CHAPTER XIII 



THE ENGLISH FORESTER 



When royal forests and private chases constituted the 

 greater part of the woodland of England, the equivalent of 

 the forester of to-day had a very limited existence. The 

 term " forester " in olden times was applied to an individual 

 who had more to do with the hunting of the game than the 

 trees which sheltered them, and his duties consisted chiefly 

 in representing the king in his absence, and waiting upon 

 him during his hunting expeditions. The chief forester of a 

 royal forest appears to have been a person of some import- 

 ance, and usually a gentleman of rank, who held land in or 

 round about the forest, or who had received his appointment 

 as a mark of royal favour. The office was often hereditary, 

 and handed down from father to son through many generations. 

 We find, for instance, that the ancestors of our chief land- 

 owners in many of our now extinguished royal forests were 

 originally the foresters of Norman or Plantagenet times. 

 As an instance of this may be mentioned the family of 

 Bruce, now represented by the Marquis of Ailesbury, which, 

 many generations ago, found the chief foresters for the 

 royal forest of Savernake. At the present time this forest 

 is entirely private property, and is owned by the family 

 already named. 



Under the chief forester were a number of subordinate 

 officers, most of whom had duties connected with the deer or 

 game. But the most important officer, from our point of 

 view, was the wood-ward, who, according to Manwood, was 

 responsible for the preservation of the vert, or trees and 

 shrubs of the forest. This official had to present his hatchet, 



as an emblem of of&ce, to the Lord Justices in Eyre, whenever 



3;* 



