HISTORY OF THE KILDARE HUNT 



by which he was known among them, " the bould 

 Hanaway." Nothing ever daunted William. He met 

 all the troubles resulting from his thriftless farming, 

 his dare-devil recklessness in riding, and a persistent 

 ill-luck in his racing affairs with a smiling face, and 

 this courage, combined with a priceless sense of 

 humour, which enabled him to see fun in the worst 

 of his misfortunes, enabled him to preserve a youth- 

 ful spirit to the end of his life. 



Hanway was constantly to be seen with the Kil- 

 dare hounds but seldom on the same mount, for he 

 was usually making some rough youngster into a 

 hunter by the process of killing or curing. But his 

 fame with the country people rests more on his per- 

 formance as a steeple chaserider. He was the hero 

 of most of the farmers' races and open entries in 

 Ireland for nearly half a century. No one knew where 

 he got his horses, some no doubt were bought for a 

 few pounds, some may have been the property of 

 others. In any case, he always found plenty of 

 horses to hunt, and he was ever to be reckoned 

 with in the sportsmen's races for the Kildare 

 farmers, which he practically farmed himself. He 

 was almost as well known in such events at Punches- 

 town, the Ward Hunt meeting at Fairy House, and 

 was a popular hero on other steeplechase courses 

 all over the island. 



Many of his mounts had most of the vices 



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