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The Cope family of Bramshill House
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This is from Article 7 of the 30-article ‘Hunting in Berkshire’ series by
J. Hautenville Cope, which was published
in the ‘Reading Mercury’ on April 2nd 1921. HUNTING IN BERKSHIRE By J. Hautenville Cope. (ARTICLE VII.) The Bramshill country now being vacant, it was now necessary to take measures to continue the sport. A meeting of the members of both the Bramshill Hunt and the South Berks. Hunt – Captain Brown, of Bylands, in the chair – was held at the Bear Hotel, Reading, on February 2nd, 1850. After the letter of Mr. Wharton (Sir John Cope’s lawyer) had been read, it was resolved: "That the cordial thanks of the meeting should be conveyed to Sir John Cope in a letter to be written for that purpose, thanking him for the sportsmanlike manner he has hunted the country for a period of thirty-four years and for the sport he has been enabled to show during that long period". At the same meeting George Montagu gave warning that at the end of that season he would not continue to hunt that part of Sir John Cope’s country known as the South Berks country; Mr. Montagu, for the manner in which he had hunted the South Berks country since Mr. Thoyts’ resignation in 1847, was awarded a vote of thanks. By Montagu’s resignation the South Berks country, as well as the Bramshill country, was vacant; the meeting thereupon decided that the two areas should be re-united and made one country as it was when Sir John Cope succeeded Mr. St. John in 1817. Mr. Wheble stated that as Sir John Cope had resigned, and also offered his hounds to any gentleman who would hunt the country, he would undertake the mastership provided that a sufficient subscription would be raised to guarantee him from loss. Captain Brown, T. C. Garth, J. Bligh Monek, of Coley Park (the secretary of the South Berks Hunt), and George Montagu, of Caversham Hill, the retiring Master of the South Berks, were appointed as a committee to ascertain how much financial support might be expected from gentlemen within the country; they were to report the result of their efforts at a meeting which would take place on February 16th, 1850. Before this meeting could take place, namely, on February 11th, another letter was received from Mr. Wharton, written by desire of his client, Sir John Cope, to say that the letter of January 23rd was now withdrawn – this was the letter in which Sir John tendered his resignation and made the offer of the hounds to any gentleman who would come forward as Master, the letter of January 23rd having been written on the understanding that "Mr. Garth would take the hounds and hunt the country as Sir John has and is hunting it". This second letter must have come as a bombshell after the decisions of the meeting of February 2nd. One of the old Master’s complaints was that he had not received the resolution of thanks passed at the meeting of February 2nd. It appears that those who held this meeting were under the impression that the resolution would be conveyed by Mr. Garth to Sir John Cope, who seems to have been annoyed at this neglect, and some further letters were received from Mr. Wharton to this effect. However, a letter of apology and of explanations was sent, which Sir John considered satisfactory. Thus the matter ended before the next hunt meeting on February 16th, which, as usual, took place at the Bear Hotel, Reading. The committee appointed to find out how much financial support might be expected were able to say that their efforts had been very successful. It was therefore agreed that Mr. Wheble should be guaranteed £1,000 per year as long as he should hunt the country or until he should receive six months’ notice from the hunt that the amount could not be continued. Seven gentlemen gave their names as guarantors with this proviso: "If the amount required of us shall not exceed one year’s subscription in addition and in proportion to our subscription"; the seven were Robert Allfrey, who had recently purchased Wokefield Park from the Brocas family; G. H. Montagu, Edward Conroy, J. Bligh Monck, T. C. Garth, John Simonds and A. Mainwaring. [… Three hunts from the 1850’s were then described in detail; the first around Burghfield; the second around Stratfield Saye, are not listed here, but the third from Farley Hill on February 2nd 1852, as recorded in "Bell’s Life", is described thus:] "These hounds had another very fast run, meeting at Farleigh Hill, the residence of Mr. Standish. They found in the gorse directly, and went away to Moor Copse, Shinfield, crossed the Loddon and pointed for Beech Hill; here the pace was so great that only six were with them, viz., Messrs. Wheble, Conroy, William Standish, St. John, Robert Tocock, and David Edwards. There was a short check near Spencers Wood Common, when the fox was viewed again and raced towards Pinge Wood, but turned through Harley Court and ran to ground in a drain near the two-mile house; being dug out, he once more faced the open and was run into after racing fifty minutes. Mr. William Standish met with an accident, after which Mr. Montagu left the field." With acknowledgements to Berkshire Newspapers Back to main article on 'Hunting in Berkshire'
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