Vale of White Horse Hunt
[4] Moreton took up residence in a house called 'The Elms', on the Lechlade Road, near Faringdon,[4] where he kept his main kennels,[3] 'in a field...near the brick kiln'.
[4] A second meeting, at the same location, on 3 October 1832, led to a majority of covert owners supporting the original objection but an agreement for a temporary division of one year.
[6] Lord Gifford immediately faced a challenge from Thomas Thornhill Morland, master of the Old Berkshire, over the 'temporary division' agreed to with Moreton in 1832.
[6] During the 1830s and 1840s, changes in management practices had led to smaller countries being convenient, no longer did masters have to do as Moreton did with the Old Berks,[6] and transport their hounds in a 'van with four post horses'.
[4] And, 'boundary disputes and differences as to country became very numerous' but the disagreement between Morland and Lord Gifford was 'more serious' and the related correspondence was published, as events unfolded, in Baily's Hunting Directory during the two-year affair.
[6] The country under dispute was defined as 'to the westward Buderop, Swindon, Tadpole, Water Eaton, Hannington, Crouch hill, Buscot, Coleshill, Stanton, Sevenhampton, Shrivenham Compton, and Hardwell'.
[6] On 4 December 1844, South Berkshire hunted in the disputed territory, leading to Lord Gifford sending Morland a heated letter in which he referred to his fellow master as 'an insignificant tool' of the Earl of Radnor, one of the covet owners who was opposed to the V.W.H.
[6]In 1845, when Lord Gifford decided to step down, there was 'no gentleman coming forward willing to embark solely in the responsibilities' of master, so a committee was formed.
[8] In spring, 1854, Lord Gifford, who, after his departure, had formed a new pack and hunted in Ludlow country, decided to return and he held the position of master for the next three years.
[5] The next master, Mr W. F. Croome,[10] had a smaller pack than Villebois, consisting of forty couples of hounds, but he was popular with farmers who subscribed £200 in the year before his retirement.
[11] In 1871, the master was Sir William Throckmorton, who was mentioned in a verse, composed by Mr. P. Kington Oliphant, celebrating the 'Great Wood Run' of the nearby Duke of Beaufort's Hunt, which took place that year.
[13][14] One of Whyte-Melville's poems, "The Lord Of The Valley", is about hunting in V.W.H country: Now here's to the Baron, and all his supporters, The thrusters, the skirters, the whole of the tale; And here's to the fairest of all hunting quarters, The widest of pastures, three cheers for the Vale; For the fair lady rider, the rogue who beside her Finds breath in a gallop his suit to advance, The hounds for our pleasure, that time us the measure.
country, at the King's Head hotel, Cirencester, Lord Bathurst elaborated, explaining that he had ignored 'unpleasant rumours' about Hoare until October, 1883, when Beatrice Holme Sumner's father had made a personal complaint to him.
[19] After Lord Bathurst spoke, Henry Howard, 18th Earl of Suffolk moved a motion that 'in the opinion of the meeting Mr. Hoare should no longer continue to hunt the Vale of the White Horse Hounds'.
[18] Others spoke against the motion, including Hoare, who 'asked what his private position or character had to do with the sport and expressed his determination to continue to hunt the country',[18] build other kennels and, if covert owners forbade him access, 'do the best he could on his own land and that of his friends'.
[24] Thomas Butt Miller, of Brentry, Westbury-on-Trym, had hunted with the Berkeley and Beaufort, and had succeeded Mr. Arkwright at Oakley, when Mr Hoare retired and 'generously promised to lend his hounds, kennels and stables to his successor'.
(Cricklade), were later remembered by United States-born Reverend G. Monroe Royce, whose role in the Anglican Church brought him to the area: I spent eight months in Wiltshire, only last year, within sight of the kennels of the 'Vale of the White Horse Hounds'.
The master and owner of this pack, Mr. Butt-Miller, was my neighbour and very kind friend and yet I never enjoyed a run with these hounds, notwithstanding the fact that he kept a stud of twenty to twenty-five hunters.
[3] In November, 1981, when wild storms lashed Great Britain, members of the V.W.H narrowly escaped injury when they were diverted 'just in time' before entering 'a waterlogged field which became live with electricity' leading to the death of six cows after high winds brought down power cables in the area.
[28] In 1993, then master, Lord Mancroft, when asked about the dangers of fox hunting, suggested 'the perfect death is in the saddle': Sometimes it seems like an accident, but it can be a heart attack.
