ME. DAVENPORT'S MASTERSHIP. 27 



louder, a clear, long blast would rouse every heart, and 

 merrily indeed the Hunt would sweep along. Miss Daven- 

 port (now Lady Manningham Buller) had two favourite 

 horses in Governor and Monarch ; Arthur was another, 

 ridden by Miss D. E. Davenport ; and Henry Davenport 

 had such horses as the Slasher, on which he won the Christ 

 Church grind in 1866, Monck and Alphaeus, and many 

 more good ones. The fine stud of horses (upwards of 

 thirty) was under the charge of Wm. Gething, the stud 

 groom, who was with Mr. Davenport all the years of his 

 mastership, and no man could turn horses out in finer 

 condition or doctor the sick ones better than he could. 

 Wm. Berkshire, who was head man under Gething, rode 

 second horse to the Master, and here again one saw the 

 right man, and always in the right place. Instinct seemed 

 to tell him the shortest way to go, so that the second 

 horse was fresh for the afternoon. In these old Maer 

 days, foxes and pheasants had to live together, and with 

 such keepers as Billy Tatton and " Old Bull," as he was 

 called, they knew well how to keep both in plenty for 

 both Nimrods and Ramrods. At the close of Mr. Daven- 

 port's time, his son Henry acted as Master ; and it was at 

 this time (1868) that a committee was formed to take over 

 the poultry claims and earth-stopping. The committee 

 consisted of E. T. W. Wood, Tom Cartlich, James Boote, 

 Joseph Cooper, E. Kendrick, George Swift, with Reginald 

 N. Wood as hon. secretary. In that year a subscription 

 was raised of £205 for the purpose of paying poultry 

 claims. Of late, owing to the extra cost of hunting, this 

 sum is more than doubled. 



The Covert Fund Committee, only very largely in- 

 creased in number, and consisting mostly of the leading 

 farmers of the country, has continued up to the present 

 time to work much on the same lines as formerly, the 

 country being divided into districts, and each member 

 takes a certain area in which he resides, so that he is 

 personally acquainted with those claims which come before 

 the committee. 



