CHAPTER V 

 MR JOHN LA TOUCHE, 1841-1846 



I AM left again without even such guidance as 

 was forthcoming from the old minute book, 

 which, after a broken and halting story of the 

 proceedings of the Kildare Hunt Club during 

 thirty-four years, ends incontinently in 1838, 

 three years before Sir John Kennedy resigned the 

 hounds. It is known, however, that Sir John, like 

 his predecessor. Sir Fenton Aylmer, generously 

 presented the pack to the Hunt, the destinies of 

 which now passed into the guidance of another 

 notable family of Kildare sportsmen, the La 

 Touches of Harris town. 



This family was at the time represented by Mr 

 John La Touche, who succeeded Sir John Ken- 

 nedy as Master of the Kildare Hounds, and was the 

 elder of three brothers, all noted as men devoted 

 to the sport. Mr John La Touche himself was a 

 good if not a dashing rider, and had other qualities 

 which made him a very successful master; his twin 



150 



