CHAPTER VII 



JOHN WHIDBORNE: FIRST MASTERSHIP 1851-56 



Piirchase of hounds from Sir Henry Seale — Limits of country defined by 

 Whidbome in a letter to Dr. Gaye : from the Exe to the Dart and from 

 Exeter to Totnes — Business occupations — Previously master of harriers — 

 Kennels at Buddleford, Teignmouth — Churchward and Babbage — The 

 pack called the " South Devon " — Extent and varied character of country 

 — A long chase — Visits North Devon : quaint accoimt of a rvm — Mr. 

 Whidbome's retirement : a presentation. 



" They talked of dangers past and days to come ; 

 And, as around the mantling claret passed. 

 Drank to new joys more rapturous than the last." 



(A Day at Ashbury. By Geo. Templer.) 



IT was in the year 1851 that Mr. Whidborne took 

 over the mastership of the South Devon Hounds, ^ 

 the greater part of his pack consisting of hounds 

 purchased from his predecessor, Sir Henry Seale. 



The country then forming the South Devon 

 country was thus defined by Mr. Whidborne -^ 

 " Throughout my first term of mastership I always 

 considered that the South Devon country embraced 

 the whole tract between the rivers Exe and Dart, 

 from Exeter to Totnes, and running north-westward 

 in the direction of and out over Dartmoor to, at 

 least, the main road leading from Two Bridges to 

 Moretonhampstead, Dunsford and Exeter ; and I 

 believe that it in fact extended far beyond that road, 

 as there was no other established pack of foxhounds 

 hunting any part of that country ; and until Mr. 



J Letter from Mr. Whidbome to Dr. Gaye, dated 7th April, 1-S90. 



86 



