr. Farquharson, 

 which lasted until 1858, when Mr. Farquharson 

 gave up the whole country, Mr. Digby of Sher- 

 borne Castle, Lord Portman, and other landowners, 

 having joined in putting pressure upon him to 

 give up a portion of his immense territory. 



At a 



Meeting of the Members 



of the 



BLACKMORE VALE HUNT, 



Holden by adjournment at Wincanton, on Monday, 



the 1 6th day of May, 1853. 



The Hon. Col. Boyle, M.P., in the Chair. 



It was unanimously resolved, — 



That this meeting has heard with very great sur- 

 prise, through the medium of a letter addressed by 

 J. J. Farquharson, Esq., to Lord Dungarvan, G. 

 Whieldon, Esq., and Captain Stanley, joint masters of 

 the Blackmoor Vale Fox-hounds, that he (Mr. Far- 

 quharson) considers that Inwood, Caundle Brake, and 

 everything within that line, as belonging to his 

 country, and that he has Sir Hugh Hoare's permission 

 to consider the Stourhead covers the same. 



It appearing to this meeting, beyond all doubt, 

 that this newly made claim of Mr. Farquharson's can 



only be considered as adverse to the very existence of 

 the Blackmoor Vale Fox-hounds, and to the efficient 

 hunting of those covers in Dorset, Somerset, and 

 Wiltshire, which they have occupied uninterruptedly 

 from 1826 down to the date of Mr. Farquharson's 

 letter of the 21st of April, 1853, it being certain — 



First, that Mr. Farquharson voluntarily resigned and 

 gave up the above recited covers, when the Black- 

 moor Vale Fox-hounds were established in 1826, 

 from which distant period down to the date of his 

 present claim of the 21st of April aforesaid, and for 

 twenty-seven years in succession, Mr. Farquharson 

 never made a demand for the restitution of these 

 covers, either by application to the Blackmoor Vale 

 committee of management, who were appointed in 

 1834 to conduct the affairs and business of the B.V. 

 Hunt, or by any application to the honorary secre- 

 tary of the said committee, or by any application to 

 any master of the Blackmoor Vale Fox-hounds, in so 

 far as the records of the Blackmoor Vale Hunt will 

 furnish information ; whilst, secondly, it appears 

 certain that during the above twenty-seven seasons, 

 Mr. Farquharson has never drawn with his fox-hounds 

 any one or more of the above covers he now claims, 

 nor exercised any one right or privilege so as to shew 

 that he had not abandoned these covers, which he 

 now lays claim to ; it being also certain according to 

 the law and usages of fox-hunting, that Mr. Farquhar- 

 son can have no right or title to the above recited 

 covers ; in proof and confirmation of which, it has 

 been laid down by an ex-master of fox-hounds of 

 very long standing, and who is now a standard 

 writer of authority on the law of fox-hunting (See 

 the work of Scrutator, page 1 24), that covers may 

 become lapsed by any master discontinuing to draw 

 them for seven years, or by his allowing another 

 pack to hunt them without remonstrance and inter- 

 ference for that period — in these cases the master of 

 an adjoining pack, with the consent of proprietors, 

 m.iy take possession of these covers, and they will 

 become an integral part of his country — 



It is therefore resolved, for these and other 

 reasons, to reject the claims so unexpectedly preferred 

 by Mr. Farquharson, and to request and encourage the 

 Blackmoor Vale committee of management to con- 

 tinue to keep possession of the said covers thus claimed 

 by Mr. F., and to do so in accordance with the 

 powers vested in them by the resolution of the B.V. 

 Hunt, recorded and published in years 1834, 1837, 

 and 1 840, when it was resolved from time to time 

 at public meetings of the Blackmoor Vale Hunt, 

 that the Blackmoor Vale country, as a consoli- 

 dated country (and including the very covers now 

 claimed by Mr. Farquharson), should be vested in a 

 committee of management, as an entire country, to 

 be holden in trust for the members of the Blackmoor 

 Vale Hunt. 



That the thanks of this meeting be given to the 

 chairman, for his able conduct in the chair. 

 (Signed) Robert Boyle, 



Chairman. 



With the resignation in 1859 of Mr. Far- 

 quharson came a readjustment of the country, and 

 the Blackmore Vale hunt enlarged its borders, 

 whilst some country was handed over to Lord 

 Portman on the one hand and to Lord Poltimore 

 on the other for the Cattistock hunt. 



305 



39 



