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Beagling


rover1949

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I lived near Ecclesfield in the 60s and on quiet evenings we could hear a pack of dogs yelping nearby.  Some said it was the local foxhounds, others said it was Beagles, but we never saw any sign of them out and about.

Some years later, I was on the top of Kinder Scout when I heard a pack of dogs approaching and the sound of a hunting horn. A man appeared dressed in hunting outfit but with a green coat. I have been told that green indicates a Beagler?

Can anyone help here? Do beagles actually hunt for anything specific? Why on Kinder Scout?

 

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In the 1960's it was the Ecclesfield Beagles. Having left the area long ago I have no idea if they still meet although I do remember they always had a special meet on Boxing day.

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2 hours ago, lysander said:

I do remember they always had a special meet on Boxing day.

Most folk have a special meat on Xmas day, not Boxing Day.lol

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There was a pack of hounds in kennels behind Ecclesfield shooting range which was behind the houses above the Griffin pub. We used to fire air rifles there in the seventies. Definitely Beagle hounds housed there. Saw rats as big as cats there. Heard that the dogs were fed on stil born calves from the butchers on the corner of Feoffes Rd by the church 

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My grandfather was master of the Ecclesfield Beagles. The Boxing day meet if I remember was always held at Wentworth. The Rockingham Arms was the meeting place. 

I've got some old photos if anyone is interested.

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Simon, that would be great, - did he wear a green coat?

Someone who followed the beagles in the 60s recalls meeting on Christmas Day in Ecclesfield Square, then up past the church and over the fields to Grenoside.

He also thinks they were hunting foxes at the time, which may be why some people remember them as 'foxhounds'.

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12 hours ago, rover1949 said:

Simon, that would be great, - did he wear a green coat?

Someone who followed the beagles in the 60s recalls meeting on Christmas Day in Ecclesfield Square, then up past the church and over the fields to Grenoside.

He also thinks they were hunting foxes at the time, which may be why some people remember them as 'foxhounds'.

Give me a couple of weeks I'm away from home until 5th December.

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@rover1949

Can't be sure what colour coat, seem to think he had red and green coats. The Boxing Day meet was definitely at Wentworth, I do remember a calendar of meets was released every year so Ecclesfield would definitely be on it.

Jack (2).jpg

Jack (3).jpg

Jack (5).jpg

Jack.jpg

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Thanks Simon, great photos.  I also see the Strines Inn, so they got around.

Any guesses on the stately home in the last pic?

From the clothes and motor cars, I would guess these are pre-war?

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9 hours ago, rover1949 said:

 

Any guesses on the stately home in the last pic?

It's Hickleton Hall, half a mile east of Thurnscoe, and was the home of Lord Halifax.

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 Lord Halifax, a leading Conservative, was  Foreign Secretary at the outbreak of WW2. On Chamberlain's resignation he was offered the job of PM but declined. After furious rows with WSC in the War Cabinet it was feared he was secretly attempting to negotiate peace terms with Hitler... via Mussolini .  In late 1940 he was moved to our Embassy in Washington where he became Ambassador. The Halifax's disposed of the  Hall's contents in 1947 and for a period the Hall was leased by a girl's school. Later ( and for almost 50 years) it was a Sue Ryder Home where, initially a few  infirm survivors of the Holocaust made their home.

 

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Presumably that it the noble lord mounted on the horse? I thought that beagles were followed on foot, maybe nobody told him.

Now we have quite a large area (Ecclesfield-Wentworth-Strines-Thurnscoe) and range of dates 1930-70 with WW2 in between.

Did anyone else see them in action?

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The gentleman on the horse is definitely Lord Halifax.  In December 1930 he hosted the Eton College beagles at his premises, and the Sheffield papers included this photograph of his Lordship and the Honourable Mrs Sutton in their report. There seems to be scope for confusion as from 1925 until 1934 Lord Halifax (Edward Frederick Lindley Wood) was known as Lord Irwin, and from 1934 until 1944 he was known as Viscount Halifax.  The newspaper report says that the Eton hounds were under the mastership of the Hon. Charles Wood, eldest son of Lord Irwin.  I must admit that the gentleman in these photos looks more like old man Steptoe than the Foreign Secretary pictured with Herman Goring.

5a2c449411ec7_LordandLadyHalifax.png.40e4f3a7239b9020e639b16e569b7944.png

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I fear we are getting our Halifax's confused.There exist many photos of Lord Halifax ( the Foreign Secretary and Ambassador and latterly 1st Earl of Halifax) on the internet and they all show a beardless man. He died aged 78 in 1959. The photo you have is of Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax...a very bearded , and in 1930a very old man who was President of the English Church Union. He died in 1934 aged 95.

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My simple assumption that green hunting jackets denotes beaglers, following on foot, has proved to be wrong.

One of the Christmas papers showed the Duke of Beaufort's Hunt wearing green jackets, riding on horseback and following foxhounds.

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On 09/12/2017 at 12:27, Edmund said:

The gentleman on the horse is definitely Lord Halifax.  In December 1930 he hosted the Eton College beagles at his premises, and the Sheffield papers included this photograph of his Lordship and the Honourable Mrs Sutton in their report. There seems to be scope for confusion as from 1925 until 1934 Lord Halifax (Edward Frederick Lindley Wood) was known as Lord Irwin, and from 1934 until 1944 he was known as Viscount Halifax.  The newspaper report says that the Eton hounds were under the mastership of the Hon. Charles Wood, eldest son of Lord Irwin.  I must admit that the gentleman in these photos looks more like old man Steptoe than the Foreign Secretary pictured with Herman Goring.

5a2c449411ec7_LordandLadyHalifax.png.40e4f3a7239b9020e639b16e569b7944.png

Scrimmaging thru a few old files and I found the originals plus some more,will scan and add to post later. Yes it is Lord Halifax and Hickleton Hall. The 3rd photo from above is Whitley Hall.

 

The second photo from above was taken by:

JT Walters, Press and Commercial Photographer

66 Harlington Road

Mexborough

 

His/Her telephone number was " Mexboro 28"

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Scanned_at_2018-05-21_16-04_PM.thumb.jpg.2bf61cc343417e9149d9e2922b248616.jpg

This photo has a note attached:

Jan 22 Hounds meet at Scarborough

The Derwent hounds met at the residence of the amateur huntsman of the pack Mr Arthur Webster, Moor House,

Stepney Road. This meeting in glorious weather and a big field.

It is a rare event for the pack to meet in town and there was the usual big attendance.

The pack came right onto the lawn in front of the house and here is the picture showing them with Kennel Huntsman  Fitzpatrick (left), Mr Arthur Webster amateur huntsman and the Master Mr EL Styring. With some of the company behind

 

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I had lunch today with Mum at the Strines Inn.  We sat in the room on the right hand side, full of old photos, copper kettles etc.  On the wall above us was the mounted head of a hare, with the inscription "Ecclesfield Beagles 24th December 1955".  When I told my wife she was surprised that there was enough left of the hare to have it mounted, the beagles must have had an off day.

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Well spotted Edmund. 

I was in the Strines Inn two weeks ago after the Dambusters flypast (which didn't happen) and must have walked past this several times over the years.

This proves the Ecclesfield-Beagles-Hare hunting connection I think?

The previous photo from Simon mentions the Derwent hounds, which is the same area.  Are they foxhounds, as opposed to Beagles?

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