EARLY DAYS 11 



times and great Church reforms have banished the 

 hunting parson, for where a dozen sporting divines 

 were in evidence forty years ago there is but one 

 left to pilot the way to-day. The finest horseman 

 of a party who rode with the Belvoir and Quorn 

 was the Rev. H. Houson of Brant Broughton, who 

 was difficult to beat over a country. Parson Des- 

 borowe of Welborne, too, was a wonderfully hard 

 man to shake off, and the llev. Thomas Heathcote 

 of Lenton was another fine sportsman who kept a 

 good stud of hunters and planted a fox covert. 

 The Rev. Waters of Dunsby was a frequent com- 

 batant across country, and when he moved over 

 the borders into Nottinghamshire he still continued 

 to hunt up to the time of his death, at a ripe old 

 age. Others who will be remembered are Parson 

 King of Ashby, Parson T. Bullen of Eastwell, and 

 the Rev. John Calcraft of Haceby, who enjoyed 

 much sport with one horse and went prodigious 

 long distances to meet hounds. The Rev. R. 

 Sharpe of Colsterworth was another fine horseman, 

 and very eloquent in the pulpit. An all-round 

 sportsman was the Rev. " Billy " Newcome, rector 

 of Boothby for fifty years, and up to eighty years 

 of age he rode, fished, and shot with the best of 

 them. A contemporary of Mr. Newcome's was 

 the Rev. J. Parker Y^ounge of Wilsford, who bred 

 some good horses and followed the hounds regularly 

 up to his seventy - sixth year. He was also a 

 capital shot and fly fisherman, remembered by the 

 rising generation cramming along across country 

 with his coat flying open in the most boisterous 



