A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



favour with many sportsmen, who preferred a 

 brisker chase and a fleeter hound. It would 

 seem that in many parts of Sussex owners of 

 hounds, up to the end of the first quarter of the 

 nineteenth century, and a little later, used to 

 hunt both hare and fox with the same pack. 

 Thus Mr. King Sampson, who had kennels at 

 Hailsham, and may be looked upon as the fore- 

 runner of the Hailsham Harriers, hunted over a 

 great part of the surrounding country, and ran 

 fox as often as he did hare. The Sporting 

 Magazine of February, 1818, has the following 

 note : 



20 February. The hounds of Richard King Samp- 

 son, Esq., threw off at Hindover earths (High and 

 Over, near Alfriston), Sussex, and soon afterwards un- 

 kennelled a fox that led them a most excellent chase 

 to Norton Top, Firle Beacon, Heighton, back again 

 to Norton Top, and Blatchington Down, where rey- 

 nard took a circuitous turn to Bishopstone and the 

 sea, pursuing his course along the beach towards Sea- 

 ford until he was headed, and pressed so hard by the 

 dogs that he turned and sought refuge in Blatchington 

 Barracks, passing through the coal yard into an out- 

 house, where he cunningly leaped into a copper. 

 Unluckily for him it contained water, which prevented 

 his escape, and he was in consequence taken alive, 

 and immediately liberated for his gallantry. But the 

 generosity he experienced from those nearest his 

 brush availed him not, as the dogs soon ran into him 

 and showed him no quarter ; he, however, fell gal- 

 lantly and to the admiration of the whole field. This 

 very excellent and health-giving chase was run with- 

 out a check, with the scent breast high, nearly the 

 whole of the time, in an hour and a half. 



There are many anecdotes still extant con- 

 cerning Mr. King Sampson and his huntsman, 

 John Press, of whom his master often said that 

 there was scarce a bone in his body which he 

 had not broken. Mr. King Sampson himself 

 seems to have been a very ' go as you please ' 

 kind of sportsman. His harriers drew over a 

 very wide country, and where permission was 

 not extended to him, he would, if he knew the 

 owner of the covert was away, take French leave 

 and put his hounds through. Nevertheless he 

 showed excellent sport, and was held in high 

 estimation by the sportsmen and farmers of the 

 surrounding country-side. Another old-fashioned 

 pack of Sussex harriers was that of Mr. Standen, 

 of Silver Hill Farm, near Hastings. ' These 

 hounds," says the Sporting Magazine of 1822, 

 ' are the old Southern sort of hound, very bony 

 and strong, and short in the legs, but very slow ; 

 they have a peculiar deep tongue, and will hunt 

 a very cold scent. The pack consists of twelve 

 couple and a dog. 



Many old-fashioned packs of harriers existed 

 in Sussex during the eighteenth and nineteenth 

 centuries, but it would be impossible to trace 

 their history and achievements here. 



The Brighton and Brookside. These packs 

 were amalgamated in the year 1 903 ; each had 



had a long and interesting career. There was 

 hare hunting near Brighton long before the 

 Brighton Harriers came into existence. There 

 is evidence that the great Dr. Johnson enjoyed a 

 run with harriers near 'Brighthelmston,' as it was 

 then called, in the winter of 1782. He was 

 staying with the Thrales, and it is recorded by 

 a competent witness that 



Thrale, who was the kindest creature on earth to 

 Johnson, and wishing, perhaps, to fortify his health 

 by the pure air of the South Downs, or to present his 

 friends with the view of an anomaly, viz. a poet on 

 horseback, took him with him hare-hunting. The 

 hounds threw off, up started a hare and the sportsmen 

 galloped helter-skelter, ding-dong, after it. Johnson 

 was not the last. Somebody rode up to Thrale and 

 said, ' I'm astonished ! Johnson rides like a young 

 sportsman of twenty.' The philosopher told Thrale 

 ' that he was better pleased with that compliment 

 than any he had ever received.' 



It is uncertain at what date exactly the 

 Brighton Harriers were established, but they were 

 certainly hunting as an organized pack in 1823. 

 The Sporting Magazine for January, 1824, 

 speaks of a meet of the Brighton Subscription 

 Harriers on the preceding 9 December, when ' a 

 brilliant field, including upwards of eighty sports- 

 men, attended.' A hare, found near Stanmer, 

 after a long draw, ran eight miles to Blatchington, 

 and Hangleton, and was run into in the middle of 

 a deep pond near the latter place. The time is 

 given at twenty-eight minutes, which is, of course, 

 far too good to be true. Again, in January, 

 1824, these harriers had a great run of one hour 

 and forty-five minutes without a check. ' The 

 stoutness of the hare may be imagined,' says the 

 chronicler, 



when it is stated that she is computed to have crossed 

 full twenty miles of ground. Sir Robert Wilson, 

 Mr. George Blaker, of Patcham, the huntsman and 

 two or three other sportsmen were the only parties 

 out of a field of seventy, that could get in at the 

 death. One horse was killed. 



In those days the kennels were near the town, 

 on the London Road. The hounds were subse- 

 quently moved to Hove, afterwards to Holling- 

 dean Road. In 1875, during Mr. Dewe's 

 mastership, new kennels at Pyecombe, still used, 

 were built. Among earlier masters, the first 

 known name is that of Mr. Chapman, who had 

 much to do with the establishment of the pack. 

 Mr. Brooke Vallance was master in 1839. 

 Mr. Willard was master of, and hunted, the 

 pack for many years, and at his death Mr. 

 E. H. Hudson took office. To Mr. Hudson 

 succeeded Mr. Bridger Stent, who died in 1870. , 

 Following that gentleman were Mr. Dew6, 

 1870-83; Sir Francis Ford, 1883-7; Mr. 

 Hugh Gorringe a most popular and efficient 

 master 1887-95. Mr. Gorringe bred exten- 

 sively from the neighbouring Brookside kennels. 

 In 1895-6 a committee carried on the hounds. 



450 



