THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



members in succession for thirty-four years. But trouble was 

 to come over this representation. Lord William Manners, the 

 second son of the second Duke and of Katherine, daughter 

 of Lord William Russell, the patriot, bought the Manor of 

 Grantham and rebuilt the Grange. He was succeeded by his 

 son John, and he again by his son Sir William Manners, a 

 perverse and troublesome person who quarrelled about the 

 borough with his kinsman, the fifth Duke. The cause of the 

 quarrel was that Sir William considered he was entitled to at 

 least one seat for Grantham, but had only once been able to 

 carry his candidate against the Duke's man. Not only did 

 this amiable relation warn off the hounds from his own lands, 

 but he incited some of the farmers to bring actions against 

 the Duke, and in 1810 the latter had no less than thirty-five 

 actions for trespass brought against him at the summer 

 assizes. This was too much, and the Duke compromised 

 matters by allowing Sir William to return a member. 



So Sir William got his way, and the Grantham people got 

 their hunting. This is a pleasure to which the residents of that 

 town have ever been ardently devoted from very early days. 

 One of the leading names in the latter part of the period 

 I have called " the golden age " was Mr. Hardy, the banker, 

 one of the hardest riders and best stayers of the day. If a 

 run was long and severe, Mr. Hardy was sure to be one of 

 those who got to the end. " He knew how to go and when 

 to go." Keen and good are the other Grantham men, such 

 as Colonel Parker, Mr. Edgar Lubbock, and the members of 

 the family of Hornsby, who have done so much of late years 

 for the town of Grantham and the cause of hunting. The 

 Hornsbys have a love and knowledge of sport of all kinds, so 

 that there is generally at least one representative of the 

 family present when hounds are within reach. They love 

 coaching too, and Mr. Hornsby, of Barrowby Grange, is a 

 supporter of polo, the natural summer recreation of the 

 hunting man. 



Those who live in the country houses round Grantham have 

 always been friendly rivals of the men of the town over the 

 stiff Lincolnshire fences. At Boothby Hall, now the resi- 



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