222 THE NEW FOREST 



found itself in a similar predicament, Mr. Henry 

 Francis Compton, the descendant and successor in 

 title of the M.F.H. of 1800, came forward in 

 the same manner, and, being elected by acclama- 

 tion to the position of master, carried the New 

 Forest Hunt over its difficulties, and conducted 

 its operations with success equal to any of the 

 best of his predecessors. 



It was a rather curious thing that in both 

 cases the head of the Compton family should come 

 forward to relieve the Hunt in its troubles, the 

 more so perhaps that during the hundred years' 

 interval between these two occasions, no other 

 lord of Minstead acted as M.F.H. 



Mr. Compton continued as master until 1905, 

 when he was succeeded, for a second term, by Mr. 

 Henry Martin Powell. In 1907 Mr. Walter Gaze- 

 no ve brought his skill and experience to bear, 

 first, on breeding a high-class pack, and next in 

 showing good sport, in the most genial fashion. 



When he retired, Mr. John Cooke Hurle, who 

 had previously hunted the Dartmoor country, 

 took the hounds jointly with his brother Major 

 Cooke Hurle, the latter of whom I left in posses- 

 sion when I bid the Forest and hunting a 

 sorrowful farewell in 1914, though at that junc- 

 ture Major Cooke Hurle was summoned to the 

 war with the Territorial Regiment he now com- 



