SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



deer was the animal usually selected for the 

 chase. At the end of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury three hounds were sent from Keswick to 

 Hertfordshire, but after the first run two of 

 them were found to be missing, and were 

 next heard of at Keswick. This proves that 

 hunting was indulged in at that period on 

 the west side of Cumberland. 



In the eighteenth century "Squire" Hasell 

 kept hounds at Dalemain which were fox- 

 hounds by name, but which would in point 

 of fact hunt the deer or the fox. At the 

 commencement of the following century the 

 last two stags in Winfell and Inglewood 

 forests were captured ; and although there 

 were stags then in Martindale, as there still 

 are to-day, it was practically the end of stag- 

 hunting ; hounds were amalgamated, and the 

 first pack of Cumberland foxhounds was es- 

 tablished. These hounds were taken by 

 Major Colomb of Armathwaite, who was a 

 painter as well as a sportsman ; but as he kept 

 no diary himself the newspapers of that time 

 are the only records. The late Sir Henry 

 Howard often related his experience with 

 those hounds under Major Colomb when they 

 hunted Dumfriesshire as well as Cumberland, 

 often going, as he told us, into Dumfriesshire 

 with the hounds for a fortnight at a time. 

 There are some pictures now at Greystoke 

 Castle painted by Major Colomb. On his 

 retirement in 1831 Mr. Hasell (who had been 

 hunting privately during the Major's master- 

 ship) again took the hounds. And it was at 

 this period that the name of ' Inglewood Fox- 

 hounds ' was substituted for ' Cumberland 

 Foxhounds ' and the Dumfriesshire country 

 was given up. 



Shortly after Mr. Hasell's retirement the 

 Inglewood hounds disappeared ; I think the 

 year given is 1839. They were sold, it 

 is said, at a low price. During this time 

 several packs of harriers had been advertised 

 to hunt in Cumberland ; the principal pack 

 was the Carlisle harriers which was kept near 

 Carlisle for some time, and when the Ingle- 

 wood Foxhounds ceased to exist, they were 

 turned into foxhounds. Later they were 

 taken by Captain Ferguson, who turned them 

 again into staghounds, and in order to procure 

 stags went off to Scotland and captured three 

 stags and two hinds from Lord Galloway's 

 forest. On Captain Ferguson's retirement 

 these hounds were taken by Colonel Salkeld 

 of Holm Hill, who kept them at his own 

 expense. While under his mastership foxes 

 were hunted during the first part of the sea- 

 son and stags during the latter, but on Colonel 

 Salkeld's retirement in 1849 tne noun cls were 

 given by him to Dumfriesshire. This brings 



us to John Peel, who had for some time pre- 

 vious been hunting the western country. 



I have talked with several people who 

 hunted with this famous sportsman, although 

 I believe it to be true that many still think 

 John Peel had almost a pre-historic existence. 

 As a matter of fact he died as lately as 1854,* 

 having hunted in some form or another for 

 over forty years. As I said before, there are 

 now several men in Cumberland who followed 

 him and his hounds. They have narrated to 

 me their recollections of the familiar figure : 

 the blue-grey coat with its brass buttons, the 

 white beaver hat and choker tie, the knee 

 breeches, which were joined by a pair of long 

 stockings, and then, most curious of all, the 

 fact that he always wore shoes, to one only 

 of which a spur was attached. No truer 

 sportsman ever lived ; for over forty years 

 John Peel hunted his hounds. He has been 

 immortalized in verse and song, and the ro- 

 mance and halo with which his name is sur- 

 rounded will last as long as hunting remains 

 the national sport of this country. John 

 Peel was a statesman (the northern definition 

 of a yeoman) living in Caldbeck village, and 

 from there he hunted the west of Cumberland, 

 and, as Matthew Graves tells us, ' no wile of 

 a fox or a hare could evade his scrutiny.' 



In 1850 Mr. Lawson, the present Sir 

 Wilfrid Lawson, joined John Peel, keeping a 

 few hounds of his own, the hounds often 

 hunting together ; and in 1858, after the death 

 of the old sportsman, Mr. Lawson became 

 the possessor of the entire pack of hounds, 

 and of these were formed the second and 

 present pack of 'Cumberland Foxhounds,' 

 although they were not formally named as 

 such until 1859. 



The first records I can find of the doings 

 of this pack are in the hunting diaries, the 

 first of which runs as follows : ' November 

 12, 1850. Found two or three foxes. Ran 

 one to Vitey's house and lost him in the wood 

 again.' Again, ' November 22. Along with 

 Peel's hounds drew Isel blank, found at 

 Mumberson's, and ran him to ground in the 

 earth at Isel with only three couples of 

 hounds. Grand scent.' These records of 

 each day were kept with great regularity. In 

 February 1856 Mr. Lawson recounts that 

 ' as they arrived at Westward, Peel's hounds 

 ran a fox which they had found in Denton 

 Side into the lower wood.' It would appear 



1 The inscription on his headstone in Caldbeck 

 churchyard is as follows : ' In memory of John 

 Peel of Ruthwaite, who died Nov. 13, 1854, aged 

 78 years.' The symbols of his craft are duly 

 emblazoned on the monument. 



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