MR. J. COUPLAND 321 



London for the season, and in the month of August found 

 himself before Mr. Dayman, at the Hammersmith Police 

 Court, on a charge of cruelty to a horse, the prosecution 

 being, it is said, instituted by his next-door neighbour, 

 Mr. Milbank, M.P. It appears that Mr. Coupland had 

 bought a cob from Mr. Sheward, the dealer, of Green 

 Street (who did such an enormous business with the 

 late Mr. John Gerard Leigh, master of the Hertford- 

 shire), as a match for another, the pair being for the use 

 of Mrs. Coupland. They were taken into the Park, and 

 the new purchase was found to be so inveterate a jibber 

 that Mrs. Coupland was obliged to go home in a cab. 

 The cob was at length induced to proceed, but instead 

 of being taken to Sheward's yard in Green Street, the 

 vehicle was driven to Mr. Coupland's house in Crom- 

 well Gardens ; and when the time came to drive from 

 there the animal refused to budge an inch. Thereupon 

 Mr. Coupland brought a hunting-whip to bear upon 

 the recusant cob, and of the use of it Mr. Milbank 

 complained. The evidence of Sheward's men, however, 

 was in contradiction to that of Mr. Milbank. The 

 R.S.P.C.A. had also a hand in the affair, and Mr. 

 Dayman's remarks are not undeserving of notice even 

 at this day. In dismissing the summons he said that 

 lately the Society seemed to have lost sight of, and 

 misconceived, the principles of the Act under which 

 they were enrolled, and had on several occasions sought 

 to strain it, and he feared that in consequence the Act 

 was getting into disrepute. 



With the arrival of cub-hunting time 1871-72 Mr. 

 Coupland returned to Leicestershire, and in Septem- 

 ber the fatal accident occurred which cast a gloom over 

 the commencement of the hunting season at Melton 

 Mowbray. Master Charles Claud Henry Webster, the 

 eldest son of the late Mr. Fox Webster and Mrs. 

 Coupland, and who was therefore stepson to Mr. John 



