174 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



In his modesty, Mr. Tanner tells me that his tenure 

 of the mastership was neither long nor eventful 

 enough to demand recognition. It is clear that it 

 would have been longer had he received anything 

 like adequate support, for after his resignation he 

 continued to hunt for several years with a private 

 pack of his own a country composed of loans from 

 the Dartmoor and South Devon extending, roughly 

 speaking, from Buckfastleigh to Princetown and from 

 Cator to the river Avon. Mr. Tanner built kennels 

 at Hawson Court. He hunted the pack himself until 

 he broke his jaw in a fall on the last day of the year 

 1886, and his kennel-huntsman and whipper-in, 

 Churchward, then took command until the end of the 

 season. Of the sport shewn while the pack was a 

 private one, three runs call for mention, viz. Shear 

 Wood to ground at Ivybridge Viaduct ; Langamarsh 

 to Tavy Cleave ; and Huntingdon Warren to Fox 

 Tor and Rippon Tor. Mr. Augustus Hingston of 

 Totnes acted as honorary secretary during Mr. 

 Tanner's brief spell of office as master of the South 

 Devon. 



No sign of any successor to Mr. Tanner being forth- 

 coming by the month of June, 1879, Mr. Ross, who 

 was still living in the country, volunteered to hunt 

 the Newton side. After some negotiations, he was 

 appointed master without any guarantee, the com- 

 mittee undertaking to do its best to beat up sub- 

 scriptions. These terms were renewed in the ensuing 

 two seasons. 



During this, his second term of office, Mr. Ross 

 lived and kennelled his hounds at Ambrook, near 

 Ipplepen. In the table of hunts in Baily's Magazine, 

 the master is stated to be huntsman, but whatever 

 may have been the intention before the season began, 



