'Totally single-minded in his enthusiasm for hunting'

In the first of an occasional series about great foxhunters he knew personally, Alastair Jackson discusses the 10th Duke of Beaufort, the "foremost figure" in 20th-century hunting

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THERE is little doubt that the 10th Duke of Beaufort, who died in 1984, stands out as the foremost figure in 20th-century foxhunting.

Although christened Henry Hugh Arthur Fitzroy and being 21st in line from John of Gaunt, whose father, it will be remembered, was Edward III, he was known to everyone as "Master". He gained his nickname when he hunted a small pack of harriers that his father gave him as a boy and he would be asked, "Where are you going to draw next, Master?"

From the very start he was single-minded in his enthusiasm for hunting and was remarkable in that he was a first-rate horseman as well as huntsman and hound breeder. He hunted hounds for 47 years himself and continued to ride to hounds virtually until his death at the age of 83, during his 60th season as master.

I was lucky to have enjoyed a season hunting with the Beaufort in the early 1960s as a farm pupil in that country.

The hounds were out six days a week then, with Master hunting his bitches on Wednesdays and Saturdays, his joint-master, Major Gerald Gundry, hunting the doghounds on Mondays and Thursdays and kennel-huntsman Bert Pateman hunting the mixed pack on Tuesdays and Fridays.

My memory of hunting with Master was of almost constant hunting with very little noise. More often than not things were kept on the move with a view from one of the whippersin communicating with the use of a whistle, never a holloa, so as not to distract the hounds. This resulted in regular good hunts, often with long points, which kept the large fields, usually numbering more than 200 horsemen, well spread out.