REMINISCENCES OF BERT DRAGE 



A very good hunt was from Lilbourne, and 

 hounds ran straight and fast across the old Rugby 

 racecourse and beyond Ashby St. Ledgers 8 mile 

 point. I pulled up there as I had promised to go 

 with my nephew Charles to see some horses near 

 Manchester. 



I had a very bad fall in 1894. I was riding a 

 horse of Sir James Fenders. It was late in the day 

 when they found a fox below Welford, and they ran 

 bearing right over the Welford road towards Sulby. 

 I came to a fence with a wide ditch in front, and 

 one had to pop over the ditch on to a bank and 

 then over the fence. I thought my horse was 

 doing it perfectly, but something held him and he 

 came right down on top of me. They killed the 

 fox just close to where I lay. They carried me 

 across the field and put me in one of the old four- 

 wheel cabs and took me to a house in Welford 

 where a hunting man lived whose name I cannot 

 remember. But what I do remember was how 

 very kind they were. My mother came over and 

 used to sit up or be in the bedroom with me. 

 I was there about two weeks when they took me 

 home by ambulance and I was in bed the whole 

 winter. This happened the first Wednesday in 

 November. 



I stuck it all right until one morning when my 

 brother looked in as usual, all dressed for hunting. 

 I completely broke down, as I felt I should never 

 hunt again. I remember they gave me some 



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