Prosperity to Stag Hunting, the badge of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds
The
red deer of
Exmoor have been hunted since Norman times, when Exmoor was declared a
Royal Forest. Collyns stated the earliest record of a pack of
Staghounds on Exmoor was 1598. In 1803, the "North Devon Staghounds" became a subscription pack. In 1824/5 30 couples of hounds, the last of the true staghounds, were sold to a baron in Germany.[1] Today, the Devon and Somerset is one of three staghounds packs in the UK, the others being the Quantock Staghounds and the Tiverton Staghounds. All packs hunt within Devon and Somerset. The Chairman as of 2016 is
Tom Yandle, who was previously
High Sheriff of Somerset in 1999.
Season
The approximate dates of the hunting season are:
Hind hunting: 1 November-28 February
Stag hunting:
Autumn: August to third week in October; formerly 12 August to 8 October, according to Collyns[2]
Spring: last week of March; continues about three weeks[3]
Edward Dyke (d. 1746),[5] of
Pixton, in Somerset, (eldest brother of Thomas Dyke (d. 1745) of
Tetton and of John Dyke (d. 1732) of
Holnicote, all in Somerset), was the warden and lesee of the
royal forest of
Exmoor and Master of Staghounds, which office usually was held by the warder.[6] He married Margaret Trevelyan, a daughter of
Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet (1670–1755), of
Nettlecombe in Somerset, and widow of
Alexander Luttrell (1705–1737) of
Dunster Castle. Edward inherited Holnicote and estates in
Bampton from his brother John Dyke (d. 1732), who died without progeny. He too died without progeny and bequeathed Pixton and Holnicote to his niece Elizabeth Dyke (d. 1753), whom he appointed his sole executor, daughter and sole heiress of his brother Thomas Dyke (d. 1745) of
Tetton, Kingston St Mary, Somerset. The bequest stipulated that Elizabeth and her husband
Sir Thomas Acland, 7th Baronet (1722–1785) of
Killerton in Devon and
Petherton Park in Somerset, should adopt the additional surname of Dyke.
1746-1775[7]Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1722–1785), of
Killerton in Devon and of
Petherton Park,
Tetton,
Holnicote and
Pixton, all in Somerset, kept his own pack of staghounds. He became forester or ranger of Exmoor under grant from the Crown and "hunted the country in almost princely style. Respected and beloved by all the countryside, he was solicited at the same time to allow himself to be returned as member of Parliament for the counties of Devon and Somerset. He preferred, however, the duties and pleasures of life in the country, where he bore without abuse the grand old name of gentleman".[8] Although he had three of his own kennels on his huge estates, at Holnicote in the north and at Jury and Highercombe near Pixton in the south, he had a further method of keeping hounds, which was to make the keeping of one hound a term in many of the tenancy contracts he granted. In his manor of
Bossington (near Holnicote) alone an estate survey of 1746–7 lists twelve tenements let, either by Acland or Dyke, with the requirement to keep a hound.[9] In 1775 he handed over the mastership to the then Major Basset, and in 1779 his beloved collection of stag heads and antlers at Holnicote was lost in a fire which also destroyed the house. He declared that "he minded the destruction of his valuables less bitterly than the loss of his fine collection of stags' heads".[10] He was known on his estates as "Sir Thomas his Honour"[11] (as later was his son the 9th Baronet) and was renowned for his generous hospitality at Holnicote or at Pixton, whichever was closest, to all riders "in at the death",[12] and it is said that "open house was kept at Pixton and Holnicote throughout the hunting season".[13] Pixton was the larger establishment, richly equipped with silver-plate and linen, including 73 tablecloths, but both houses had silver dinner services of five dozen plates and any number of tankards, cups, bowls, dishes and salvers. A letter dated 1759 written on behalf of Courtenay Walrond of
Bradfield, Uffculme describes the Acland hospitality:[14]
"This noble chase being ended, my master, his brother and Mr Brutton with about 20 gentlemen more waited on Sir Thomas Acland at Pixton where each of them drank the health of the stag in a full quart glass of claret placed in the stag's mouth & after drinking several proper healths they went in good order to their respective beds about 2 o'clock and dined with Sir Thomas the next day on a haunch of the noble creature and about 50 dishes of the greatest rarities among which were several black grouse".
He returned briefly as joint-master in August 1784, but died in February 1785, aged 63[11]
North Devon Staghounds
1775-1784 Col. Francis Basset Esq. (c.1740-1802),[15][16] of Heanton Court,
Heanton Punchardon, near Barnstaple, and of Umberleigh House,
Umberleigh, Lt. Col. of the
North Devon Militia 1779-93),[17] MP for
Barnstaple 1780-84. He is not however stated in his History of Parliament biography [18] to have been a colonel, or a military man in any capacity, yet was termed "Col. Bassett" by the Devon topographer Rev.
John Swete in his 1796 painting of Heanton Court,
Heanton Punchardon, near Barnstaple, which he described as the seat of "Col. Basset".[19] He was the second but only surviving son of John Francis Basset (1714–1757) by his wife Eleanor Courtenay, daughter of
Sir William Courtenay, 2nd Baronet and de jure 6th
Earl of Devon. He died unmarried, being the last in the male line of the Heanton branch of the ancient
Basset family. His heir was his nephew Joseph Davie (1764-1846) of
Orleigh Court, near
Bideford, who took the name Basset in lieu of his patronymic and built
Watermouth Castle, near
Lynmouth.He was the son of John Davie of Orleigh by his wife Eleanora Bassett, sister of Col. Bassett (d.1802). Joseph's granddaughter and eventual heiress was Harriet Mary Bassett (d.1920), who married
Charles Henry Williams, who assumed the surname Bassett as a condition of inheriting his wife's property, and became master 1887-93 (see below). The
Basset family is an ancient West Country family, which originated either in the manor of
Tehidy, Cornwall or at
Whitechapel Manor in the parish of
Bishops Nympton, Devon.
Stalls in stable block built by
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752–1794) at
Holnicote, now owned by the
National Trust. The thirty stag heads on the walls date from about 1787 to 1793 and were killed under his mastership of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. Some of the brow points of the antlers were notoriously sawn-off by a groom because they interfered with the loading of hay into the mangers.[20] A similar collection of stag heads amassed by his father the 7th Baronet, and much beloved by the latter, was destroyed during a fire at Holnicote in 1779[21]Loose boxes in stable block built by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752–1794) at Holnicote, with his stag head trophies
1784-1794
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752-1794), second son of the 7th Baronet who was master 1746-1775. He devoted the last ten years of his life almost entirely to staghunting and virtually abandoned the family's main seat at
Killerton, preferring to live almost entirely at
Holnicote and at Highercombe, near
Dulverton, in the heart of the hunting country. He killed 101 stags during his mastership, the antlers of thirty of which are still affixed to the walls of the stables at Holnicote.[22] He also succeeded Col. Basset as Lt.Col. of the
North Devon Militia (1793-4).[23]
"The General".
Mordaunt Fenwick-Bisset,
MP, (1825–1884), Master 1855-1881, as caricatured by Spy in Vanity Fair, December 1881. He built the present kennels in Exford in 1876 and donated them to the Committee.Portrait of Mordaunt Fenwick-Bisset, MSH, on his favourite hunter Chanticleer, with a stag at bay in Badgworthy Water, Exmoor, by
Samuel John Carter, 1871Viscount Ebrington, from 1905
Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl Fortescue (1854–1932). Engraving by Joseph Brown from a photograph by John Mayall. He acquired the whole of the former Royal Forest of Exmoor after the death of
Frederick Winn Knight in 1897"The Devon and Somerset", caricature of
Viscount Ebrington by
Ape, Vanity Fair 19 February 1887
1837–1841 – Charles Palk Collyns (1793–1864) formed a new pack, named the "Devon and Somerset Subscription Staghounds".[25] Collyns, a doctor living at Bilboa House, Dulverton, was the youngest son of William Collyns, a surgeon of
Kenton, near Exeter, Devon.[26] He was possibly related to the family of the
Palk baronets of Haldon House, in the
Haldon Hills, near Kenton. His hunting diaries and subscription lists are held by Somerset Archives.[27] He wrote the standard work on West Country stag-hunting Chase of the Wild Red Deer, 1862. His inscribed grave stone, next to that of his son, survives against the external eastern wall of Dulverton Church, the only two stones in that position, clearly one of some honour.
1842–1847 –
Hon. Newton Fellowes (1772–Jan. 1854), of
Eggesford, brother-in-law of
Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue. He was the second son of
John Wallop, 2nd Earl of Portsmouth (d.1797) by his wife Urania Fellowes, heiress of Eggesford. Newton received from his mother the Eggesford estate, his elder brother having inherited in 1797 the earldom and his paternal lands in Hampshire. Newton demolished the old Eggesford House next to Eggesford Church and rebuilt it on the opposite side of the hill on the site of the former Heywood House. This house was in ruins in 1995, but was shortly thereafter restored. He was a keen 4-in-hand carriage driver and improved many of the roads near Eggesford to facilitate his driving. He built the present bridge over the River Taw across which the A377 "scenic route" was built in about 1830 as a toll road. He married in 1820 as his second wife Lady Catherine Fortescue (1787-20/5/1854), a daughter of
Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue (1753–1841) of
Castle Hill, Filleigh. He became
4th Earl of Portsmouth in the last year of his life, following the death of his elder brother
John Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth in 1853, the latter having had only one daughter and having been declared insane since 1809.[28]
1855–1881 –
Mordaunt Fenwick-Bisset (1825–1884). "Restored the sport and put it on the footing from whence the present flourishing state of things has come", (Everard, 1902, p. 366). He reintroduced red deer to the Quantock Hills and built kennels at
Bagborough House, a few miles northwest of Taunton.[29] He lived at
Pixton Park, Dulverton, which he rented from Lord Carnarvon, and kennelled the hounds at Jury, at the bottom of Pixton Drive.[30] In January 1879, the pack was destroyed due to
rabies. He sat as
MP for
West Somerset from 1880 until his resignation in 1883.
Charles Henry Basset, MSH 1887-1893. Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, no. 380, October 1891, vol. 56
1887–1893 –
Charles Henry Basset, Esq. (1834–1908), (born Williams) of
Watermouth Castle, near
Lynmouth, JP,
DL and MP for Barnstaple (1868–1874). Born 16 November 1834, being the fourth surviving son of
Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet (1791–1870), MFH,[31] of Tregullow, Cornwall, by his wife Caroline Eales, younger daughter of Richard Eales of Eastdon, Lieutenant
RN. Aged 13, he entered the Navy as a cadet on HMS Southampton. He served during the
Crimean War in the
Black Sea, and
Sea of Azof, and was a Major in the
Royal North Devon Yeomanry (or Hussars). In 1873, he lost his left arm in an accident whilst working a steam engine at
Barnstaple.[32] He married on 7 January 1878, Harriet Mary Basset (d. 1920), only daughter and sole heiress of Arthur Davie Basset, Esq., of
Watermouth Castle (son of Joseph Davie Bassett (1764-1846)), and sister and co-heiress of Reverend Arthur Crawfurth Davie Basset, (1830–1880) JP and MA, also of Watermouth. As a condition of his inheritance, he assumed for himself his wife and their progeny by Royal Licence dated 11 October 1880 the surname of Basset in lieu of his patronymic, with the arms of Basset.[33] Armorial bearings: Barry wavy of six or and gules in the centre chief point a cross crosslet of the last Crest: on a wreath of the colours, a unicorn's head couped argent, the mane, beard, and horn or, on the neck two bars indented gules, and charged for distinction with a cross crosslet also gules. Motto: Bene agere ac Laetari. His estates were at
Pilton House near Barnstaple; Westaway, his model farm in the parish of Pilton;
Umberleigh House,
Atherington;
Watermouth Castle, Berrynarbor, all in North Devon.
1893-1895 Colonel F. Hornby, who had previously been Field Master of the Queen's Staghounds. Entered office July 1893,[37] resigned in Spring 1895[38] and went on in 1895 to be Master of the Essex Union Foxhounds.[39]
Robert Arthur Sanders MSH 1895-1907 (
Baron Bayford from 1929). Portrait from Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, no. 475, September 1899, vol. 72
1895-1907
Robert Arthur Sanders (1867–1940) (
Baron Bayford from 1929). Took on the mastership on Colonel F. Hornby's resignation in the spring of 1895, and increased the hunting days from three to four each week, being the first master to hunt the hounds himself, which he did one day per week, Viscount Ebrington then acting as Field Master.[40] He married Miss Lucy Halliday, of Glenthorne, near
Lynton, at
Oare Church in July 1893.[41] Mr. Sanders contested the Eastern division of Bristol at the General Election of 1900, and considerably lowered the previous Liberal majority. In 1901 he became an alderman of the
Somerset County Council.[40] He was the son of Arthur Sanders, of Fernhill,
Isle of Wight, and was born in
Paddington,
London, and educated at
Harrow, where he was head boy,[42] and
Balliol College, Oxford where he graduated with 1st class honours in Law. He became a barrister at the
Inner Temple in 1891. Following his resignation of the mastership he became a
Conservative Member of Parliament for
Bridgwater,
Somerset from 1910 until 1923. From 1911 to 1917 he was
Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Royal North Devon Yeomanry and served at
Gallipoli, and in
Egypt and
Palestine. He was appointed a
deputy lieutenant of
Somerset in 1912.[43] He was
Treasurer of the Household (Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons), 1918–1919, and a junior
Lord of the Treasury from 1919 until 1921. He then held ministerial office as
Under-Secretary of State for War from 1921 to 1922 and
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1922 to 1924. He was created a
baronet in the 1920 New Year Honours[44] and appointed to the
Privy Council in 1922. He was MP for
Wells in Somerset from 1924 to 1929, when he was raised to the peerage as
Baron Bayford, of Stoke Trister in the County of Somerset.[45] He married Lucy Sophia, daughter of William Halliday, in 1893. They had one son and two daughters. As his only son committed suicide in 1920, the title became extinct on Bayford's death in February 1940, aged 72. Lady Bayford died in September 1957.
1907-c.1909 Edmund Arthur Vesey Stanley (1879–1941), from May 1907 following Mr Sanders' retirement. He was the son of Mr Edward James Stanley (d. 1907), of
Quantock Lodge,
Over StoweyMP for Bridgwater and a large landowner, by his wife Hon. Mary Dorothy Labouchere (1843–1920), a daughter of
Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton (1798–1869), the prominent Liberal politician, MP for Taunton 1830-59 and Cabinet Minister. Labouchere purchased the manor of Over Stowey in 1833, and was created Baron Taunton in 1859. He built the Gothic revival castle known as Quantock Lodge, which later became Quantock School[46] E.J. Stanley offered Mr Sanders to maintain a separate pack to hunt the Quantocks deer. The Committee and Master agreed and made over the country on permanent loan. His son, Edmund Stanley, then aged 22 performed the duty of huntsman. On his acceptance of the mastership of the D&S the Quantocks pack was discontinued.[47] His sister became Mrs Heathcote-Amory, which family was associated with the Tiverton Staghounds, whilst his eldest brother, Lt. H. T. Stanley was killed in the
Boer War.
1911/12–1914 – Major Morland John Greig, of Edgcott House, Exford. Killed in action at
Gallipoli in October 1915[48][49] fighting with the 1st
Royal North Devon Yeomanry.[50] Dick Lloyd, President of the D&SSH, spoke in 2001 as follows about Morland Greig:[51] "They never had a fixed house. They shuffled from one to another in an amazing way. They lived at Edgcott and Yealscombe, and Kings, Withypool... The Greigs were tremendously part of Exmoor in those days. Grandfather Greig, Morland Greig, was master of the Devon and Somerset when the first war started. When the war started on the 3rd of August and on the 4th or 5th they took the hounds to the meet, he says in his diary that he went in mufti and the staff in uniform. They sang 'God save the King', and he sent the hounds home. He went straight off to his regiment, which was the
Royal North Devon Yeomanry. In due course he went to Gallipoli and was killed. He was aged 53 (in fact 50[52]). How many people of 43 or even 33, do you know who went to the last war? It was amazing fortitude. They wouldn't have let him go now. He was killed commanding the squadron in Gallipoli". His memorial tablet exists in St. Mary Magdalene Church, Exford. He was the son of John Peter Morland Greig and Annie Lydia Greig and married Kate Greig, of Edgcott, Exford, Somerset. He is buried at I.I.16. HILL 10 CEMETERY. A bust-length watercolour portrait of him 11 1/8" * 10 1/8" was painted by Olivia Mary Bryden (1883–1951) of Eastbourne and sold at auction by Bonhams Knightsbridge, 27 July 2005, Sporting Pictures, sale no. 11639, lot 69.[53]
1915-c.1917 - Committee
c.1917-1919/20 - William Badco (1864–1921) of Cardiff,[48] tramp-ship owner. He was a stranger to Exmoor, and was on holiday in Minehead when he heard of the problems which were starting to arise due to the absence of deer control due to the death of the last master. At this time of war sporting considerations were secondary. He offered to undertake the mastership at his own expense without any funding guaranteed, and continued until the 1919-20 season, when he retired to Badminton.[54] MacDermot wrote of him: "Staghunters and the country in general owe a very deep debt of gratitude to his memory for keeping the hunt going, largely at his own expense, through a most difficult time". He was a shipowner and changed his name from "Badcock" to "Badco" by deed-poll dated 11 March 1916,[55] who lived "formerly" at St Ives, Cornwall, but who was living in 1916 at Cathedral Street, Cardiff. He was from St Ives and started his career as a clerk with a Mr Haines. In 1900, he floated the Polurrian Steamship Co. Ltd., to raise funds for the purchase of the steamer of that name then being built at Blumen's yard in Sunderland. He similarly floated the Poldhu Steamship Co. Ltd., the following year to acquire the Poldhu from the same yard. He moved from St Ives in 1909 to Cardiff and took delivery of his third new vessel, the Polvarth. The Pol- prefix of his ships was a Cornish reference. Between 1910 -13 he bought three second-hand ships, the Polmanter, Polcarne and Polperro, to meet the improving market. However, before the end of World War I he had sold five of his ships, having lost one to a U-boat attack. The average tonnage of his vessels was about 3,000 tons.[56]
Colonel Walter William Wiggin (1856–1936), Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry, Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds c. 1917–1936, of Forhill House,
King's Norton, photograph published in Baily's Magazine, no. 720, February 1920, vol. 113
c. 1917-23 April 1936 – Lieutenant-Colonel Walter William Wiggin (1856–1936). He was a son of Sir
Henry Samuel Wiggin, 1st Baronet (1824–1905) by his wife Mary Elizabeth Malins. His brother was Brigadier-General E. A. Wiggin and his nephew was Col. W. H. Wiggin. He was Colonel of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry and lived at Forhill House, King's Norton, Birmingham. He married Edith Atkins, daughter of George Caleb Atkins. He died aged 81 on 4 November 1936 at King's Norton, and was buried at Alvechurch on 9 November 1936.[57] His obituary in the Colliery Guardian and Journal of the Coal and Iron Trades, 13 November 1936, was as follows:[58] "The death has occurred at the age of 80 (sic) of Lieut.-Col. Walter W. Wiggin, who entered his father's business, Henry Wiggin and Co., of Birmingham, at the age of 22, ultimately becoming a director and finally chairman in 1916. He retired in 1920 when the business was merged with the Mond Nickel Co. He had served also as a director of Joseph Lucas and at his death was on the boards of W. and T. Avery, the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. and Henry Pooley and Son". He lived at Stockleigh when hunting on Exmoor.[59]
1935/6-end of World War II – Hancock of Rhyll Manor, East Anstey, a descendant of the prominent Hancock brewing family of
Wiveliscombe in Somerset. They were also masters of the Dulverton Foxhounds, and kenneled the foxhounds at Rhyll;[60] Abbott
^Lysons, Magna Britannia Vol. 6: Devon, 1822, pp. 226–231, Gentlemen's seats, forests and deer parks
[1]: "Red deer, ferœ naturœ, the remains of the inhabitants of the royal forest of Exmoor, still abound in sufficient quantities in the Devonshire woods, south of the forest, as well as in those of Somersetshire, to yield sport to the neighbouring nobility and gentry. A stag hunt has been for many years kept up in this vicinity. The hounds were formerly kept by Mr. Dyke, of Somersetshire, whose heiress married Sir Thomas Acland's grandfather, and afterwards by the Aclands. After the death of the late Sir Thomas Acland, they were kept for a while by Mr. Basset. After this, they were kept for several years by Lord Fortescue, at Castlehill, who, about three years ago, made them over to R. Lucas, Esq., of Baronshill, in Somersetshire. The average number of deer killed in a season has been about 10 stags, and about double that number of hinds. (fn. 3) Marshall, in his Rural Œconomy of the Western Counties, observes, that wild deer abounded in the woods of the west of Devon; but that through the good offices of the Duke of Bedford, the country was then (about 1795) nearly free from them."
^Acland, Anne, A Devon Family: The Story of the Aclands, London and Chichester, 1981, pp. 17-18
^Ravenhill, Mary & Rowe, Margery, The Acland Family: Maps and Surveys 1720-1840, Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 49, Exeter, 2006, p. 8
^1775-1784 "Colonel Basset", per Bailey's Hunting Directory
^Not to be confused with his Cornish cousin
Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset (1757–1835), who is stated by his
History of Parliament biography to have been Lieutenant-Colonel of the
North Devon Militia from 1779.(History of Parliament biography) He would however have been only 18 years old in 1775, when this mastership was said to have started, and was known to have attended
King's College, Cambridge in 1775 and then to have gone on the
Grand Tour. He served as MP for
Penryn, Cornwall, between 1780 and 1796. He was created a baronet in 1779 and a baron in 1796. He died without male issue.
^Devon Record Office, ref. 564M/F11/7, published in Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete 1789-1800 Vol. 3, Tiverton, 1999, pp. 95-96
Prosperity to Stag Hunting, the badge of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds
The
red deer of
Exmoor have been hunted since Norman times, when Exmoor was declared a
Royal Forest. Collyns stated the earliest record of a pack of
Staghounds on Exmoor was 1598. In 1803, the "North Devon Staghounds" became a subscription pack. In 1824/5 30 couples of hounds, the last of the true staghounds, were sold to a baron in Germany.[1] Today, the Devon and Somerset is one of three staghounds packs in the UK, the others being the Quantock Staghounds and the Tiverton Staghounds. All packs hunt within Devon and Somerset. The Chairman as of 2016 is
Tom Yandle, who was previously
High Sheriff of Somerset in 1999.
Season
The approximate dates of the hunting season are:
Hind hunting: 1 November-28 February
Stag hunting:
Autumn: August to third week in October; formerly 12 August to 8 October, according to Collyns[2]
Spring: last week of March; continues about three weeks[3]
Edward Dyke (d. 1746),[5] of
Pixton, in Somerset, (eldest brother of Thomas Dyke (d. 1745) of
Tetton and of John Dyke (d. 1732) of
Holnicote, all in Somerset), was the warden and lesee of the
royal forest of
Exmoor and Master of Staghounds, which office usually was held by the warder.[6] He married Margaret Trevelyan, a daughter of
Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet (1670–1755), of
Nettlecombe in Somerset, and widow of
Alexander Luttrell (1705–1737) of
Dunster Castle. Edward inherited Holnicote and estates in
Bampton from his brother John Dyke (d. 1732), who died without progeny. He too died without progeny and bequeathed Pixton and Holnicote to his niece Elizabeth Dyke (d. 1753), whom he appointed his sole executor, daughter and sole heiress of his brother Thomas Dyke (d. 1745) of
Tetton, Kingston St Mary, Somerset. The bequest stipulated that Elizabeth and her husband
Sir Thomas Acland, 7th Baronet (1722–1785) of
Killerton in Devon and
Petherton Park in Somerset, should adopt the additional surname of Dyke.
1746-1775[7]Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1722–1785), of
Killerton in Devon and of
Petherton Park,
Tetton,
Holnicote and
Pixton, all in Somerset, kept his own pack of staghounds. He became forester or ranger of Exmoor under grant from the Crown and "hunted the country in almost princely style. Respected and beloved by all the countryside, he was solicited at the same time to allow himself to be returned as member of Parliament for the counties of Devon and Somerset. He preferred, however, the duties and pleasures of life in the country, where he bore without abuse the grand old name of gentleman".[8] Although he had three of his own kennels on his huge estates, at Holnicote in the north and at Jury and Highercombe near Pixton in the south, he had a further method of keeping hounds, which was to make the keeping of one hound a term in many of the tenancy contracts he granted. In his manor of
Bossington (near Holnicote) alone an estate survey of 1746–7 lists twelve tenements let, either by Acland or Dyke, with the requirement to keep a hound.[9] In 1775 he handed over the mastership to the then Major Basset, and in 1779 his beloved collection of stag heads and antlers at Holnicote was lost in a fire which also destroyed the house. He declared that "he minded the destruction of his valuables less bitterly than the loss of his fine collection of stags' heads".[10] He was known on his estates as "Sir Thomas his Honour"[11] (as later was his son the 9th Baronet) and was renowned for his generous hospitality at Holnicote or at Pixton, whichever was closest, to all riders "in at the death",[12] and it is said that "open house was kept at Pixton and Holnicote throughout the hunting season".[13] Pixton was the larger establishment, richly equipped with silver-plate and linen, including 73 tablecloths, but both houses had silver dinner services of five dozen plates and any number of tankards, cups, bowls, dishes and salvers. A letter dated 1759 written on behalf of Courtenay Walrond of
Bradfield, Uffculme describes the Acland hospitality:[14]
"This noble chase being ended, my master, his brother and Mr Brutton with about 20 gentlemen more waited on Sir Thomas Acland at Pixton where each of them drank the health of the stag in a full quart glass of claret placed in the stag's mouth & after drinking several proper healths they went in good order to their respective beds about 2 o'clock and dined with Sir Thomas the next day on a haunch of the noble creature and about 50 dishes of the greatest rarities among which were several black grouse".
He returned briefly as joint-master in August 1784, but died in February 1785, aged 63[11]
North Devon Staghounds
1775-1784 Col. Francis Basset Esq. (c.1740-1802),[15][16] of Heanton Court,
Heanton Punchardon, near Barnstaple, and of Umberleigh House,
Umberleigh, Lt. Col. of the
North Devon Militia 1779-93),[17] MP for
Barnstaple 1780-84. He is not however stated in his History of Parliament biography [18] to have been a colonel, or a military man in any capacity, yet was termed "Col. Bassett" by the Devon topographer Rev.
John Swete in his 1796 painting of Heanton Court,
Heanton Punchardon, near Barnstaple, which he described as the seat of "Col. Basset".[19] He was the second but only surviving son of John Francis Basset (1714–1757) by his wife Eleanor Courtenay, daughter of
Sir William Courtenay, 2nd Baronet and de jure 6th
Earl of Devon. He died unmarried, being the last in the male line of the Heanton branch of the ancient
Basset family. His heir was his nephew Joseph Davie (1764-1846) of
Orleigh Court, near
Bideford, who took the name Basset in lieu of his patronymic and built
Watermouth Castle, near
Lynmouth.He was the son of John Davie of Orleigh by his wife Eleanora Bassett, sister of Col. Bassett (d.1802). Joseph's granddaughter and eventual heiress was Harriet Mary Bassett (d.1920), who married
Charles Henry Williams, who assumed the surname Bassett as a condition of inheriting his wife's property, and became master 1887-93 (see below). The
Basset family is an ancient West Country family, which originated either in the manor of
Tehidy, Cornwall or at
Whitechapel Manor in the parish of
Bishops Nympton, Devon.
Stalls in stable block built by
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752–1794) at
Holnicote, now owned by the
National Trust. The thirty stag heads on the walls date from about 1787 to 1793 and were killed under his mastership of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. Some of the brow points of the antlers were notoriously sawn-off by a groom because they interfered with the loading of hay into the mangers.[20] A similar collection of stag heads amassed by his father the 7th Baronet, and much beloved by the latter, was destroyed during a fire at Holnicote in 1779[21]Loose boxes in stable block built by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752–1794) at Holnicote, with his stag head trophies
1784-1794
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752-1794), second son of the 7th Baronet who was master 1746-1775. He devoted the last ten years of his life almost entirely to staghunting and virtually abandoned the family's main seat at
Killerton, preferring to live almost entirely at
Holnicote and at Highercombe, near
Dulverton, in the heart of the hunting country. He killed 101 stags during his mastership, the antlers of thirty of which are still affixed to the walls of the stables at Holnicote.[22] He also succeeded Col. Basset as Lt.Col. of the
North Devon Militia (1793-4).[23]
"The General".
Mordaunt Fenwick-Bisset,
MP, (1825–1884), Master 1855-1881, as caricatured by Spy in Vanity Fair, December 1881. He built the present kennels in Exford in 1876 and donated them to the Committee.Portrait of Mordaunt Fenwick-Bisset, MSH, on his favourite hunter Chanticleer, with a stag at bay in Badgworthy Water, Exmoor, by
Samuel John Carter, 1871Viscount Ebrington, from 1905
Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl Fortescue (1854–1932). Engraving by Joseph Brown from a photograph by John Mayall. He acquired the whole of the former Royal Forest of Exmoor after the death of
Frederick Winn Knight in 1897"The Devon and Somerset", caricature of
Viscount Ebrington by
Ape, Vanity Fair 19 February 1887
1837–1841 – Charles Palk Collyns (1793–1864) formed a new pack, named the "Devon and Somerset Subscription Staghounds".[25] Collyns, a doctor living at Bilboa House, Dulverton, was the youngest son of William Collyns, a surgeon of
Kenton, near Exeter, Devon.[26] He was possibly related to the family of the
Palk baronets of Haldon House, in the
Haldon Hills, near Kenton. His hunting diaries and subscription lists are held by Somerset Archives.[27] He wrote the standard work on West Country stag-hunting Chase of the Wild Red Deer, 1862. His inscribed grave stone, next to that of his son, survives against the external eastern wall of Dulverton Church, the only two stones in that position, clearly one of some honour.
1842–1847 –
Hon. Newton Fellowes (1772–Jan. 1854), of
Eggesford, brother-in-law of
Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue. He was the second son of
John Wallop, 2nd Earl of Portsmouth (d.1797) by his wife Urania Fellowes, heiress of Eggesford. Newton received from his mother the Eggesford estate, his elder brother having inherited in 1797 the earldom and his paternal lands in Hampshire. Newton demolished the old Eggesford House next to Eggesford Church and rebuilt it on the opposite side of the hill on the site of the former Heywood House. This house was in ruins in 1995, but was shortly thereafter restored. He was a keen 4-in-hand carriage driver and improved many of the roads near Eggesford to facilitate his driving. He built the present bridge over the River Taw across which the A377 "scenic route" was built in about 1830 as a toll road. He married in 1820 as his second wife Lady Catherine Fortescue (1787-20/5/1854), a daughter of
Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue (1753–1841) of
Castle Hill, Filleigh. He became
4th Earl of Portsmouth in the last year of his life, following the death of his elder brother
John Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth in 1853, the latter having had only one daughter and having been declared insane since 1809.[28]
1855–1881 –
Mordaunt Fenwick-Bisset (1825–1884). "Restored the sport and put it on the footing from whence the present flourishing state of things has come", (Everard, 1902, p. 366). He reintroduced red deer to the Quantock Hills and built kennels at
Bagborough House, a few miles northwest of Taunton.[29] He lived at
Pixton Park, Dulverton, which he rented from Lord Carnarvon, and kennelled the hounds at Jury, at the bottom of Pixton Drive.[30] In January 1879, the pack was destroyed due to
rabies. He sat as
MP for
West Somerset from 1880 until his resignation in 1883.
Charles Henry Basset, MSH 1887-1893. Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, no. 380, October 1891, vol. 56
1887–1893 –
Charles Henry Basset, Esq. (1834–1908), (born Williams) of
Watermouth Castle, near
Lynmouth, JP,
DL and MP for Barnstaple (1868–1874). Born 16 November 1834, being the fourth surviving son of
Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet (1791–1870), MFH,[31] of Tregullow, Cornwall, by his wife Caroline Eales, younger daughter of Richard Eales of Eastdon, Lieutenant
RN. Aged 13, he entered the Navy as a cadet on HMS Southampton. He served during the
Crimean War in the
Black Sea, and
Sea of Azof, and was a Major in the
Royal North Devon Yeomanry (or Hussars). In 1873, he lost his left arm in an accident whilst working a steam engine at
Barnstaple.[32] He married on 7 January 1878, Harriet Mary Basset (d. 1920), only daughter and sole heiress of Arthur Davie Basset, Esq., of
Watermouth Castle (son of Joseph Davie Bassett (1764-1846)), and sister and co-heiress of Reverend Arthur Crawfurth Davie Basset, (1830–1880) JP and MA, also of Watermouth. As a condition of his inheritance, he assumed for himself his wife and their progeny by Royal Licence dated 11 October 1880 the surname of Basset in lieu of his patronymic, with the arms of Basset.[33] Armorial bearings: Barry wavy of six or and gules in the centre chief point a cross crosslet of the last Crest: on a wreath of the colours, a unicorn's head couped argent, the mane, beard, and horn or, on the neck two bars indented gules, and charged for distinction with a cross crosslet also gules. Motto: Bene agere ac Laetari. His estates were at
Pilton House near Barnstaple; Westaway, his model farm in the parish of Pilton;
Umberleigh House,
Atherington;
Watermouth Castle, Berrynarbor, all in North Devon.
1893-1895 Colonel F. Hornby, who had previously been Field Master of the Queen's Staghounds. Entered office July 1893,[37] resigned in Spring 1895[38] and went on in 1895 to be Master of the Essex Union Foxhounds.[39]
Robert Arthur Sanders MSH 1895-1907 (
Baron Bayford from 1929). Portrait from Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, no. 475, September 1899, vol. 72
1895-1907
Robert Arthur Sanders (1867–1940) (
Baron Bayford from 1929). Took on the mastership on Colonel F. Hornby's resignation in the spring of 1895, and increased the hunting days from three to four each week, being the first master to hunt the hounds himself, which he did one day per week, Viscount Ebrington then acting as Field Master.[40] He married Miss Lucy Halliday, of Glenthorne, near
Lynton, at
Oare Church in July 1893.[41] Mr. Sanders contested the Eastern division of Bristol at the General Election of 1900, and considerably lowered the previous Liberal majority. In 1901 he became an alderman of the
Somerset County Council.[40] He was the son of Arthur Sanders, of Fernhill,
Isle of Wight, and was born in
Paddington,
London, and educated at
Harrow, where he was head boy,[42] and
Balliol College, Oxford where he graduated with 1st class honours in Law. He became a barrister at the
Inner Temple in 1891. Following his resignation of the mastership he became a
Conservative Member of Parliament for
Bridgwater,
Somerset from 1910 until 1923. From 1911 to 1917 he was
Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Royal North Devon Yeomanry and served at
Gallipoli, and in
Egypt and
Palestine. He was appointed a
deputy lieutenant of
Somerset in 1912.[43] He was
Treasurer of the Household (Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons), 1918–1919, and a junior
Lord of the Treasury from 1919 until 1921. He then held ministerial office as
Under-Secretary of State for War from 1921 to 1922 and
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1922 to 1924. He was created a
baronet in the 1920 New Year Honours[44] and appointed to the
Privy Council in 1922. He was MP for
Wells in Somerset from 1924 to 1929, when he was raised to the peerage as
Baron Bayford, of Stoke Trister in the County of Somerset.[45] He married Lucy Sophia, daughter of William Halliday, in 1893. They had one son and two daughters. As his only son committed suicide in 1920, the title became extinct on Bayford's death in February 1940, aged 72. Lady Bayford died in September 1957.
1907-c.1909 Edmund Arthur Vesey Stanley (1879–1941), from May 1907 following Mr Sanders' retirement. He was the son of Mr Edward James Stanley (d. 1907), of
Quantock Lodge,
Over StoweyMP for Bridgwater and a large landowner, by his wife Hon. Mary Dorothy Labouchere (1843–1920), a daughter of
Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton (1798–1869), the prominent Liberal politician, MP for Taunton 1830-59 and Cabinet Minister. Labouchere purchased the manor of Over Stowey in 1833, and was created Baron Taunton in 1859. He built the Gothic revival castle known as Quantock Lodge, which later became Quantock School[46] E.J. Stanley offered Mr Sanders to maintain a separate pack to hunt the Quantocks deer. The Committee and Master agreed and made over the country on permanent loan. His son, Edmund Stanley, then aged 22 performed the duty of huntsman. On his acceptance of the mastership of the D&S the Quantocks pack was discontinued.[47] His sister became Mrs Heathcote-Amory, which family was associated with the Tiverton Staghounds, whilst his eldest brother, Lt. H. T. Stanley was killed in the
Boer War.
1911/12–1914 – Major Morland John Greig, of Edgcott House, Exford. Killed in action at
Gallipoli in October 1915[48][49] fighting with the 1st
Royal North Devon Yeomanry.[50] Dick Lloyd, President of the D&SSH, spoke in 2001 as follows about Morland Greig:[51] "They never had a fixed house. They shuffled from one to another in an amazing way. They lived at Edgcott and Yealscombe, and Kings, Withypool... The Greigs were tremendously part of Exmoor in those days. Grandfather Greig, Morland Greig, was master of the Devon and Somerset when the first war started. When the war started on the 3rd of August and on the 4th or 5th they took the hounds to the meet, he says in his diary that he went in mufti and the staff in uniform. They sang 'God save the King', and he sent the hounds home. He went straight off to his regiment, which was the
Royal North Devon Yeomanry. In due course he went to Gallipoli and was killed. He was aged 53 (in fact 50[52]). How many people of 43 or even 33, do you know who went to the last war? It was amazing fortitude. They wouldn't have let him go now. He was killed commanding the squadron in Gallipoli". His memorial tablet exists in St. Mary Magdalene Church, Exford. He was the son of John Peter Morland Greig and Annie Lydia Greig and married Kate Greig, of Edgcott, Exford, Somerset. He is buried at I.I.16. HILL 10 CEMETERY. A bust-length watercolour portrait of him 11 1/8" * 10 1/8" was painted by Olivia Mary Bryden (1883–1951) of Eastbourne and sold at auction by Bonhams Knightsbridge, 27 July 2005, Sporting Pictures, sale no. 11639, lot 69.[53]
1915-c.1917 - Committee
c.1917-1919/20 - William Badco (1864–1921) of Cardiff,[48] tramp-ship owner. He was a stranger to Exmoor, and was on holiday in Minehead when he heard of the problems which were starting to arise due to the absence of deer control due to the death of the last master. At this time of war sporting considerations were secondary. He offered to undertake the mastership at his own expense without any funding guaranteed, and continued until the 1919-20 season, when he retired to Badminton.[54] MacDermot wrote of him: "Staghunters and the country in general owe a very deep debt of gratitude to his memory for keeping the hunt going, largely at his own expense, through a most difficult time". He was a shipowner and changed his name from "Badcock" to "Badco" by deed-poll dated 11 March 1916,[55] who lived "formerly" at St Ives, Cornwall, but who was living in 1916 at Cathedral Street, Cardiff. He was from St Ives and started his career as a clerk with a Mr Haines. In 1900, he floated the Polurrian Steamship Co. Ltd., to raise funds for the purchase of the steamer of that name then being built at Blumen's yard in Sunderland. He similarly floated the Poldhu Steamship Co. Ltd., the following year to acquire the Poldhu from the same yard. He moved from St Ives in 1909 to Cardiff and took delivery of his third new vessel, the Polvarth. The Pol- prefix of his ships was a Cornish reference. Between 1910 -13 he bought three second-hand ships, the Polmanter, Polcarne and Polperro, to meet the improving market. However, before the end of World War I he had sold five of his ships, having lost one to a U-boat attack. The average tonnage of his vessels was about 3,000 tons.[56]
Colonel Walter William Wiggin (1856–1936), Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry, Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds c. 1917–1936, of Forhill House,
King's Norton, photograph published in Baily's Magazine, no. 720, February 1920, vol. 113
c. 1917-23 April 1936 – Lieutenant-Colonel Walter William Wiggin (1856–1936). He was a son of Sir
Henry Samuel Wiggin, 1st Baronet (1824–1905) by his wife Mary Elizabeth Malins. His brother was Brigadier-General E. A. Wiggin and his nephew was Col. W. H. Wiggin. He was Colonel of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry and lived at Forhill House, King's Norton, Birmingham. He married Edith Atkins, daughter of George Caleb Atkins. He died aged 81 on 4 November 1936 at King's Norton, and was buried at Alvechurch on 9 November 1936.[57] His obituary in the Colliery Guardian and Journal of the Coal and Iron Trades, 13 November 1936, was as follows:[58] "The death has occurred at the age of 80 (sic) of Lieut.-Col. Walter W. Wiggin, who entered his father's business, Henry Wiggin and Co., of Birmingham, at the age of 22, ultimately becoming a director and finally chairman in 1916. He retired in 1920 when the business was merged with the Mond Nickel Co. He had served also as a director of Joseph Lucas and at his death was on the boards of W. and T. Avery, the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. and Henry Pooley and Son". He lived at Stockleigh when hunting on Exmoor.[59]
1935/6-end of World War II – Hancock of Rhyll Manor, East Anstey, a descendant of the prominent Hancock brewing family of
Wiveliscombe in Somerset. They were also masters of the Dulverton Foxhounds, and kenneled the foxhounds at Rhyll;[60] Abbott
^Lysons, Magna Britannia Vol. 6: Devon, 1822, pp. 226–231, Gentlemen's seats, forests and deer parks
[1]: "Red deer, ferœ naturœ, the remains of the inhabitants of the royal forest of Exmoor, still abound in sufficient quantities in the Devonshire woods, south of the forest, as well as in those of Somersetshire, to yield sport to the neighbouring nobility and gentry. A stag hunt has been for many years kept up in this vicinity. The hounds were formerly kept by Mr. Dyke, of Somersetshire, whose heiress married Sir Thomas Acland's grandfather, and afterwards by the Aclands. After the death of the late Sir Thomas Acland, they were kept for a while by Mr. Basset. After this, they were kept for several years by Lord Fortescue, at Castlehill, who, about three years ago, made them over to R. Lucas, Esq., of Baronshill, in Somersetshire. The average number of deer killed in a season has been about 10 stags, and about double that number of hinds. (fn. 3) Marshall, in his Rural Œconomy of the Western Counties, observes, that wild deer abounded in the woods of the west of Devon; but that through the good offices of the Duke of Bedford, the country was then (about 1795) nearly free from them."
^Acland, Anne, A Devon Family: The Story of the Aclands, London and Chichester, 1981, pp. 17-18
^Ravenhill, Mary & Rowe, Margery, The Acland Family: Maps and Surveys 1720-1840, Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 49, Exeter, 2006, p. 8
^1775-1784 "Colonel Basset", per Bailey's Hunting Directory
^Not to be confused with his Cornish cousin
Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset (1757–1835), who is stated by his
History of Parliament biography to have been Lieutenant-Colonel of the
North Devon Militia from 1779.(History of Parliament biography) He would however have been only 18 years old in 1775, when this mastership was said to have started, and was known to have attended
King's College, Cambridge in 1775 and then to have gone on the
Grand Tour. He served as MP for
Penryn, Cornwall, between 1780 and 1796. He was created a baronet in 1779 and a baron in 1796. He died without male issue.
^Devon Record Office, ref. 564M/F11/7, published in Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete 1789-1800 Vol. 3, Tiverton, 1999, pp. 95-96