SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



during Colonel Gilbey's mastership are worthy of 

 record : 30 November, 1895, from the Fir Planta- 

 tion between Wooburn and Dropmore, over the 

 Hall Barn estate through Burke's Grove to Hodge- 

 moor and Rogers Wood ending with a kill in 

 the open near Coleshill. 18 February, 1896, 

 from Warren Wood, Little Marlow, through High 

 Heavens, Moor Wood, past Parmoor across the 

 Hambleden Valley, through the Greenlands and 

 Fawley Woods. Near Pishill the fox was headed 

 and hounds hunted back to Skirmett, eventually 

 losing the line near Parmoor. The extreme points 

 of this run were 8 miles, and the distance may 

 have been double as hounds ran. 21 Decem- 

 ber, 1898, from Coombe Hill through the 

 Scrubs nearly to Wendover, turning back along 

 the foothills by Chequers Court to the Box Wood, 

 past Whiteleaf Cross through the Hillocks at 

 Hampden, over the G.W. Railway up Lodge Hill 

 and lost at Radnage. This was a hunting run of 

 two hours, the extreme points being 9 miles, 

 but far more as hounds ran. 20 January, 1899, 

 meeting at Gerrards Cross, hounds found in 

 Siblets Wood and ran by Gold Hill, Orche Hill, 

 across Chalfont Park, by Horn Hill, Bottom 

 Wood, Heron's Gate, West Hyde, Philipshill 

 Pollards Wood, to Amersham, where they killed 

 the fox in the churchyard. Time, two hours, 

 seven minutes. From Siblets to West Hyde is 

 4 miles, and West Hyde to Amersham is 7 miles. 

 Hounds covered 1 8 miles. 



On Lowman's death in the summer of 1900, 

 W. Haines from the Woodland Pytchley came as 

 huntsman. Colonel Gilbey gave up in the spring 

 of 1902, and was succeeded by Mr. W. Tyrwhitt 

 Drake of Shardeloes, who reinstated the old 

 kennels there. 



After one season Mr. Drake retired, and was 

 succeeded in 1903 by Mr. Robert Leadbetter of 

 Hazlemere Park, High Wycombe, who erected 

 new kennels on his estate. To compensate for 

 the growing difficulty of hunting the more 

 populous southern part of the country Mr. Lead- 

 better has successfully opened up the corner of 

 Aylesbury Vale which lies between the Chiltern 

 Hills and Hart well, and good sport is now ob- 

 tained in that district which had previously been 

 very short of foxes. 



THE WHADDON CHASE 



The country known as the Whaddon Chase 

 has been hunted by the Selby Lowndes family 

 since the latter end of the eighteenth century, 

 when it formed part of the Duke of Grafton's 

 territory and was lent to Mr. Selby Lowndes. 

 As an independent country the Whaddon Chase 

 dates from the autumn of 1842,' when the duke 

 sold his hounds to Mr. Assheton Smith ; Mr. Selby 

 Lowndes, who was a great admirer of the famous 

 huntsman George Carter, engaged Dickins, who 



J. M. K. Elliott, Fifty TearS foxhunting. 



had turned hounds to Carter, as his kennel hunts- 

 man and whipper in, carrying the horn himself. 

 His kennels were at Whaddon Hall, the family 

 residence, and as he had somewhat unorthodox 

 ideas concerning the shape of a hound, he soon 

 got a pack together. Mr. Lowndes held it not 

 essential that a hound should be very straight, 

 maintaining that those deficient in this respect 

 lasted longer. His theory on this point may have 

 been right or wrong, but there can be no doubt 

 that the pack showed excellent sport and killed 

 their foxes. 



For eleven seasons Mr. Selby Lowndes hunted 

 the Whaddon Chase country; in 1853 it became 

 necessary to restore it to the Grafton, then under 

 the mastership of Lord Southampton, that he 

 might accept the invitation tendered him to hunt 

 the North Warwickshire country which had de- 

 pended upon the attentions of neighbouring 

 masters since Mr. Wilson's resignation in 1845. 

 Mr. Selby Lowndes hunted the North Warwick- 

 shire until 1855 when he went to the Atherstone, 

 in succession to Col. Anstruther Thomson : and 

 after four seasons here returned in 1859 to Buck- 

 inghamshire. The death of Lady Southampton 

 in the autumn of 1 860 caused Lord Southamp- 

 ton practically to give up hunting, and Mr. Selby 

 Lowndes resumed his own country, hunting it 

 with his own pack ; and since that date the Whad- 

 don Chase has remained uninterruptedly in the 

 hands of the family whose property forms no 

 inconsiderable proportion of the hunt territory. 

 In 1 862 Lord Southampton resigned the master- 

 ship of the Grafton, and Mr. Selby Lowndes 

 purchased his pack. He retained the bitch hounds, 

 sending the Whittlebury dog pack to be dis- 

 posed of at TattersalPs. With his new pack he 

 showed exceptionally good sport; the country 

 acquired a great reputation and the meets on 

 Tuesday and Saturday brought large numbers of 

 sportsmen from the surrounding country. The 

 Vale of Aylesbury, a large portion of which is em- 

 braced by the Whaddon Chase boundaries, is, as 

 a general rule, excellent scenting country; in 

 some parts the land is deep during the winter, 

 and does not carry stock ; an advantage to hounds, 

 but trying to horses ; only a well mounted man 

 can hope to live with the pack when they run 

 on the low grounds. In the 'seventies Mr. Selby 

 Lowndes hunted three days a week ; though not 

 a hard rider, his intimate knowledge of the country 

 and of the ways of foxes enabled him to keep 

 near his hounds, and he was always at hand if 

 they needed his assistance. His bitches were a very 

 fast pack, as they had need to be, for the Whaddon 

 Chase field was noted for ' thrusting * qualities. 

 As the master did not breed sufficient hounds at 

 home for each season's entry, the strength was 

 maintained by purchase; the Fitzwilliam draft 

 was taken for many years, ' and very good they 

 were,' says Mr. Elliott. It was in 1875 that he 

 made over the horn to Edmund Bentley, who 



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