The Eton College hunt : $b A short history of beagling at EtonCrossley, Anthony Crommelin
History
The Eton College hunt : $b A short history of beagling at Eton
Crossley, Anthony Crommelin
Beagling; Eton College Hunt -- History
During the Michaelmas Half 1919 J. F. de Sales La Terrière took the
matter in hand, and he may now have the satisfaction of knowing that it
was entirely due to him that the E.C.H. has again been set on its legs.
He confronted the Head Master on several occasions and eventually secured
his permission to collect the hounds. Circulars had been sent to all the
farmers, and practically no unfavourable replies had been received. The
Head Master made three stipulations: that the Hunt must not be subsidized
from outside, that no Lower Boys should run, and that hunting should
close on March 20th.
Experience has subsequently proved that the Slough Motor Dépôt has not by
any means spoiled the hunting country of the E.C.H. True it has had the
effect of putting an end to hunting in the Salt Hill country, but many
old Masters have expressed their opinion that they would never willingly
have hunted there at all owing to the danger of the railway to hounds.
La Terrière had to surmount many difficulties in his work of getting the
hounds back. He has told the story in his own words in the Journal Book:
“As we were in a muzzled area, I went down to the Police Station to find
out if there were any restrictions about hunting. They were decidedly
vague about the whole affair, but advised me to write to the Board of
Agriculture and Fisheries to find out if a permit was necessary or not.
This I did, and on receiving no answer from them I got leave to go up to
Town and stir them up a bit. When I got there I was told that I could
collect the hounds from unmuzzled areas, but as we were in a special area
we were on no account to hunt them.
“This at first seemed to be the final stroke of bad luck against the
hunt, and at that time there was apparently no chance of restarting them
in the Easter Half, owing to the fact that there would be no person
left who knew anything about the country. But nothing daunted I decided
to collect the pack here, because, if the muzzling order came off in
January, as was expected, they would be ready for hunting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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