PART I: LORD FITZHARDINGE AND THE ORIGINS OF THE NORTH COTSWOLD

Although as a separate Hunt the North Cotswold only dates from the year 1868, the country is of distinguished parentage, having at one time formed part of the vast domains hunted over by the Earls of Berkeley. For nearly two hundred years from the second half of the sixteenth century, successive Earls hunted from their home near Bristol as far as London , and the Cotswolds came into their territory. Although space does not permit us to dwell on the past glories of this famous establishment, mention must be made of Lord Fitzhardinge who, as Colonel Berkeley, founded the present pack in 1807, and ruled over its destinies for fifty years.

Colonel William Fitzhardinge Berkeley was a remarkable character. He was the eldest son of the 5th earl by one Mary Cole, a butcher’s daughter from Wotton-under-Edge. The couple had cohabited for several years and had produced numerous children before finally marrying in 1796. In an attempt to legitimize those of his offspring born before the marriage, the Earl concocted a tale of an earlier marriage contracted privately at Berkeley , but on his death this was tested by a committee of the House of Lords, and the evidence for it, an entry in the parish register, was shown to be a forgery. Colonel Berkeley nevertheless inherited the castle and estates, and although he failed in his attempts to be summoned as a baron, his political influence procured him first a peerage and ten years later an earldom with the title of Fitzhardinge.

Even by the standards of his own day Fitzhardinge had a fearsome reputation and was seen as embodying those qualities so often regarded as intrinsic in the character of the Master of a private pack, financed without the aid of subscriptions from his followers. He was described by Anthony Trollope in his Hunting Sketches as one of the last ‘great Nimrods’ who could rule ‘ with all the power of tyranny which belongs to the despot who rules without taxation’.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Berkeley had three kennel establishments, one at Berkeley itself, one at Cheltenham and one at Broadway, in the present North Cotswold country, and Hounds hunted four days a week. Fore’s Foxhounds of Great Britain, published in 1850, states that when Hounds were at the Cheltenham kennel, they hunted the Broadway country every Saturday, presumably in addition to hunts from the kennel at Broadway. In addition to providing sport for local people from all walks of life, the Hunt made a considerable contribution to the local economy: in 1839 Lord Fitzhardinge built kennels and a cottage close to the Lygon Arms in Broadway where he, his staff and their horses stayed. A list of fixtures at that time mentions the Naunton Inn; Reidcombe; Puesdown; Down Hatherley and Dumbleton.

Of Harry Ayris, who joined the staff in 1826 and who was Lord Fitzhardinge’s huntsman for over forty years, it was said that ‘In this office he has distinguished himself as a most skilful artist, and a determined enemy to a fox; he adopts that sensible and truly hunting idea of Beckford’s of “not intruding his own opinion till the sagacity of the hound is at fault.” If a fox continues above ground, he must be a wonderful good one to beat Harry Ayris and the Berkeley Hounds.’