28 



continued till the end, Duke becoming kennel huntsman. His lordship- 

 showed very excellent sport during the seasons he carried his owrt 

 horn, as is proven by the record further on, but, as I say, they are 

 only very few indeed of the fine runs we had with him. 



He always rode over seventeen stone, and for some years eighteen 

 stone, but he was magnificently mounted, and his determined hard, 

 riding brought that disadvantage to a minimum. He was indeed 

 ''a rum one to follow and bad one to beat." He had the good sense 

 to leave his hounds alone, and did not interfere with them by voic& 

 or horn until they had come completely to fault. 



As I have already said, Mr. .Joseph Strangman succeeded Mr. 

 John Medlycott as hon. sec. to the Hunt in about the year 1862^ 

 and continued in office to the end of the annals of this great fox- 

 hunting era. Xo man could have discharged the duties of hi& 

 onerous work with greater ability, tact, and energy than did Mr. 

 Strangman, in recognition of which the gentlemen of the Hunt 

 presented him with a valuable service of silver plate upon his- 

 marriage. 



Besides being our hon. sec, he was for many years to be found 

 at all the favourite meets, but when hounds had got away with a 

 good scent on a straight fox, the usual place to find Strangman was 

 close in their wake. Like many others, he did not hunt with the 

 Curraghmore after his lordship was stopped at Newtown Wood in 

 October, 1881. 



The present Lord Waterford was, like his uncle and Mr. Briscoe, 

 most fortunate in having all over his extensive territory a- 

 population imbued with true foxhunting proclivities. As in most 

 counties, many of the gentry did not participate actively in the 

 sport, but one and all preserved the foxes, and did their utmost to 

 further the grand old sport ; none more so than Mr. Congreve of 

 Mount Congreve, Lord Bessborough, and Sir Robert Paul. There 

 was not a single man in the country who reserved his coverts for 

 shooting in preference to having them disturbed by the hounds 

 drawing for a fox. The farmers all over the country were as eport- 

 loving as the gentry, and until they were demoralised by the evil 

 teaching of the Land League no community furthered the sport of 

 foxhunting more than did the peasantry residing over the Curragh- 

 more hunting domain. 



Lord Waterford had two able assistants in looking after his country 

 in Kilkenny and Tipperary in Mr. Edward Briscoe of Harristown 

 and Mr. Henry Bowers of Owning. Next to those immediately con- 

 nected with the hounds we were indebted to those two gentlemen for 

 a great deal of the sport we enjoyed for many years, owing to their 

 knowledge and assiduity in looking after the foxes and coverts— not 

 alone in the winter, but in the summer, when vixens and cuba 

 require far more care and attention than they usually get. They 

 were relatives of Mr. Briscoe, the M.F.H., and, no doubt, owe most of 

 their education in foxlore to that able exponent. 



