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This is from Article 9 of the 30-article ‘Hunting in Berkshire’ series by
J. Hautenville Cope, which was published
in the ‘Reading Mercury’ on April 23rd 1921. HUNTING IN BERKSHIRE By J. Hautenville Cope. (ARTICLE IX.) It may be that some of my readers have missed a few of the previous articles. For their benefit I will here briefly repeat events and dates: Sir John Cope took the hounds 1817; in 1843 the country was divided and the South Berks Hunt organised, with Mortimer George Thoyts as Master. He resigned in 1847, when G. H. Montagu, of Caversham Hill, became Master. Sir John Cope gave up his hounds in 1850; at the same time Mr. Montagu retired from the mastership of the South Berks, and both countries were united under Mr. J. J. Wheble. In 1852 the united country once more was divided, Mr. Garth taking the east side of the River Loddon, the South Berks the other or west side, with Mr. Wheble as Master. Now on account of this division comes one of the most important questions – that of the boundaries. My father-in-law, the late Major Thoyts, worked these out carefully; from his notes I give the boundaries. He had the advantage of not only being able to consult the diaries so often mentioned, but also of being able to talk the matter over with those whose memories, like his own, went back to old times. "It may be interesting", wrote Major Thoyts, "if I give, as far as I am able from old diaries – my father’s, George Montagu’s and my own – the outside coverts drawn in successive years. Since the establishment of the South Berks Hunt the boundaries between its neighbours, the Craven and the Old Berkshire, have not been changed. The alterations are all on the south side of the Kennet. "In 1843, that is the year the pack was started, Padworth was the western limit; next year (1844) Blacknest (Brimpton) was added and the Fir Plantations to Mortimer West. "In 1847 the country north of the road from Reading to Maidenhead was hunted by the South Berks, being lent by Sir John Cope to his neighbours". This loan has already been referred to in a previous article. "In 1850, when the South Berks country and Sir John Cope’s country were united, and Mr. Wheble became Master, he hunted as far as Mortimer West End, but did not hunt Padworth, Aldermaston or Wasing. "On April 5th, 1853, the South Berks met at Pamber End, probably by invitation. "Next year, 1854, the boundary appears to have been the road from Pamber End to Bramley village; leaving Newlands and Beaurepaire to the left, Aldermaston was drawn, but not Wasing. "Next season (1855) Paice’s Gulley, Padworth, was drawn; during the season 1857 the Silchester coverts, as well as the coverts at Brimpton, which belonged to the Woolhampton estate. After Christmas of the season 1858-59 the South Berks drew the Vine coverts, Swaines, Newlands, Ramsden, to the New Inn, Baughurst, also as far as Summerdown and Nutley. This was done on account of the compulsory retirement of Mr. Marsh, Master of the Vine. "In 1859 Silchester was drawn, as well as the country as far as Plantation; in 1861-62 the same arrangement held good. In the following season Mr. Pitman did not draw Bramley or Pamber Forest after December 10th. Mr. Hargreaves became Master in 1863; at what date he began to hunt the Bramley and Beaurepaire country I do not know. The South Berks appear to have drawn Ladylands for the first time in 1878. "In 1887, when Major Allfrey became Master, the Vine reclaimed all their country up to Silchester, and the boundary was fixed by agreement with Mr. Beach to run along the northern edge of Tadley and Silchester Common to Cooper’s Farm at Silchester, crossing the Mortimer and Basingstoke Railway at the ‘Spoil Bank’ ". Since Major Thoyts made these notes the Garth have drawn Ladylands. "The Oxfordshire portion seems to have been intermittently hunted; it was drawn during the season 1843-44, but not the following season, nor, as far as I can find out, till the season 1857". When Mr. Wheble’s country was divided into the South Berks and the Garth hunts Robert Tocock, who became huntsman to Mr. Wheble in 1850, left Bulmershe to take service as huntsman to Mr. Garth, with whom he remained till the end of the season 1864-65, when he retired on a pension, and was succeeded by Thomas Sweetman. In Charles Kingsley’s essay, "My Winter Garden", which first appeared in "Fraser’s Magazine" of January 1858, we read: "That huntsman I have known for fifteen years, and sat many an hour beside his father’s death-bed. I am godfather to that whip’s child. I have seen the servants of the hunt, as I have the hounds, grow up round me for two generations, and I feel for them as old friends, and I like to look into their brave, honest, weather-beaten faces." That huntsman was Robert Tocock. His father, Thomas Tocock, had been huntsman to Mr. St. John, who started the hunt. When the hounds left West Court for Bramshill in 1817, the elder Tocock came with the pack, and remained as huntsman till 1832, when he resigned. His son, Robert, became second whip to Sir John Cope, and as such took part in the great run from his old home at Kingston Bagpuise. One day he mentioned this event to me, so I have it from his own lips; this was in the season 1828. The Earl of Kintore, who was then Master of the Old Berkshire, invited the Bramshill Hunt to enjoy two separate fortnights’ hunting in the Old Berkshire country. The younger Tocock remained some years at Bramshill, became first whip, but eventually left to be a hunt servant with Mr. Musters. At Bramshill he was succeeded by a man named Thomas Nevard. When Nevard left, Robert Tocock returned to his old master, with whom he remained until Sir John Cope retired in 1850, when, as already mentioned, he for two seasons (1850-52) hunted Mr. Wheble’s hounds. The Tococks were an old Eversley family, and their names occur in the parish registers for some generations, though none of the family now resides in the village. Robert Tocock had a brother, who on account of his health was not able to become a hunt servant, but in his native parish followed the useful craft of a shoe-maker. Amongst his possessions he had something he greatly treasured; one of his father’s old hunting horns. "That whip", to whose child Kingsley was godfather, was Thomas Sweetman, who succeeded Tocock as huntsman, also belonged to an Eversley family; in those old days the village lads as soon as they were able entered the service of the squire. He became second whip to Sir John Cope, head whip to Mr. Garth, huntsman from 1865, till he died suddenly on horseback at the meet at Greywell Hill, the seat of Lord Dorchester, in November 1869. He married Anne Strutton, daughter of Sir John Cope’s gamekeeper, and was father of two sons, one of whom followed his father’s profession; the other is a clerk at the Biscuit Factory, Reading. After Sweetman’s tragic death Mr. Garth appointed the first whip, Charles Brackley, to be huntsman. Brackley began his hunting career in 1852 as second horseman to Mr. T. T. Drake, Master of the Bicester. [The remainder of this article is not concerned with the Garth].
With acknowledgements to Berkshire Newspapers Back to main article on 'Hunting in Berkshire'
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