46 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



LORD MIDDLETON 



I must refer to the sixth Lord Middleton imme- 

 diately after alluding to Mr. John Corbet, whom he 

 succeeded as Master of the Warwickshire Hunt. Mr. 

 Corbet's last fixture was February 9, 181 t, and Lord 

 Middleton's first fixture was at Itchington Heath, on 

 February 11, 181 1. The dates are interesting, because 

 Mr. Corbet did not advertise his hounds for sale till the 

 morning of February 9, when Lord Middleton 

 purchased them for 1220 guineas, and hunted them on 

 the nth. Certainly in those days they had a habit of 

 making the coach run, and did not dream of putting 

 on the brake when it was a question of hunting a 

 country. It was a difficult task to succeed Mr. Corbet, 

 but personal popularity and hearty support enabled 

 Lord Middleton to achieve it. In the first place, he 

 was known to be a staunch friend to the farmers, and 

 commenced his reign by giving a dinner to sixty 

 tenant farmers in his country at the " Rising Sun Inn " 

 at Edgehill, while for many years he gave a plate of 

 £<^o, to be run for at Warwick Races. This he stopped 

 at the request of the Jockey Club, owing to the 

 numerous disputes which arose in regard to qualifica- 

 tions. Those of my readers who are students of Turf 

 history know that in the first half of the century it was 

 necessary for an owner to get a certificate from an 

 M.F.H. that his horse had been ridden regularly to 

 hounds before he could run in a hunters' flat race. 



