To all who admire and follow the career of the Prince of Wales it will be of interest to know what is written of him in the Journal Book by R. D. Crossman. There had been a splendid hunt of 1 hour 5 minutes when the hare had squatted. It was, however, 20 minutes before she was put up and killed.
“The Prince of Wales was again with us, and he runs really well. He thoroughly enjoys every bit of sport, and is always willing to turn hounds, etc. It was he who spotted our last hare squatting, after at least five of us had walked over her.”
In the Michaelmas Half of 1916 R. F. Goad hunted hounds, and was succeeded at Christmas by H. K. M. Kindersley, whom I vaguely remember nearly tripping me up in the High Street when he was in “Pop” and intended to fag me in the street. One day during his Mastership two hares, which were running together in front of hounds, were both killed by an express train near Burnham station. After the season, which was not a particularly good one, only 12 hares being killed in 21 hunting days, the hounds were all walked by various people. Champion went to work on the land at a neighbouring farm.
They were collected again at the kennels at the beginning of the Michaelmas Half, 1917, after a great deal of correspondence. Many of them were terribly fat, and it was greatly to Champion’s credit that he got them fit for hunting at all. Not only this, but up to Christmas they had quite a successful season under the Mastership of S. A. Parker. Parker’s third whip, the Marquess of Worcester, was also Keeper of the Fives Courts. He now hunts his own pack of foxhounds in the Badminton country on the Wilts and Gloucester border. His father, the Duke of Beaufort, was a keen follower in the sixties.
At Christmas the hounds were definitely dispersed. It was, in the opinion of many, a great mistake, as probably they could have been kept up cheaper at Eton than by various people who kindly consented to walk couples. The Rev. C. A. Alington, who had succeeded Canon Lyttelton as Head Master in January 1916, wrote to the Food Controller for his advice and instructions, and in consequence the pack was disbanded.
There was even some talk of Champion leaving and of getting up a subscription for him. As Parker has said in the Journal Book, there would have been no lack of subscribers. Fortunately, however, for the hunt, Champion did not leave, but remained until the hounds were restarted in December 1919.
Immediately after the War was over there were many letters to the Eton College Chronicle, demanding that the beagles should be restored. O.E.’s from every part of the country wanted to know the real state of things. It shows how much the E.C.H. was held in esteem that so many, who had ceased from taking any active part in the administration of the College, should have realised that the restitution of hunting at Eton was a thing highly desirable in itself and in its result.
The first of these letters appeared in the Chronicle of Dec. 5th, 1918. It ran as follows:
“Dear Sir,—Now that hostilities have ceased ought not the Eton Beagles to be got together and start hunting once more? If steps were taken at once to collect the hounds (which are now out at walk) the School would have occupation and exercise next Half.
“Very few boys have had much chance to learn anything about the sport of kings during the War, and the Eton Beagles have always been the nursery of a large number of Masters of hounds in this country.