History Of Brighton And Environs - Online Book

From The Earliest Known Period To The Present Time.

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118
robust as to the valetudinarian. There has been a pack of " Harriers " kept in this town or immediate neighbourhood for the last century and a half, the kennel, about a century ago, being situated in the old cbalk pit that formerly existed between Regent Row and Upper North Street. The huntsman's name was Parr. About half a century since the kennels were on the spot now covered by the present entrance to Longhurst's brewery, on the London Road. The liuntsman was familiarly called Harry Mitchell, he succeeding one by the name of Austen. The management of the Hunt devolved upon a committee, the leading members of which being Mr William Chapman (the then proprietor of Chapman's brewery, of this town), and Messrs. Scrase, Tanner, Chatfield, Blaker, &c, the Treasurer being Mr Buckman. It was then removed to its present position in Hollingdean Road, the owner of the land in that neighbourhood (Thomas Read Kemp, Esq., the projector of Kemp Town), generously giving the site of the same, and the committee con­structing the house and kennel,—the condition of the gift being " that it should belong exclusively to the ' Brighton Hunt.'" The same donor also gave a piece of ground in the same neighbourhood for the Jews' burial place. The Hunt has been carried on from that time to the present with varied success, under the management of a committee principally consisting of the holders of the land over which the sport takes place, and during the period has been represented by different Masters, who have recently been Messrs. Willard, Hudson, Bridger Stent,* Dewe, the present Master, Peter Thorpe being the Huntsman. A few years ago there was another
* This gentleman undertook the Mastership, on an emergency, at the unanimous request of a large number of persons interested in its manage­ment, and, after two or three successful seasons, was suddenly snatched away by death, to the great grief of a large number of friends, to whom he was endeared by his amiable and unassuming manners.
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