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CHAPTER XII. 



Some Old Supporters. 



By soldier and civilian has the York and Ainsty Hunt been 

 loyally supported ever since the White House became the 

 home of the pack. To write a history of all their gallant 

 deeds woukl fill a small library ; in the space at command 

 it is impossible to do justice to the subject. 



Prominent amongst the early supporters of the hunt, as 

 indeed he was amongst the sportsmen of his generation, was 

 Sir Bellingham Graham, of Norton Conyers. Sir Bellingham 

 Graham soon took the reins of office, and was alternately 

 master of the Badsworth, the Atherstone, the Pytchley, the 

 Ouorn, the Hambledon and the Shropshire. Sir Bellingham 

 also patronised racing a little, and in 1816 he won the 

 St. Leger with Duchess, beating a large field. 



It is, however, as a hunting man that Sir Bellingham 

 will be remembered, and perhaps no better heavy weight 

 ever rode over Leicestershire. He always hunted his own 

 hounds, and was a eood huntsman as well as a fine horseman. 

 Nimrod writes of him that 'he was intent and earnest in his 

 pursuit, and without unnecessary harshness ; but the result 

 of his sportsmanlike conduct was that no man kept his field 



