The Eton College hunt

by Anthony Crommelin Crossley

CHAPTER V.
1886-1899.

This will of necessity be a short chapter, as I have received few letters referring to the period. A terribly large number of those who were officials of the pack served both in the South African and in the late War, with the result that comparatively few are still living. It was not a particularly successful period as regards sport. Many fewer hares were killed than in the previous ten years, owing chiefly to a deterioration in the pack. Probably this was the fault of Lock. He was getting older and fatter, and began to think more of saving himself trouble than of keeping up a good pack of hounds. One of the Masters, A. M. Grenfell, horrified him by making him feed the hounds on oatmeal. Moreover, there was a tendency to make the pack a dog pack and exclude all bitches. In 1891 only four old bitches remained. As A. M. Grenfell remarked: “Of course this is the best plan for Lock, as it saves him no end of trouble, but that does not mean that it is the best plan for the hunt. There ought, in my opinion, to be at least three couples of bitches to breed from.” But there was no uniformity of opinion, and, while one Master bred puppies freely, another would say that he did not believe in breeding at Eton. And so the pack really deteriorated and provided on the whole less sport than during the ten years previous to this time.

We do not wish to run Lock down. In a way he was an excellent kennelman. But, like many excellent men, he was old-fashioned and a trifle pig-headed, and several Masters had considerable difficulty in making him understand that he was there to do what they told him. However, he was wonderful out hunting, and, like old Mr. Mumford to-day, always seemed to be viewing the hunted hare. This is what an old follower says about him:

“He used to run a Turkish Bath up town somewhere opposite Devereux’s shop, and was enormously fat. He always carried a sort of policeman’s whistle out with the beagles, and generally seemed to be in the right place for viewing the hare. Both hounds and field had supreme confidence in him and always went straight for his whistle regardless of the horn.”

During the Mastership of T. W. Brand (now Lord Hampden) an amusing incident happened. He says: “We had a great run from near Langley Station to beyond West Drayton. We swam the Colne and came back by train without paying for our tickets. A bill was sent in to me for forty tickets. I asked how they had got at the numbers, and was informed that they found forty wet imprints of our seats in the carriages.

“There was a marvellous hound called Landlord, and I should say his was the greatest personality in connection with the Eton beagles while I was at Eton. He lasted for years and was a marvel. Of course the kennels were poor things, but the hounds were fit and hunted well, and I am sure it was a great advantage to be able to drop in there any time of day. I usually went there after 10.”

Here is a letter from Mr. G. Fenwick:

“In the year 1888 a hound van was first used, chiefly, I believe, because Lock, who then was kennel huntsman, had got too old and fat to stand the, sometimes, longish journeys home at night. I know that the masters and whips much appreciated the lift home after hunting. There also was a picture painted of the hounds that year, and I think a certain number of prints were sold, but what happened to it I don’t know. My recollection of the print is that the whole thing was so bad that I wouldn’t buy one, and I never have seen a copy since. It is so many years since I have seen the Eton country that I expect there have been very many changes. My chief recollection is of the soil and plough beyond Dorney, and the water which at times was over the fields below Aldin House, Slough, after heavy rains. I expect the same conditions still obtain. The most successful Master in my recollection, if one may take the number of hares killed in the season (in those days we only hunted in the Easter Half), was F. P. Barnett, who I think accounted for 17. He was Master in 1886, and in my opinion the finest runner over a really heavy country I ever saw.”

There were two important changes in uniform about this time. A. M. Grenfell introduced the white knickerbockers and white stocks, and W. R. O. Kynaston, now Hon. Secretary to Sir Watkin Wynn’s foxhounds, introduced the hunting caps of brown velvet. Another innovation was a trap for two guineas a week, which took the hounds to the meet and back, accompanied by the Master and whips. This, though much abused by the Chronicle, was a good thing on the whole, especially as it enabled Lock to come beagling regularly, which he might not otherwise have been able to do.