Schneider and Senhouse were Chambers’ whips, and at the end of the season a presentation was made to him as a testimonial. During the next year W. T. Trench held office with F. G. Pelham and H. M. Meysey-Thompson (now Lord Knaresborough) as his whips. W. T. Trench in a letter said: “We wound up the season with a drag to Maidenhead, when the subscribers very kindly presented me with a silver cup, which I am proud to have on my dining table now.”
F. G. Pelham was Master during the following season. He won the Mile and was second in the Steeplechase in 1863. As his second whip he had W. R. Griffiths, the Captain of the Boats. Pelham also had a testimonial presented to him.
I have passed over these three years lightly because little information has come to hand and no anecdotes at all. It is too long ago to expect much, and what I have are merely isolated statements. But in 1864 I am on firmer ground. Col. R. F. Meysey-Thompson has supplied me with a diary which contains a complete record of the season’s sport. H. M. Meysey-Thompson was Master, and his whips, A. Turnor and S. H. Sandbach, are still alive. There is so much to be said about H. M. Meysey-Thompson that a letter from A. Turnor will not be inappropriate here as giving an excellent and vivid summary of the sport.
“North Stoke, Grantham.
“The recollection of the Eton Beagles in 1864 is perhaps more vivid than my recollection of Aeschylus and of Homer. The kennels were on Dorney Common, a miserable and ramshackle construction, and a bagged fox resided within earshot of the musical harmony of his relentless pursuers. Joby Minor, the most artful poacher in Eton, was kennel huntsman, ran with the drag and administered to the comforts of the fox. The hounds, a somewhat unlevel pack, were contributed by the ardent sons of Nimrod who valued more the hunting lore of Beckford, Silk and Scarlet, and such like sporting authors, than anything Greece or Rome could produce in the way of Classics. W. T. Trench and his brother Benjamin, Lord Worcester, Dick Thompson and the writer were notable amongst others who brought hounds, and the Hon. Evelyn Pelham and the present Lord Knaresborough were amongst those who carried the horn. The sport was of the finest, and the climax was reached when hounds found a wild hare, and after a choral service of two hours hunted her to the death.
“On one of those rare but memorable occasions when the writer was handling the hounds, a yokel possessed of no sporting or manly instincts struck the exhausted hare with a spade and hid it in a cart. The huntsman with the aid of his Beckford perceived what had happened, and boldly and determinedly wrested the hare from the yokel and gave it to the hounds, thus fulfilling the loftiest instinct of venery.
“All concerned enjoyed the sport. The hounds obviously, the fox because he knew that he could baffle his pursuers, and the boys because it called for the exercise of skill, sight, intellect and endurance. Above all Joby Minor because he drew a salary.
“It is recorded that on one occasion a beagle entered the schoolroom in Schoolyard of Mr. William Johnson, a kind, eccentric, but very short-sighted Master. Forty voices, gratuitously and somewhat officiously, informed him of the patent fact, causing a requisite but temporary cessation of work. His reply was: ‘Stop. I will deal with the intruder.’ He seized a large key, gazed steadily and threw it in exactly the opposite direction to the spot on which the unconcerned hound was sniffing the untainted air. Due notice was taken by the class and the Master adequately informed.”
During the Mastership of H. M. Meysey-Thompson the kennels were improved considerably, and he presented the pack with the first “copper” that they ever had for cooking the hound food. They had a fairly good season, and some interesting runs are recorded in the diary which has been lent me by Col. R. F. Meysey-Thompson. Here is one of the most remarkable: