THE REV. ROBERT SYMONDS 49 



February. Twice at Bis'ter with Ward's hounds. 



(Mr. John Warde, the founder of the Bicester hunt, 

 was a very celebrated hunting character at the end 

 of the i8th and beginning of the 19th centuries. In 

 1772 he kept hounds in Normandy, in the forest of 

 Rouen, where he resided one year. On his return to 

 England he kept hounds at Squerries, his place in 

 Kent. In 1776 he moved the hounds to Yattenden, 

 in Berkshire, where he had his kennel. He, himself, 

 living at Frilsham near. Here he hunted regularly 

 until 1778, when he bought the pack of foxhounds 

 belonging to the Hon. Captain Peregrine Bertie, R.N. 

 After this he hunted a part of the season in Berk- 

 shire, and a part, from Weston-on-the-Green, Oxford- 

 shire, where he also had kennels. In 1781 he 

 removed to Baynton, near Bicester, where he built 

 a kennel and stables, and thus laid the foundation of 

 the " Bicester " hunt. In May, 1798, Mr. Ward gave 

 up the Bicester country, and took the Althorp and 

 Pytchley, making his residence at Boughton Hall, 

 where he built kennels. He left Boughton Hall in 

 1806, for Great Harrowden, near Wellingborough, 

 the seat of Lord Fitzwilliam, where he also built a 

 kennel. In 1808 he gave up the Pytchley, selling his 

 hounds to Lord Althorp, for i^iooo reserving two or 

 three couples of favourite brood bitches, from which 

 he established another pack. In the spring of 1808 

 he went to the New Forest, buying some hounds 

 from Captain Cooke who hunted in Suffolk. He 

 hunted in the New Forest until 1814, when rabies 

 broke out and deprived him of 42 couples of hounds. 

 In 1814 he took the Craven country and purchased 

 the Manor House of Hungerford, where he again 

 built a Kennel. He hunted the Craven until 1826 

 when he had a severe illness and sold his hounds to 

 Mr. Horlock, who hunted in Wilts.) 



Septr. 1 2th. Hunted first time with the Harriers 

 4 



