“Mentioning whips, I remember one day, when nearly all the field had gone home after a poor day, we found a hare which took us a two mile point before we checked. When I arrived on the scene I remember the Master saying, ‘Congratulations, you may have your whips.’ From that day the height of my ambition at Eton was fixed.
“The War was now in full swing, and the authorities bowed to the demands for economy by demanding that the pack should be disbanded, or, more accurately, sent out to walk. It was not for me to criticise, but it was never quite clear to me how economy was effected, all that happened being that the hounds were overfed individually instead of being economically fed as a pack.
“During this awful period I often used to walk to the forsaken kennels on Sunday and ‘talk hunting’ with Champion, the huntsman. At last the War was over, and before long the survivors of the old field began to talk about reassembling the pack.
“At first every one seemed against it, though probably this was more fancy than fact. Old Etonians were not silent on our behalf: they signed petitions, wrote letters, and in fact did all they could do. Probably it all helped, and the Head Master met them half-way, and said his decision would rest on the goodwill of the farmers, which he proposed to ascertain by sending a letter to each of those over whose ground we normally hunted.
“The result of those letters was that 97% of the farmers were not only willing but anxious to have the beagles back. It was not until it fell to my lot to visit these farmers, as representative of the E.C.H., that I quite realised the reason for so much generosity on their part.
“The next difficulty was to find a suitable Master. Several enterprising individuals offered their services, and finally a Master was chosen from amongst the few left who had been at all conspicuous in the old field.
“Just as things looked brighter, and five couples of old hounds had been collected, we were put in the Rabies area, and only by the individual efforts of my predecessors did we finally get a permit to hunt. The first official hunt was a surprise to every one; the surprise being the field, it seemed as if all Eton had turned out, in reality about 400. Of these 400 nearly all were what, for want of a better term, I got to know as the ‘Middle Class.’ By this term ‘Middle Class’ I mean neither the very small nor the very big, and all celebrities were conspicuous by their absence. This gave me extreme satisfaction, for I felt that all who were out were out to see the sport, and not to disport before their humbler brethren.
T. C. BARNETT-BARKER’S YEAR. 1920-21.
“Cutting the story short, we had runs which would do credit to any five couple of old hounds, but somewhat naturally we could not kill, and the result was that the field dwindled, until only the keenest were left.