MR. DAVENPORT'S MASTERSHIP. 13 



engaged himself to Mr. Shaw, of Cliffe House, near Tam- 

 worth, who was hunting the Atherstone country. 



While he was with Mr. Shaw he met with the terrible 

 accident that caused him so much suffering in after-life. 

 He slipped with one leg into a boiling copper, and the 

 effects of the fearful scalding increasing as he advanced 

 in age, it was at last deemed advisable that his leg should 

 be amputated below the knee, which was done on 

 November 18th, 1855. Even this, however, did not 

 stop his hunting, and he managed to ride and fulfil the 

 duties of huntsman for seven more seasons by means 

 of a cleverly contrived cork leg, and an arrangement 

 whereby it was held to the saddle and yet would become 

 free in case of an accident. In 1832 Joe Maiden had 

 transferred his services from Mr. Shaw to Sir Harry 

 Mainwaring, then the master of the Cheshire. 



After Sir Harry's retirement, in 1837, Maiden continued 

 as huntsman with the Cheshire till 1844, when he took 

 the Blue Cap Inn at Sandiway Head. After two years 

 the old hunting instincts proved too strong, and he 

 returned to harness as huntsman to Mr. Davenport in 

 1846. He did not long survive his final retirement, in 

 1863, but died October 20th, 1864. Warburton, speaking 

 of Maiden's tenure of ofiice with the Cheshire Hounds, 

 says that as a huntsman he had never seen his equal, and 

 that he was, moreover, as pleasant a companion to ride 

 home with after a run as any gentleman could desire. 

 On Maiden's retirement, Mr. Davenport passed on the 

 horn to Tom Atkinson, who had been first whip for about 

 fifteen years. He was a first-rate rider, and very bad to 

 beat across country. As a whip he was excellent, but was 

 not so successful as a huntsman. Mr. Davenport often 

 took the horn himself, both in Maiden's and Atkinson's 

 time ; in fact, for some years when the former was 

 huntsman he regularly hunted one pack himself. We 

 must, however, now hark back to the period when Mr. 

 William Davenport commenced his hunting career. As 

 far back as the time that Mr. Wicksted was hunting the 



