BAILY’S MAGAZINE
OF
SPORTS AND PASTIMES
No. 556. JUNE, 1906. Vol. LXXXV.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sporting Diary for the Month | [v.] | |
| Viscount Helmsley, M.F.H. | [427] | |
| Sport at Westminster | [429] | |
| Education at the Public Schools | [433] | |
| Successful Steeplechase Sires (Illustrated) | [437] | |
| The Billiard-Cue (Illustrated) | [442] | |
| A Country Fair (Illustrated) | [443] | |
| The Judging of Polo Ponies | [447] | |
| Sport and Animal Life at the Royal Academy | [449] | |
| Notes and Sport of a Dry-fly Purist | [452] | |
| Hound Sales, Past and Present | [456] | |
| The Olympic Games | [462] | |
| A Clever Shot (Illustrated) | [465] | |
| Cricket Notions | [467] | |
| The Salmon’s Visual Apparatus (Illustrated) | [469] | |
| A Hundred Years Ago | [477] | |
| The Sportsman’s Library (Illustrated) | [478] | |
| George H. Hirst | [485] | |
| “Our Van”:— | ||
| Racing (Illustrated) | [487] | |
| Polo | [493] | |
| Golf | [495] | |
| The Hunt Secretaries Association | [496] | |
| Ascetic | [496] | |
| Field Trials of Pointers and Setters in Shropshire | [496] | |
| Theatrical Notes | [497] | |
| Sporting Intelligence | [500] | |
| With Engraved Portrait of Viscount Helmsley, M.F.H. | ||
Viscount Helmsley, M.F.H.
Charles William Reginald Duncombe, Viscount Helmsley, was born on May 8th, 1879, in London. In due course he went to Eton, where he found his most congenial occupation on the river; he was one of the crew of the “Dreadnought,” a “lower” boat, and would probably have made his mark as an oarsman had health permitted; but, under medical advice, he was obliged to give up rowing. From Eton he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he found time to officiate as whipper-in to the draghounds one season, and where he played a good deal of polo; he was a member of the University team for the two seasons 1900 and 1901. Indulgence in sport did not prevent his distinguishing himself in the schools, as witness his Honours degree in History before leaving.
After leaving Oxford he made a tour round the world, visiting India, Burmah, Ceylon, China, and Japan, and returning home through Canada. While in India he was fortunate enough to enjoy some tiger-shooting as the guest of the Maharajah of Kuch Behar, the keenest among native princes where big game is concerned.
On his return home Lord Helmsley made his entry into public life as Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Selborne, acting in that capacity from 1902 to 1904. He found time to hunt a good deal during this period, running down for week ends from London to Melton, whence he hunted about two days a week. He had been entered to hounds, when only six years old, with the Sinnington, and remembers being “blooded” by old Jack Parker, who for many years carried the horn, and was a famous character in Yorkshire. He was always devoted to hunting and had his full share of “spills” when, as a boy, he went out with hounds in the holidays; but tosses notwithstanding, he saw some great sport with the South Durham from Wynyard, and the Sinnington.
On Mr. Penn Sherbrooke’s resignation of the mastership of the Sinnington in 1904, Lord Helmsley was asked to succeed that gentleman. There were obvious and excellent reasons for his appointment; not only was the Viscount known as a keen sportsman, with a sound knowledge of foxhunting, but the Sinnington country includes the greater part of the large estates of the Earl of Feversham, whose grandson and heir Lord Helmsley is. Practically all the family property is hunted by the Sinnington, with the exception of part of the woodland districts which are within the borders of two neighbouring hunts—the Bilsdale and the Farndale. His family connection with the country, therefore, with his sporting qualifications, clearly indicated Lord Helmsley as the right man for the office; and the two seasons of his mastership have been conspicuously successful. The farmers in the Sinnington country are very keen about hunting, and they, the majority of them tenants of the Earl of Feversham, compose the field to a great extent. A good many of the Sinnington farmers are horse breeders; and still more of them make a business of buying young ones and making them for sale. Thus possessing a practical interest in sport to add to their natural appreciation of it they are to a man good fox-preservers and warm supporters of the Hunt.
The Sinnington consists of hill and vale country, and the former, locally called the “high” country, has been the scene of some very good runs during the past season. During the last fortnight they had an excellent day; two runs each of an hour, finishing with a kill in the open. Another run from Muscoates up to Rievaulx earlier in the season is also to be remembered. The Master was not out on the former day, being, unfortunately, detained by his recently adopted Parliamentary duties.