Author: CLARK, Thomas (Huntsman)
Title: Diary of Sport With the O[ld] B[erkshire] Hounds 1856 - 57.
Description: Manuscript Diary 1856 - 7. Small 4to. pp. 127. Half sheep, spine badly worn, front board loose. The hunting diary of Thomas [Tom] Clark, a celebrated huntsman who worked for The Craven Hounds prior to the Berkshire Pack and then with The Buke of Beaufort's Hounds. "A curious incident that occurred at Yelford is related by Mr. Lenthall. The hounds ran their fox down the village street of Yelford. Just as they passed, a big yellow Tom cat belonging to the clerk's wife jumped over the hedge in front of the hounds. Poor pussie was instantly mopped up, and Clark, coming up at the time, caught sight of the cat in the middle of the pack. Giving " Whoo Whoop " he jumped off his horse, throwing the reins to Mr. Lenthall, and went in to perform the funeral rites of the supposed fox. When he found the mangled remains of poor murdered Thomas, he pitched the carcase over the hedge in disgust, and mounting his horse took his hounds home without saying a word. Some of the members of the hunt considered that Clark was rather too keen upon blood, and in other respects Mr. Morrell met with some of those annoyances which are generally the lot of a master of hounds. The result was that in the spring of 1857 he determined to give up the country. The hunting establishment was advertised for sale, and Clark found a new birth with the Duke of Beaufort. There his reputation as a murderous huntsman followed him. Letters signed " A Wiltshire Yeoman " appeared in the sporting papers, but Clark was ably defended in the correspondence which followed by the Duke and Lord Valentia. " A History of the Old Berkshire Hunt by F.C. Loder-Symonds and E. Percy Crowdy. 1905.

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