Foxhunting in the Midlands

The Thanet Harriers became too tame for Collingwood and in 1898, together with his brother Herbert, he joined the famous Atherstone Hunt in Warwickshire. He had met the Master of the Atherstone, Gerald Hardy. on the Riviera. The brothers rented a hunting box for the season. At the 1901 census the household comprised a butler, housemaid, cook, stableman, three grooms and two visitors (Collingwood had left for South America the day before the census). Horses were brought by train from Westgate. There were objections to aspects of  hunting even in those days, most from tenant farmers over whose fields they rode.

2 January 1900.,
The meet was at Black Swan Grendon, which is quite close to here. It was a woodland day so, of course, nothing very brilliant in the way of a run was experienced although a good scent caused the death of as many as four foxes (one was bolted and another dug out which made one of the field very annoyed; going up to the master, before everybody, he declared the proceedings to be murderous).

An incident at Frolesworth and a good day’s hunting.

12 January 1900
…… We were all waiting in the road when a sudden rumour went round that the fox had been killed inside the church! Sure enough there was Whitmore standing among the gravestones with the body of the fox in his hand. “whoo-oping” and blowing his horn in the midst of his pack.
       “Peel’s view hol-loo would awaken the dead or the fox from his lair in the morning”. The fox, it appears, really did enter the sacred building, followed by some hounds who actually killed him while a service was about to commence. The parson, who was in the church and witnessed the death, asked for the brush and was promised the mask.

6 March 1900
Hams Hall, which is on the borders of Atherstone country, was today’s meet. We did not find there so had a long jog to Kinsbury Wood where we soon found a good fox. From the beginning to the end of the run (which lasted 35 minutes) we had all we could do to keep the hounds less than a couple of fields ahead. The hounds had marked the fox to ground at Weston (about 4 mile point) when we came up, so, I am glad to say, our pilot lived to run another day.

Mancetter Lodge, their hunting box