SPORT 



Mr. P. G. Barthropp came next and con- 

 tinued till 1902, when Mr. Lake and Mr. 

 ArcoU became joint masters. At the end 

 of the 1904-5 season the arrangement came to 

 an end, the hounds being sold at Rugby in 

 May 1905. The Hundred of Hoo country 

 is therefore still vacant and seems likely to 

 remain so unless the West Kent pack reverts 

 to the old order of things once more. 



STAGHOUNDS 



The earliest form of the chase adopted in 

 Kent, as elsewhere in the once thickly wooded 

 parts of England, was stag-hunting. This, 

 of course, is only natural, for the country 

 was ready made for it, whereas for hare- 

 hunting or fox-hunting there was far too 

 much wood until the slow march of civiliza- 

 tion began to leave its mark in the numerous 

 spaces cleared for the cultivation of crops. 



Several references to South of England 

 stag-hunting in the thirteenth century are 

 to be discovered, and from them one gathers 

 that in those early days the chase was chiefly 

 in favour with the clergy. Henry HI seems 

 to have been particularly gracious in granting 

 leave to notable divines to hunt in the royal 

 forests, and, if all we read is true, the privilege 

 was very much abused. Hunting was cer- 

 tainly not nearly as popular with the masses 

 then as it is to-day for many reasons, and it 

 was urged against the clergy in particular that 

 they became so intoxicated with the delights 

 of the chase that they did practically nothing 

 except hunt. Thus we read that Walter de 

 Merton, Bishop of Rochester (i 274-1 277) 

 devoted his life to stag-hunting, and, accord- 

 ing to Strutt, was an ' an excellent hunter, but 

 so fond of the sport that at the age of fourscore 

 he made hunting his sole employment, to 

 the total neglect of the duties of his office.' 



An even earlier reference to stag-hunting 

 in Kent is to be found in a paper contributed 

 to the Sporting Magazine for January 1793 

 under the head of 'A curious Account of the 

 Sports and Pastimes of the Londoners in the 

 reign of Henry H, by William Fitzstephen, 

 a Monk.' After an elaborate account of the 

 various holiday sports of the period, the 

 writer concludes : — 



Many citizens take delight in birds, as spairows 

 and hawks, gosshawks, and such like ; and in dogs 

 to hunt in the woody grounds. The citizens have 

 authority to hunt in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, all 

 the Chilterns, and in Kent, as far as Grays-water. 



In Kent, as elsewhere, the earlier methods 

 of stag-hunting were of a very rough-and- 

 ready character, and the hounds employed 



must have been very rough-and-ready too. 

 Nearly every squire in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century, when hunting seems to 

 have come generally into favour with every 

 one, had his three or four couple of hounds 

 with which he used to hunt anything that 

 he could find — stag, fox, or hare. Some- 

 times these odd couples belonging to different 

 owners would combine, and thus, no doubt, 

 began the custom of kennelling hounds on 

 the ' trencher-fed ' system, which still exists 

 in several parts of England. Probably there 

 were dozens of packs in every county con- 

 ducted on these lines, but none of them, of 

 course, was organized in the same way as at 

 present. 



A rather gruesome reference to one of 

 these establishments is made in an issue of 

 the Sporting Magazineinij^l. The account 



says that ' while the hounds of Gordon, 



Esq., were hunting in Whitly Shrubbs near 

 Seven Oaks in Kent, a hound was perceived 

 with a human head in his mouth, which was 

 proved once to have belonged to a boy lost 

 from the workhouse at Beresford in October 

 last, and who was then advertised, but has not 

 since been heard of.' 



Sometime about the middle of the last 

 century the Dering family is said to have 

 kept a pack of staghounds for a short time at 

 Surrenden Park, Pluckley, now the residence 

 of Mr. Walter Winans, well known as the 

 owner of many famous trotting horses. But 

 the only Kentish pack of note established 

 on sound lines is the Mid-Kent, which has 

 now been in existence for nearly forty years. 



The Mid-Kent Staghounds 

 These notable hounds were started as a 

 private pack in the year 1868 by Mr. Tom 

 Rigg and were hunted by him until 1874. 

 At that time the Mid-Kent became a sub- 

 scription pack and they have been carried 

 on in that way up to the present time. 



When Mr. Rigg gave up the mastership 

 of the Mid- Kent that office went to Mr. 

 Ambrose Warde of Tutsham Hall, but he 

 only remained a single season with the pack, 

 and was succeeded in 1875 by Mr. Charles 

 Frederick Leney of Thorndale. Mr. Leney, 

 whose kinsfolk have been a good deal associated 

 with the Mid- Kent for a period of more than 

 thirty years, stayed till 1883, when another 

 member of the family, Mr. Herbert Leney 

 of Blacklands, took over the reins of manage- 

 ment. This arrangement lasted for three 

 seasons, the next master being Mr. R. A. 

 Barkley of the Priory, Diss. He held office 

 till 1888, in which year the late Colonel J. T. 

 North of Eltham came upon the scene. 



485 



