HUNTING WITH THE COTTESMORE 199 



member for Rutland nearly forty-five years, and 

 latterly father of the House of Commons, Mr. 

 Evan Hanbury's acceptance of the mastership was 

 heralded with delight by all sections of the com- 

 munity, for it was no easy task to find a successor 

 to Mr. W. Baird, whose long reign was remarkable 

 for peace and consistently good sport. No hunt is 

 better done than the Cottesmore, and the new master 

 instituted a faster era of sport, with Arthur Thatcher 

 recalled from the Essex Union. 



Of Arthur Thatcher it was said by a writer 

 signing himself "Vagabond" in Land and Water ^ 

 October 19, 1901, who hunted with Mr. Fernie's : 

 " Few huntsmen have risen so rapidly to fame as 

 Thatcher, who comes of a family of huntsmen and 

 whippers-in. What brought him to notice was his 

 great opportunity in the year 1896, when he was 

 twenty-six years old, after eight years' service as 

 second whipper-in with Lord Middleton's and Mr. 

 Fernie's hounds. His fine qualities as a horseman 

 had become plain before then to observing eyes ; the 

 good horses on which Mr. Fernie mounts his men 

 helped to perfect a natural aptitude, for no fence 

 would stop him when he was wanted to turn hounds. 

 It was, then, as a matter of course that he suc- 

 ceeded to the place of first whipper-in, which was 

 vacated by the promotion of Kinch to be huntsman 

 to the Atherstone. Early in the season Charles 

 Isaac, Mr. Fernie's huntsman, was laid by with an 

 attack of pneumonia, and Thatcher was called upon 

 to hunt the hounds. In spite of bad scent, absence 

 of the master, and other difficulties, Thatcher showed 

 excellent sport. 



" In 1898 an opportunity offered for promotion 

 with the Essex Union, and also for the gaining of 

 additional experience. There is no doubt that a 



