HUNTING
FOXHOUNDS
The only pack of foxhounds to which
Middlesex can lay claim is the original Old
Berkeley Hunt, which ceased to hunt the
county more than half a century ago and is
now divided into the Old Berkeley East
and the Old Berkeley West, whose kennels
are at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire and
at Hazelmere Park, High Wycombe, respectively.
The original Old Berkeley Hunt was
formed by Frederick Augustus, fifth Lord
Berkeley, who adopted orange yellow or
'tawny' coats for it in commemoration of the
fact-stated by Smith in his MS. history of
the Berkeley family-that 'a former Lord
Berkeley' kept thirty huntsmen in 'tawny
coats' and his hounds at the village of
Charing, now Charing Cross in the centre
of London, and hunted in the vicinity. (fn. 1) It
was not so called, however, till after Lord
Berkeley's death in 1810, when this name
was given to it in memory of its founder
by Mr. Harvey Combe, who succeeded him
as master, and for a similar reason retained
the Berkeley livery. (fn. 2)
The country hunted by Lord Berkeley
has probably never been exceeded in extent,
though authorities differ as to its exact limits.
'Nimrod' in his Hunting Tours, written in
1835, says that it extended from Scratch
Wood, seven miles from London and then
part of Wormwood Scrubbs, to Cirencester,
a distance of upwards of eighty miles;
while 'Cecil,' writing in 1854, makes Scratch
Wood five miles from London, and says that
the Old Berkeley country extended to beyond
Thornbury in Gloucestershire. (fn. 3) Mr. George
Grantley Berkeley, whose Reminiscences of a
Huntsman was also published in 1854, says
that his father 'used to hunt all the country
from Kensington Gardens to Berkeley Castle
and Bristol,' and his opinion as regards
Kensington appears to be confirmed by the
statement made to him by old Tom Oldaker,
Lord Berkeley's huntsman, that he had while
with his father once 'found a fox in Scratch
Wood and lost him in rough ground and
cover in Kensington.' (fn. 4) There were kennels
at Cranford and at Nettlebed near Henley on
Thames, and another, Grantley Berkeley believed, at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire.
'Where else the hounds used to put up in that
wide stretch of country,' he adds, 'I know
not, but I suppose occasionally at inns.' (fn. 5)
At the time 'Nimrod' wrote, the subscription to the Old Berkeley did not exceed £700
per annum, the remainder being made up by
Mr. Harvey Combe and Mr. Marjoribanks.
Six hunters and a hack were provided for a
given annual sum by Mr. Tilbury for Henry
and Robert Oldaker, the sons of Lord Berkeley's
old huntsman, who were respectively huntsman and whipper-in to Mr. Harvey Combe,
'but they are never at a loss for a horse, for
Mr. Harvey Combe always has a good stud.' (fn. 6)
There seems to have been no very distinctive
character in the Old Berkeley pack, owing to
the fact that Tom Oldaker had not bred
hounds for many years past but trusted to
drafts to keep up his kennel-a defect which
his son Henry did his best to remedy. The
hounds were however
very steady . . . very true to the line and with a
scent pretty sure of their fox . . . I saw [says
Nimrod] no fault in the condition of the Old
Berkeley hounds, taking into consideration the
great extent of country they travel over, the
frequent change of kennel, and the very wet
weather to which they are exposed. (fn. 7)
The sale of this pack at Hyde Park Corner
in 1842 is described by Mr. Robert Vyner
in his Notitia Venatica as the 'most remarkable ever known.'
The lots sold were thirteen in number, making
127 hounds, exclusive of whelps; their produce
was 6,511 guineas, or upwards of £100 per couple.
It was Mr. Osbaldeston's old pack that realised
this enormous sum. It had been sold conditionally
some years earlier to Mr. Harvey Combe, and
upon Mr. Combe's relinquishing the Old Berkeley
country where these hounds had been hunting
they were sent to Mr. Tattersall's to be sold by
auction. Report says it was a fictitious sale;
whether it was or not it gave employment to
gentlemen of the long robe, there being some
previous agreement between Mr. Osbaldeston and
Mr. Combe relative to the price the hounds
might fetch if sold at the time when Mr. Combe
chose to part with them. (fn. 8)
As time went on the Old Berkeley were
obliged, Brooksby tells us, to abstain from
advertising their meets
in order to avoid the pressure of a swarm of nondescripts who, starting from every suburb in London,
were glad to make a meet of foxhounds their excuse
for a holiday on hackney or wagonette, overwhelming the whole procedure by their presence
and irritating farmers and landowners, to the great
injury of the hunt. (fn. 9)
At that time there was still in the Harrow
district 'a small stretch of as good grass as
is to be ridden over in England,' but it was
yearly being narrowed by 'the advancing
waste of bricks and mortar' and the increase
in the value of land arising from the spread
of London westward. (fn. 10) As in the case of
Mr. Grantley Berkeley's staghounds, these
conditions proved eventually fatal to the
continuance of the Old Berkeley Hunt under
its old conditions and resulted in its division
into the two packs which still maintain its
traditions in neighbouring counties.