Blood Sports in Great Linford
Understandably, there may be some reading this account of blood sports in Great Linford who will feel strongly that including this kind of activity in a section on sports is utterly inappropriate, but the fact is, activities like badger, fox, hare and otter hunting were very much considered legitimate sports. The newspapers reported on hunts as a sport and those engaging in hunts thought of it in the same way, in fact a considerable part of the justification for hunting was that the prey had a “sporting chance” of escape; a rather quaint idea that seemingly presumed that the animals hunted were essentially willing participants.
Great Linford was then (in common with much of rural society) a place steeped in the traditions of blood sports, with the Lords of the Manor and other upper echelons of village life the principal organisers and participants, but undoubtedly well supported by the common classes. Sadly we have no specific accounts of any local objections, and indeed one might presume that it would have taken a brave person to mount any kind of protest. The town and country divide that continues to play out even today would have been even more stark and entrenched, and any local sentiment against blood sports very likely held privately for fear of retribution. That the Bucks Otter Hunt was based in the village, and the passionate hobby of the Lords of the Manor, would likely have made any resident think twice about voicing their concerns.
The Bucks Otter Hunt
Established in 1891, the Bucks otterhounds were kennelled in the grounds of what is now Great Linford Manor Park; the buildings have since been demolished and replaced by the arts centre workshops. From circa 1953 the dogs were relocated to kennels at the Black Horse Inn, though there is also the possibility that they were briefly housed in the vicinity of Newport Pagnell alongside the North Bucks Beagles.
The otterhounds were an abiding passion of generations of Uthwatts - the Lords of Great Linford Manor - and in pursuit of their “sport” they took the dogs to many different counties, often travelling some distance by train and van, where a warm welcome was extended by the many people who supported and followed the hunt. However, at a national level the sport of otter hunting had attracted protest from its very inception in the late 1800s, and indeed it is thought that the very first direct action organised against the sport occurred in 1931, when a contingent of protesters ambushed the Bucks Otter Hunt at Islip.
Faced with increasing hostility over the following decades, the hunters tried in vain to present themselves as conservationists at heart, but a combination of increased public pressure and a calamitous decline in otter numbers doomed the sport. Having seen for themselves that the species was in serious danger, the Masters of Otterhounds Association agreed circa 1963 upon a moratorium on killing otters, but an inevitable legally enforced ban came into force in 1978. A detailed history of the Bucks Otter Hunt can be read by clicking here.
The otterhounds were an abiding passion of generations of Uthwatts - the Lords of Great Linford Manor - and in pursuit of their “sport” they took the dogs to many different counties, often travelling some distance by train and van, where a warm welcome was extended by the many people who supported and followed the hunt. However, at a national level the sport of otter hunting had attracted protest from its very inception in the late 1800s, and indeed it is thought that the very first direct action organised against the sport occurred in 1931, when a contingent of protesters ambushed the Bucks Otter Hunt at Islip.
Faced with increasing hostility over the following decades, the hunters tried in vain to present themselves as conservationists at heart, but a combination of increased public pressure and a calamitous decline in otter numbers doomed the sport. Having seen for themselves that the species was in serious danger, the Masters of Otterhounds Association agreed circa 1963 upon a moratorium on killing otters, but an inevitable legally enforced ban came into force in 1978. A detailed history of the Bucks Otter Hunt can be read by clicking here.
Badger hunting
It appears that from at least 1921 to 1938 the Great Linford (North Bucks) Badger Hunt was in operation, though rather inexplicably it was established by two Lieutenants in the Life Guards from Walton Hall in Lancashire. However, at the local level, it seems likely that the day-to-day activities would have been managed by Great Linford resident Harry “Doggie” Robinson, who was also kennelman for the Bucks Otter Hunt. Harry crops up in a number of newspaper stories in connection to the badger hunt, where he is often reported in the company of his terrier Tinker.
A badger digging party, 1921. Harry "Doggy" Robinson of Great Linford, pictured centre (without hat.) Reproduced from "A sporting life" by Waddy Wadsworth.
Badger hunting was not generally a sport that was associated with the landed gentry, such as otter and fox hunting. The badger did not give good “sport”, being liable to retreat deep underground in its sett to escape the hunter and his dogs, hence newspaper reports tend then to fixate on the depth of the sett and the amount of time taken to dig down to the badger. The otter and the fox were hunted so it was said because they were pests likely to take fish or chickens, but the badger feeds primarily on earthworms. That this harmless animal was persecuted so cruelly is therefore hard to understand.
Sadly, the general tone of newspaper reporting on blood sports in this period was one of complete indifference to the suffering of the animals hunted, perhaps no better illustrated than by the following harrowing account of a badger hunt carried in the Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press of Saturday July 22nd, 1922.
NB. Brock is an old English word for badger.
Sadly, the general tone of newspaper reporting on blood sports in this period was one of complete indifference to the suffering of the animals hunted, perhaps no better illustrated than by the following harrowing account of a badger hunt carried in the Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press of Saturday July 22nd, 1922.
NB. Brock is an old English word for badger.
The past season has been one of unequalled success and wonderful achievement by the Great Linford (North Bucks) badger hunters. This little band of sportsmen, organised by Lieut. Gilbert Greenall (2nd Life Guards) and Lieut. Edward Greenall (1st Life Guards) sons of Sir Gilbert and Lady Greenall, of Walton Hall, Lancashire, have only on three occasions experienced a “blank” day and in all they have accounted for 83 badgers, which probably constitutes an English record in the fascinating sport of hunting the brock family. Operations have been carried out not only in North Bucks, but in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, and even in Worcestershire and Cheshire. One of the most arduous “digs” of the season was on Mr Hedley Harris’s farm at Aston Abbotts, near to Aylesbury. For several hours the badger evaded capture. He was “cut off” at several points, and led the dogs a good jaunt for 128 yards, ultimately being pluckily seized by Mr. Cecil Webster, who lifted brock in his arms and threw him to the waiting dogs, they quickly dispatching him. The dig occupied 10½ hours. He was a fine fellow weighing 3Olbs. In Cheshire, after a dig in 8 feet of sand, a bag of three badgers was taken, and on the succeeding day, in a neighbouring earth, two sows and a boar were killed; and in Delamere Forest another pair were accounted for. Other achievements of this little company of badger hunters have been:- Eleven badgers in two digs at Little Linford wood; five at Haversham; one sow, a boar and three cubs at Padbury; in Worcester; five at Adstock; five at Thornborough; three and two at Old Wolverton; five on Mr. Thomas’s farm at Blakesley, after a dig of 40 yards 5 feet, and lasting from 2.30 till 9 pm. Another dig at Mr. Bolton’s farm at Heathencote, which lasted seven hours, was rewarded by the kill of a boar weighing over 30Ibs. On the railway bank at Dodford near Weedon, difficulty was experienced owing to the sandy nature of the ground. This dig lasted 3 hours 13 minutes, and was 15 feet long feet wide and 9 feet deep, and ended in a kill.
No specific further stories about the Bucks badger hunt have been discovered after 1938, though the obituary of Harry Robinson in 1960 mentions his expertise in hunting badgers. We might presume then that the activity carried on locally for some time. Perhaps things had changed for the better by the 1960s, as Jack Ivester Lloyd, writing in his column for The Bucks Standard on February 11th, 1966, that a local vet named Peter How was involved in badger hunting, but that, "except in cases of known rogues, he never harmed the badger. But when, as is sometimes the case, one required moving, then Peter and some of his friends moved it to a placed where it would be more welcome." Thankfully however, badger hunting was finally outlawed, though amazingly the animals only achieved full protection in 1992.
Fox hunting
Hunters and hounds, location unknown. Photograph by Great Linford resident Henry Bartholomew.
Foxes were regularly hunted in the parish of Great Linford, with hunts often passing through Linford Wood, and on more than one occasion we have accounts of the chase reaching the village. In December of 1892, the Field Magazine offered the following description of one such pursuit, though the lightness of the prose does nothing to disguise the fundamental unpleasantness of the pursuit and despatch of their prey.
Saturday was a wild rough day at Bradwell Common with the Whaddon Chase, and a day withal which proved even more than unfortunate, as every fox that was found was killed without showing the sport we looked for. Great Linford Wood upheld the reputation it had gained after the visit of the Grafton Hounds ten days earlier. It was naturally the first draw when a move was made from that bleak common, and we had certainly not settled ourselves to the business of the day when a hellos told that a fox was on foot. Bentley answered the summons readily, the pack took up the running, and the chorus which followed disturbed yet another customer, so that there were at least a brace on foot at once. The first fox, however, was the one to which the pack had pinned their faith, and right merrily they drove him through the wood, to force him into the open on the Great Linford side. This, as I said, was almost before we had been expecting it, and few people, indeed, were prepared to see them drive him at such a pace across those intervening grass fields to the church, more than they looked for the sudden change which was to come over the aspect of affairs when the grounds adjoining Mrs Uthwatt's house at Linford were reached, for, although both railway and canal confronted us, we confidently expected to cross into the Grafton country. But the pace was too hot for him, and the pack literally drove him into the gardens and courtyards adjoining some cottages near Great Linford Church, and before half the people knew what had happened, the front door of a cottage opened, the huntsman, first whip, with the carcase, and two men who should know the district emerged with a portion of the pack to perform the final obsequies in the grounds of Great Linford House. Scarcely a soul was aware what had happened up to that time, beyond the fact that they had been straining every nerve to catch the pack over those few fields from the wood.
In another sad account of a hunt (carried in the Sporting Gazette of February 19th, 1898) a fox flushed from Linford Wood by the Whaddon Chase found temporary refuge on the roof of a barn at the Bucks Otter Hunt kennels, but sadly was “dislodged by Gerald Uthwatt” and eventually caught by the hounds.
The Whaddon Chase were regular visitors to the area, for instance meeting on February 19th, 1938, at Great Linford Manor.
We may however be able to place a pack of fox hounds actually kennelled in the parish as early as 1923, as in April of that year a rather curious situation was reported to have arisen within the ranks of the Whaddon Chase. It appears that a dispute had occurred between the members resulting in a schism and the creation of a so called “opposition pack” under the mastership of Colonel William Selby-Lowdes.
Exactly what this dispute was has yet to come to light, but a flyer published by Colonel Selby-Lowdes in October 1917 (Buckinghamshire Archives D-U/7/7) provides the tantalising details that a Sir H. S. Leon and others had made "statements and allegations", and that the Colonel was desirous of setting the record straight. This might then be the genesis of the split that occurred in 1923.
This new pack (so it was claimed) was to be based in Great Linford alongside the dogs of the Bucks Otter Hunt. Newspaper reports indicate that the hounds had been obtained and staff hired, but it is not clear if they ever arrived at Great Linford and hunted, though a brief note in the Northampton Chronicle and Echo of August 29th, does lend credence to the idea that the pack (numbering 40 dogs) was active. The newspaper does not however indicate from whence they were hunting, and it seems from the lack of further reporting that the rupture in the hunt was subsequently repaired.
Not unsurprisingly the Uthwatts of Great Linford Manor were as enthusiastic hunters of foxes as they were otters, and in fact were not only active followers but also served on hunt committees in various capacities. Gerard Uthwatt served as secretary of the Whaddon Chase in the early 1900s, and William Rupert Edolph Andrewes Uthwatt was recorded as honorary secretary in 1919. As reported in the Tatler, William was also appointed master of the Grove Hunt in 1948. He was used to travelling far and wide with the Bucks otterhounds, so doubtless would not have been unduly concerned that the Grove were kennelled at Retford in Nottinghamshire, though the article makes clear someone else was principally employed to lead the hunt in his absence.
Fox hunting was not without its perils for the participants, as illustrated by the death of a Captain Harold R. Jones reported in the Daily Telegraph and Courier (London) on Tuesday October 29th, 1907. The captain had joined the Whaddon Chase hunt at the Great Linford Toll Bar, from whence the hunt moved toward Old Bradwell. Tragically, the Captain was thrown by his horse, resulting in a broken jaw caused by the horse standing on him. Though quickly conveyed to a Great Linford cottage and attended by a Doctor Stewart from Newport Pagnell, his injuries were so severe that he expired the next afternoon.
Another case, though not one ending in so fatal a manner, occurred when the Reverend Sydney Herbert Williams, rector of the village, took a tumble from his horse while out riding with the Oakley hunt in November of 1884. He fractured his leg, and was much shocked by his accident.
The Whaddon Chase were regular visitors to the area, for instance meeting on February 19th, 1938, at Great Linford Manor.
We may however be able to place a pack of fox hounds actually kennelled in the parish as early as 1923, as in April of that year a rather curious situation was reported to have arisen within the ranks of the Whaddon Chase. It appears that a dispute had occurred between the members resulting in a schism and the creation of a so called “opposition pack” under the mastership of Colonel William Selby-Lowdes.
Exactly what this dispute was has yet to come to light, but a flyer published by Colonel Selby-Lowdes in October 1917 (Buckinghamshire Archives D-U/7/7) provides the tantalising details that a Sir H. S. Leon and others had made "statements and allegations", and that the Colonel was desirous of setting the record straight. This might then be the genesis of the split that occurred in 1923.
This new pack (so it was claimed) was to be based in Great Linford alongside the dogs of the Bucks Otter Hunt. Newspaper reports indicate that the hounds had been obtained and staff hired, but it is not clear if they ever arrived at Great Linford and hunted, though a brief note in the Northampton Chronicle and Echo of August 29th, does lend credence to the idea that the pack (numbering 40 dogs) was active. The newspaper does not however indicate from whence they were hunting, and it seems from the lack of further reporting that the rupture in the hunt was subsequently repaired.
Not unsurprisingly the Uthwatts of Great Linford Manor were as enthusiastic hunters of foxes as they were otters, and in fact were not only active followers but also served on hunt committees in various capacities. Gerard Uthwatt served as secretary of the Whaddon Chase in the early 1900s, and William Rupert Edolph Andrewes Uthwatt was recorded as honorary secretary in 1919. As reported in the Tatler, William was also appointed master of the Grove Hunt in 1948. He was used to travelling far and wide with the Bucks otterhounds, so doubtless would not have been unduly concerned that the Grove were kennelled at Retford in Nottinghamshire, though the article makes clear someone else was principally employed to lead the hunt in his absence.
Fox hunting was not without its perils for the participants, as illustrated by the death of a Captain Harold R. Jones reported in the Daily Telegraph and Courier (London) on Tuesday October 29th, 1907. The captain had joined the Whaddon Chase hunt at the Great Linford Toll Bar, from whence the hunt moved toward Old Bradwell. Tragically, the Captain was thrown by his horse, resulting in a broken jaw caused by the horse standing on him. Though quickly conveyed to a Great Linford cottage and attended by a Doctor Stewart from Newport Pagnell, his injuries were so severe that he expired the next afternoon.
Another case, though not one ending in so fatal a manner, occurred when the Reverend Sydney Herbert Williams, rector of the village, took a tumble from his horse while out riding with the Oakley hunt in November of 1884. He fractured his leg, and was much shocked by his accident.
Hare hunting with the North Bucks Beagles
The North Bucks Beagles, 1950. Picture credit Ken Purkiss.
The North Bucks Beagles were a pack bred for the hunting of hares, and like other hunting activity in the parish and wider county, their hunts were reported in the local press, though noticeably not with anything like the same frequency or attention to detail as had once been lavished on fox and otter hunting. Most references to the pack relate to notifications of forthcoming meetings, but from these we can see that the hunt was very active in the parish of Great Linford in the late 1930s through to at least the mid-1950s, with Lodge Farm seeming to be a favourite starting point, as was the Black Horse Inn.
Exactly when a beagle pack was established in the county is uncertain, though we do find one interesting story from January 1909, that Gerard Uthwatt had invited a Lord Maulden to bring his pack of beagles to the village. It was reported that a “a brisk 45 minute run” was provided by a hare, which happily escaped, as did several others over the course of the afternoon.
Since there are few detailed stories about the North Bucks Beagles, this makes their history a rather tricky one to decipher. It is however intriguing that the Bucks Herald of November 29th, 1913, records that a W. Uthwatt (presumably William Francis Edolph Andrewes Uthwatt) was then the master of an organisation known as the North Bucks Beagles. It is the briefest of passing references, but perhaps points to the possibility that a pack was then kennelled in the parish.
However, this appears to be the only newspaper reference to the North Bucks Beagles in that entire decade, and it is not until February of 1927 that a report of a pack of that name hunting appears in the Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press of the 12th. Frustratingly, the article dwells entirely on the thrill and speed of a chase across the Northamptonshire countryside, providing no details on where the pack might have been kennelled at the time. They had been invited to Northamptonshire on this occasion by a landowner, so the location of the hunt does not imply they were kennelled anywhere other than Buckinghamshire.
A brief line carried in the Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press of July 29th, 1933, tells us that moves were afoot to establish a new pack named the North Bucks Beagles at Chicheley (about 5 miles from Great Linford), so one must presume that the earlier hunt of the same name had become defunct sometime in the intervening years. It appears however that efforts at Chicheley stalled, but in October of 1935 it was reported in the Northampton Mercury of the 18th that the hounds had, “been placed on an established footing” with the setting up of kennels at Sherington. This is just 4 miles from Great Linford, so it hardly seems surprising that the beagles were such frequent visitors to the parish. The master of the hunt at this time appears to have been Major General Bertram Fitzherbert Widdrington.
It is worthy of note that for a period in the late 1940s, the Bucks Otterhounds and the North Bucks Beagles were holding a joint ball each year, so clearly there was a close connection (both socially and geographically) between the two hunts. However, the hunts no longer appear to have been partying together by 1952, when the ball reverted to an affair solely connected to the North Bucks Beagles.
Waddy Wadsworth, a well-known member of the hunting fraternity and a writer on the subject, mentions in his book A Sporting Life, that the North Bucks Beagles were kennelled alongside the Bucks otterhounds at Newport Pagnell. Unfortunately Wadsworth’s account provides no date, though he offers the additional clue that they were both kennelled with a local vet, the aforementioned Peter How. Writing in Hounds of Britain, (published 1973), Jack Ivester Lloyd offers that he, “was keeping going the nuclei of the North Bucks Beagles and the Bucks Otterhounds during the Second World War.” A Peter How is pictured at one of the combined hunt balls in 1949. He is also mentioned Lloyd's weekly column in The Bucks Standard. The column for the edition dated February 11th, 1966, speaks of Peter How kennelling the North Bucks Beagles at his practice in Willen Road, though again, no specific date is provided.
Exactly when a beagle pack was established in the county is uncertain, though we do find one interesting story from January 1909, that Gerard Uthwatt had invited a Lord Maulden to bring his pack of beagles to the village. It was reported that a “a brisk 45 minute run” was provided by a hare, which happily escaped, as did several others over the course of the afternoon.
Since there are few detailed stories about the North Bucks Beagles, this makes their history a rather tricky one to decipher. It is however intriguing that the Bucks Herald of November 29th, 1913, records that a W. Uthwatt (presumably William Francis Edolph Andrewes Uthwatt) was then the master of an organisation known as the North Bucks Beagles. It is the briefest of passing references, but perhaps points to the possibility that a pack was then kennelled in the parish.
However, this appears to be the only newspaper reference to the North Bucks Beagles in that entire decade, and it is not until February of 1927 that a report of a pack of that name hunting appears in the Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press of the 12th. Frustratingly, the article dwells entirely on the thrill and speed of a chase across the Northamptonshire countryside, providing no details on where the pack might have been kennelled at the time. They had been invited to Northamptonshire on this occasion by a landowner, so the location of the hunt does not imply they were kennelled anywhere other than Buckinghamshire.
A brief line carried in the Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press of July 29th, 1933, tells us that moves were afoot to establish a new pack named the North Bucks Beagles at Chicheley (about 5 miles from Great Linford), so one must presume that the earlier hunt of the same name had become defunct sometime in the intervening years. It appears however that efforts at Chicheley stalled, but in October of 1935 it was reported in the Northampton Mercury of the 18th that the hounds had, “been placed on an established footing” with the setting up of kennels at Sherington. This is just 4 miles from Great Linford, so it hardly seems surprising that the beagles were such frequent visitors to the parish. The master of the hunt at this time appears to have been Major General Bertram Fitzherbert Widdrington.
It is worthy of note that for a period in the late 1940s, the Bucks Otterhounds and the North Bucks Beagles were holding a joint ball each year, so clearly there was a close connection (both socially and geographically) between the two hunts. However, the hunts no longer appear to have been partying together by 1952, when the ball reverted to an affair solely connected to the North Bucks Beagles.
Waddy Wadsworth, a well-known member of the hunting fraternity and a writer on the subject, mentions in his book A Sporting Life, that the North Bucks Beagles were kennelled alongside the Bucks otterhounds at Newport Pagnell. Unfortunately Wadsworth’s account provides no date, though he offers the additional clue that they were both kennelled with a local vet, the aforementioned Peter How. Writing in Hounds of Britain, (published 1973), Jack Ivester Lloyd offers that he, “was keeping going the nuclei of the North Bucks Beagles and the Bucks Otterhounds during the Second World War.” A Peter How is pictured at one of the combined hunt balls in 1949. He is also mentioned Lloyd's weekly column in The Bucks Standard. The column for the edition dated February 11th, 1966, speaks of Peter How kennelling the North Bucks Beagles at his practice in Willen Road, though again, no specific date is provided.
Pictured: Major W. R. E. A. Uthwatt-Bouverie, M.F.H., Mrs. Uthwatt-Bouverie, Mr Peter How, Miss Ruth West, Lieut.-Col. L. Parratt, Mrs. West, Mr Andrew West, and Mrs. R. H. Farr.
The North Bucks Beagles were still in operation in 2022 as a “drag hunt”, located at Melchbourne in Bedford.
Rabbit coursing
The Bicester Herald of February 3rd, 1888, reported on a Rabbit Coursing competition held at the Black Horse Inn, with a compliment of young men from Wolverton having brought their dogs to compete. The dogs, including Spot, Tartar, Jack and Boxer vied against each other, killing several rabbits and with Boxer and Jack declared winners.
Shooting
Not unsurprisingly, shooting of one variety or another is another sport that we can find reference to in the parish, with an early example being a pigeon shooting competition held February 24th, 1860, the prize for which was, “a fat pig.” None of the competitors named appear to be Great Linford residents, but after the event a luncheon was held at the Black Horse.
Shooting is of course one of those sports beloved of the upper classes, and in 1935 the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of November 8th, carried a number of pictures of a shooting party at Great Linford, led by a Ralph Pinker. Who this is, we can only speculate upon, but conceivably it was James Ralph Seabrooke Pinker, who liked to be called Ralph. He was the second generation of a family of literary agents; his father had been very successful in representing some well-known authors, and both his sons had followed in his footsteps. Sadly they appear to have lacked his business acumen, and by 1941 Ralph went bankrupt with £30,000 of debts. Too many shooting parties perhaps.
Shooting is of course one of those sports beloved of the upper classes, and in 1935 the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of November 8th, carried a number of pictures of a shooting party at Great Linford, led by a Ralph Pinker. Who this is, we can only speculate upon, but conceivably it was James Ralph Seabrooke Pinker, who liked to be called Ralph. He was the second generation of a family of literary agents; his father had been very successful in representing some well-known authors, and both his sons had followed in his footsteps. Sadly they appear to have lacked his business acumen, and by 1941 Ralph went bankrupt with £30,000 of debts. Too many shooting parties perhaps.
|
|
