CHAPTER VI 



LORD SUFFIELD 



1838 1839 



LORD SUFFIELD, as soon as it was understood 

 / that he would succeed Mr. Errington in the master- 

 ship of the Ouorn hounds, was described as " a noble- 

 man unknown as a fox-hunter." This description is 

 perhaps scarcely accurate ; for, although he was but five- 

 and-twenty years of age (having been born in 181 3) when 

 he entered upon the Quorn country, he had hunted with 

 Mr. Errington, and had proved himself a bold horseman. 

 Edward Vernon Harbord succeeded to the title in 1835, 

 on the death of his father, who was killed in London by 

 a fall from his hack, and the son came into an income 

 of ,£14,000 a year. After leaving school he went up to 

 Christ Church, Oxford, where he remained for a short 

 time only, and then, like his predecessors Lord Foley 

 and Mr. Osbaldeston, took to racing, which eventually 

 ruined him, as it had been the cause of their downfall. 

 A contemporary wrote of him : — 



His lordship since his debut on the turf has been fortunate 

 in purchasing some good horses, among which we may mention 

 Newlight, not particularly splendid ; Alfred, that is to be great ; 

 and Caravan, which could not go quite fast enough for the Derby. 

 Had Caravan won this race (1837) his lordship would have 

 pocketed an immense sum. 



Passing mention must be made of the Derby of 1837, 



because it bore directly upon Lord Sufheld's lamentable 



failure as M.F.H. In Caravan he thought that he had a 



175 



