214 



HISTORY OF THE BRAMHAM MOOR HUNT. 



gentleman hunted the Bramham Moor country, or later when 

 he hunted that country which is now divided between Lord 

 Middleton and the Holderness, I have not been able to 

 ascertain. Indeed, the mention of these heroes of a bv2one 

 day is very infrequent, and the information about them is 

 of the vaguest, whilst a date is scarcely, if ever, to be found. 



Luke Freeman may, however, be mentioned incidentally 

 here, as it is a well-known West Riding name. That he 

 was a good huntsman we have excellent authority, for Tom 

 Grant, who hunted the Goodwood hounds so ably during 

 the latter part of the last and the early years of the present 

 century, speaks of some capital hounds that went from 

 Sir Thomas Gascoigne to Goodwood, and relates that Luke 

 Freeman was an immense weight for a horse to carry, but 

 was a very clever huntsman: — 'As good there might be, 

 'but better, never!' High praise this from a brother pro- 

 fessional. 



The first of Lord Harewood's huntsmen of whom I 

 have been able to learn anything was George Payne, who 

 was many years with the pack, and carried the horn for six 

 or seven seasons. For reasons which I have given in the 

 preface I have been unable to give as many particulars 

 respecting this huntsman as I could wish. That he was not 

 a hound man I think seems to have been pretty generally 

 acknowledged by his contemporaries, though he was ' uncom- 

 ' moh keen.' It was the riding part of the business that came 

 more especially in his line, and it Nimrod is to be believed, 

 he carried his keenness to the verge of rashness. Nimrod, 

 it is true, was a 'superior person' who did not find much 

 eood out of the shires, but that, notwithstandino-, there seems 

 to have been a general concensus of opinion by those 'old 

 ' hands' whose memories have been rubbed up, that as a 

 huntsman Payne was not a conspicuous success. 



Will Bamford, who was the immediate predecessor of 



