THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE NEW FOREST LONDON: r-.IJWA.RJ; ARNOLD. THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE NEW FOREST BY THE HON. GERALD LASCELLES, C.B, DEPUTY SURVEYOR OF NEW FOREST; ALSO OF ALICE HOLT, WOOLMER, BKRE, AND PARKHURST FORESTS STEWARD OF THE MANOR OF LYNDHURST THE " STIBEUP OP KUFUS " LONDON EDWAED ARNOLD 1915 [All rights reserved] TO , MY DEAR WIFE WHO BRIGHTENED FOR ME THE YEARS OF WHICH I WRITE IN THIS BOOK 372700 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE GROWN AND THB COMMONERS ... 7 III. THE FOREST IN DANGER 14 IV. THE COURT OP VERDERERS . .21 V. MAKING A START 25 VI. SOME VERDERERS, OLD AND NEW . 33 VII. MY WORK, MY STAFF, AND MY CHIEFS . 44 VIII. THE NEW FOREST DEER 64 IX. THE KING'S HOUSE 95 X. ROYAL VISITS .127 XI. FORESTRY .138 XII. HUNTING 177 XIII. SHOOTING IN THE NEW FOREST . . 246 XIV. FALCONRY .276 INDEX 298 yii ILLUSTRATIONS THE AUTHOR GRITNAM WOOD ..... THE VERDERERS' HALL, KING'S HOUSE . NEW FOREST PONIES THE KING'S HOUSE, 1904 (NORTH SIDE) . THE KING'S HOUSE (SOUTH SIDE) . 1. AS RESTORED IN 1904 2. BEFORE RESTORATION AN ANCIENT POLLARD BEECH . A MEET OF THE NEW FOREST FOXHOUNDS ROBERT ALLEN, HUNTSMAN TO THE BUCK- HOUNDS, 1896 Frontispiece Facing page 16 34 62 96 128 152 178 202 THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE NEW FOREST CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I WAS born at Goldsbrough in Yorkshire in October 1849, and, like many other natives of that county, especially those who bear the same name as myself, I became keenly interested in sport from my very early days. At the age of six I was duly blooded by Charles Treadwell, who was huntsman to the Bramham Moor hounds for twenty-three years. I went through the usual course of education at Eton and at Magdalene College, Cambridge. I was never without a ferret at Eton, and gene- rally had at the least a share in a dog. My Cambridge days were, perhaps, the happiest of my life. We had then a very cheery sporting set at Magdalene. Among them Sir Charles Fitzwilliam, now Crown Equerry to His Majesty; the late J. Maunsell Richardson, who, besides playing 2 THE NEW FOREST cricket for Harrow and Cambridge, distinguished himself by training and riding the winners of the Grand National for two years in succession ; the present Lord Kesteven, and many others. We all of us revelled in the drag, and at certain times Newmarket Heath occupied much of our leisure. After leaving Cambridge, I had a spell of about four years in the City at Lloyd's, and in 1875, in which year I was married, I joined a manufacturing firm at Leeds. The indoor life in the surroundings of Leeds was unendurable, and I set to work, in earnest to study Land Agency, as a more congenial pro- fession, being helped thereto by being given a seat in the office of Mr. Constantine Moorsom, agent to the Harewood estates, and by having much work thrown open for my study and in- spection in the offices of other kind friends who were members of my profession. In 1880 I was appointed by Lord Beaconsfield to the post of Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest and the other Crown forests in Hampshire five in all besides other properties. This en- tailed, in addition to the work of the New Forest, a tract of 92,000 acres, a good deal of travelling about from one property to the other ; and from the time of my appointment to that of my retire- INTRODUCTION 3 ment, my leisure hours, except when on leave, were few, and had always to be made up for by working double tides. My home, however, was in the New Forest, at the old King's House (the Queen's House for all the earlier years of my service) at Lyndhurst ; and it is with my experiences there, rather than with my other work, that I propose to deal in these pages. I do not propose to attempt anything in the shape of a history of the New Forest that would be a difficult and much more serious undertaking ! I have only dipped into ancient records where they served or, indeed, were necessary, in order to correctly describe the condition of Forest affairs as they presented themselves to me. It took me years before I could find out the why and wherefore of many of the customs and pre- judices that I encountered. But there generally was a reason, and, while it interested me to dig out this concealed root, I also found that when it was discovered it was often much appreciated by my local friends, who had neither the time nor the opportunity to hunt out these things for themselves. If, then, I have been a little diffuse in such matters as these, and perhaps especially in what I may call Forest politics, and the various storms that ever vex that stormy sea on which the barques of Crown, com- 4 THE NEW FOREST moner, and British public alike contend in their traffic, I trust the reader who has no occasion to trouble himself with any of these things will bear with me, mindful ever as I am of the local foresters who love to discuss these matters. Indeed, a large book might be filled with such disputations, but I have restricted myself solely to those which led to the events passing in my brief space of thirty-five years, terminat- ing with 1914. Prosily no doubt, as is the wont of the gar- rulus senex, who is invariably laudator temporis acti se puero, and though I have laboured to avoid those particular rocks, I doubt if anyone attempting my task could steer his barque en- tirely clear of them. Lastly, I have written this book, because it amused me to do so. Because it was pleasant in my old age to recount, before memory slips quite away, incidents of the best and happiest years of my life. Because I liked just once again to recall the old fights, the old hunts, the old days of good hard work in the woods and about them, planning their future, realising their defects, and rejoicing when nature was propitious and plantations flourished. In this book, however, I have no single word to say about politics, local or otherwise. INTRODUCTION 5 It is an unwritten rule of the Civil Service that its permanent officials take no part what- ever in politics. How others interpret this rule I know not, but I do know that as far as I was concerned I carefully abstained from all political action even of the most trifling descrip- tion, and took care that my subordinates acted on the same lines. I never attended a meeting of either party, or, in fact, gave any man a right to say on which side I was likely to cast my vote. I have had the advantage of being able to refer to various papers and records in my office of official or semi-official character, but I have, I trust, done nothing to infringe the Public Secrets Act. In fact many of these papers have appeared in print in various books be- fore now. Especially they were before the public in those articles which I myself wrote on " New Forest Sport and Forestry " in the Victoria County History of Hampshire ; and I am much indebted to Messrs. Constable & Co., the publishers of that work, for their kind permission to make use of some of the paragraphs which then appeared in connection with the public papers which were quoted therein. Especially on various memo- randa connected with the King's House and 6 THE NEW FOREST Royal visits thereto, I have adopted the Victoria History as my authority for the quota- tions from sundry papers in the Land Record Office, without appending, as is therein done, the precise reference, and date of the particular document quoted from. CHAPTER II THE CROWN AND THE COMMONERS IT is curious how little is known of the New Forest except among those who either reside in its neighbourhood or else visit it regularly. People often say, "Oh! I know the New Forest well I motored all through it the other day." That is to say, they dashed to Bournemouth or Ringwood and back along one of the few main roads, and barely saw even the roadside as it flashed past. There are only two ways really to see the New Forest and realise what it is like. One is to go on foot with a pair of extra stout boots and a walking-stick, but this takes a long time, and is a fatiguing process. The other the only way fit for a gentleman is from the back of a pleasant, well-mannered horse, with good shoulders and a trained eye for ruts and rabbit holes. With such a conveyance, the most delightful summer's day imaginable can be spent in rambling about the beautiful heaths and woodland scenes of all kinds that make up this beautiful Forest. 8 THE NEW FOREST This great tract of 92,000 acres is divided into the following classes of lands : Acres. Open heath and pasture .... 39,678 Open lands with timber .... 5,300 Plantations enclosed 11,138 open 6,532 Freehold lands of the Crown . . . 2,089 Private property within the Forest . . 27,658 92,395 Over the whole of the 64,737 acres which are Crown property, the members of public have the privilege of roaming at will on horseback, or on foot, with or without wheeled transport, so long as they do no harm and infringe none of the very few regulations that exist for the protec- tion of the public property. There are divided interests in various por- tions of the lands described above. There is first the right of the Crown, which is that of the absolute owner of the whole 64,737 acres that is to say, over the whole Forest less the 27,658 acres of private lands. Secondly, there is the above-mentioned privi- lege of all loyal subjects, amounting to a practi- cal though not a legal right to wander in right of the Crown, not as against it, over the whole of the Crown property except those free- THE CROWN AND COMMONERS 9 holds which are in some cases demised tempo- rarily to private individuals. Thirdly, there are the rights of the com- moners of the New Forest to exercise over certain portions of the Forest conjointly with the Crown certain defined privileges of pasture, of pannage, and of estovers in respect of the ownership of certain particular lands or houses. Of these commoners there are two sections. First, the landowner, often the proprietor of a large estate, who is the possessor of the lands to which as set forth and defined by the statutory register, these rights attach. He is the actual commoner, and the owner of the rights. Secondly, there is the exercising commoner or the tenant to whom the large proprietor has let his land, to farm it in the ordinary course of English estate management. These form the main body of the commoners who actually breed and turn out cattle and ponies in the right of their landlord, for the right attaches solely to the land or the house, not to the indi- vidual, and for these rights they pay a sub- stantial amount in the form of additional rent for each right, and may be termed vicarious commoners. There are also a number of small holders, 10 THE NEW FOREST living on their own land and in their own houses, who own and exercise rights of common. They are a very prosperous and praiseworthy commu- nity. They represent the genuine commoner and his interests far more than those landlords who let out their rights, or those tenants who rent a large farm and go in for pony ranching in the Forest, even though they perhaps own the larger proportion of the ponies running out. But the small freeholder is the real pony breeder and cattle and pig raiser on small but efficient lines, who ought to be encouraged in every possible manner. It will be obvious that these common rights con- stitute a property of great value, and that there is necessarily considerable friction between those who own and constantly desire to increase and enhance them, and the Crown as actual owner of the soil over which they are exercised, and again with the public exercising its privileges in right of the Crown. This constant state of conflict has existed from time immemorial, and been the subject of numerous inquiries by official committees and of Acts of Parliament based on the results of these inquiries. It would be tedious to follow out these dis- cussions in full, but for the purposes of this present story it is necessary to go back as far as THE CROWN AND COMMONERS 11 the New Forest Act of 1851, generally known as the Deer Removal Act. This Act, which followed upon a comprehen- sive inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee known as " Lord Duncan's Committee," com- pletely transformed the whole character of the Forest. Up to that time it had been maintained (at considerable cost, it is true) as a vast and beautiful park, well stocked with deer and full of woods of fine timber, and also others of more scrubby and inferior trees which had no little beauty of their own, if their money value was small. The Crown's rights to enclose land for the growth of timber had only been exercised to the extent of some 2000 acres, and this had re- sulted in the formation of oak woods of about 150 years old, equal in beauty to any part of the Forest. The whole forest was maintained on Royal lines as a beautiful domain, in a condition now lost and ever to be regretted, but at that date difficult to defend from the practical .point of view. The Sovereign had long ceased to make any use of the Forest for purposes of sport. The general public hardly knew of its existence, and before the days even of railway accommodation, visitors to the Forest must have been few indeed. The commoners clamoured for the removal of the 12 THE NEW FOREST deer, under the impression that they would get for their cattle all the pasturage absorbed by them. The Treasury, from motives of economy, lent a willing ear to the proposal. It was gene- rally felt, from a practical point of view, that a better use could be made of that part of this great national property which consisted of timber growing soil than was the case at that time ; and after the fullest possible inquiry into the matter by Parliament the Deer Removal Act was passed in the year 1851, and the palmy days of the beautiful old Forest came to an end. The main points of the Act were (1) that the deer should be removed within two years. (2) That a Register of Common Rights should be compiled, deciding once and for ever what common rights should attach to the various plots of land concerned. This was a most costly volume to prepare ; it absorbed about six years of time, and cost some 6000, but it was of great value to the commoners as well as the Crown, by securing all their rights against pos- sible intrusion by any outside parties. The Crown was to be compensated for the surrender of the right to stock the Forest with deer to the absolute limit of the animals it could maintain by being given a right to enclose land for the growth of timber as against the com- THE CROWN AND COMMONERS 13 moners, to the extent of 10,000 acres, in addition to the rights conferred by previous Acts, amount ing to 6000 acres, with the right to throw out lands when the woodlands upon them were thought to be of an age when they were safe from damage by cattle and to enclose the like quantity from the open Forest, but so that the area under enclosure should never exceed 16,000 acres at one time. At the time, this arrangement seemed to satisfy all parties. The Crown gained a power which practically in course of years would en- able it to cover with timber the whole of the Forest wherever the soil was sufficiently good for that purpose. The commoners were protected in so far that their cattle could never be ex- cluded from more than 16,000 acres at one time. And this safeguard appeared to content them at the time if, indeed, contentment has ever been known to that body. They looked forward to enhanced profits by getting for their cattle the whole of the feed which the deer to the number generally of from 4000 to 6000 had hitherto consumed. They also got their register, of im- mense value to them, which settled all their claims and gave them a statutory position. CHAPTER III THE FOREST IN DANGER FOR a while things went well, but in a short time discontent sprang up. In the first place the register, valuable as it is, had rather seriously discounted the rights of the commoners and others as they had imagined them to be, and as, in some cases, they had actually exercised them. Various customs, or alleged customs, were found to be altogether outside the limits of the rights to which, by ancient practice or grant, the commoners were entitled. When all these matters were carefully gone into by three gentlemen learned in the law (one of whom subsequently rose to the position of Lord Chief Justice of England), the various claims of the commoners were con- siderably boiled down, and a great number of persons, who had been exercising rights of common, were found to possess legally no such rights at all. Altogether the register, useful as it was to the genuine owner or exerciser of these rights, was not altogether an unmixed blessing to the whole countryside. Worst of all, perhaps, was the discovery that, THE FOREST IN DANGER 15 instead of the pasturage being increased by the removal of the deer, the contrary was the case. The deer had been invaluable in keeping down the growth of holly, more particularly, and of other rough undergrowth, which after their removal began to encroach upon the lawns, where alone the best pasturage grows. It is indeed an actual fact that there is less pasturage in the open Forest now, when 6000 deer have been taken off it, than there was when they were alive, grazing alongside the cattle, because their valu- able aid in keeping back the rough growth from the pasture has been lost. This result was fore- seen by neither side at the time. Further, as the new plantations under the Act began to be made, and the cattle excluded from consider- able areas, the commoners began to grumble, although this was absolutely in accordance with the settlement they had agreed to. Altogether the commoners and the local landowners began to feel that they had made a bad bargain by the Act which they had agitated for in 1851. What they had petitioned for, and obtained, was not as good a thing as they imagined, and, moreover, they did not like to pay the price they had agreed to give for it. So agitations, local and political, were rife within ten years after the passing of the 1851 16 THE NEW FOREST Act, and the condition of the Forest was just as much one of discontent as it had been for the previous hundred years, in spite of the efforts that had been made to satisfy it. These agitations continued until the whole question of the operation of the Deer Removal Act the discontent of the commoners, before and since the passing of that remedial measure was referred in 1868 to a Committee of the House of Lords. That Committee made a very full and judicial inquiry into the rights and the wrongs of both sides, and its report was much of the nature of a judgment of Solomon, viz. that, since from time immemorial grievances and disputes had been rife on both sides, to which there seemed to be no solution, the time had come to destroy the bone of contention, and to disafforest and par- tition up the whole Forest. This was the con- clusion to which most people, having regard to the precedents in other cases, had been driven long before. Indeed, so long ago as 1789 the same solution had been arrived at and carefully considered by a Royal Commission, despairing, as the House of Lords did in 1868, of arriving at a reconciliation of the conflicting interests ; but for- tunately they decided to postpone the evil day, and try remedial measures first. THE FOREST IN DANGER 17 It was now considered as a settled thing that the New Forest as a whole was to cease to exist. Not that there would not still have been a very large wild tract, or tracts of heath inter- spersed with woodlands, left for the enjoyment of the public, but large sections would also have been allotted to the commoners in satisfaction of their rights which would have been enclosed and broken up, while the large allotment to the Crown would for the most part have been culti- vated as timber plantations enjoyable enough in the future, but not when first planted. Anyhow, the ancient New Forest, already curtailed as to its amenities, would have ceased to exist from the passing of the necessary Act. A certain section of common right owners were at first a good deal attracted by the pro- posal, because of the large additions of freehold lands which they would have gained for their estates, in lieu of common rights, which, to a good many of them, were not worth a great deal. But the smaller commoners, and all the large non-commoner population of the district, were much opposed to the loss of the Forest. The small commoner did not think that the com- pensation he would receive would really make up for the loss of his right. The bulk of the local residents who are not commoners would get 18 THE NEW FOREST no compensation whatever for the loss of their pleasure ground. So the agitation against the recommendations of the Lords' Committee grew until it might almost be said to be unanimous locally, at any rate. But the agitation of a number of private indi- viduals, on behalf of their own profit or pleasure, might not have availed against the arguments in favour of the more profitable use of the public property had not a far more powerful ally come to their assistance in the shape of the public itself, in whose interests it was supposed dis- afforestation was necessary. The Office of Woods and the Committee of the House of Lords had overlooked the great and growing craving for open spaces free to the public. They quite forgot the increasing love of beauty and of fine scenery which was becoming implanted in the minds of the general public. They altogether overlooked the force of the aes- thetic movement, which may be said to have started with the Great Exhibition of 1851 a force which would induce the majority of the public gladly to waive some thousands of pounds of additional income rather than lose this mag- nificent park to take their pleasure in. Last of all, they forgot that at about even date with the passing of the Deer Removal Act, the London THE FOREST IN DANGER 19 and Dorchester Railway was made right through the Forest, and was bringing thousands of people to explore it and to discover what it was worth to them. Those thousands of visitors now- a-days, with improved railway facilities and the advent of mechanical traction on the roads, have grown into millions, as all who know the Forest will recognise, and it was well that the force of the movement was realised in good time, and the Forest, as it then existed, was preserved to be so highly appreciated, as undoubtedly it now is. Accordingly, in 1870, Mr. Fawcett induced the House of Commons to pass a resolution prohibit- ing further planting or enclosing pending legisla- tion and until the whole New Forest question had been further inquired into. This gave the commoners and local residents time to organise their forces, and especially to combine with their new ally in the shape of altered public opinion, and the movement in favour of open spaces, which was being power- fully worked by the Commons Preservation Society. These adjuncts were organised for all they were worth, and dovetailed into the plea for preservation of local interests ably and well. The Office of Woods missed making the point that if the public desired to maintain the Forest as a great public park, they were there and ready to 20 THE NEW FOREST do it, as servants of the public, if so instructed, far better than by having their hands tied to prevent economical management, and leave all other policy to drift. However, the Parliamen- tary Committee of 1875 was appointed, and con- sidered the question ; and although the preservation of the amenities of the Forest for the use of the public was the underlying principle, yet on the whole their report, and the Act of 1877 which followed thereon, were a great victory for the commoners, whose case was far more ably pre- sented than was that for the Crown. The net result was that the extensive powers of planting for the sake of perpetuating and in- creasing the national stock of timber which had been conferred by the Act of 1851, were alto- gether surrendered. Not an acre, beyond what has been already dealt with, was ever to be taken in and planted, and of the land already taken in (some 17,600 acres) only 16,000 were ever to be enclosed at one time. CHAPTER IV THE COURT OF VERDERERS THE ancient Court of Verderers the oldest in this country with the exception of that of the Coroner was to be reconstituted so as "better to represent the interests of the commoners." The old Court had represented both Crown and commoner alike, and assisted the Crown ably in maintaining and preserving order in the Forest. A verderer too, who was elected for life by the full county, took an oath of allegiance -to the Crown. This did not at all suit the book of the promoters of the Act of 1877, whose object it was to set up a body which should override and oppose the Crown, and gain full power over the Forest, in favour of the commoners alone. The number of verderers was increased from four to six they were to be elected on a popular basis by a constituency consisting of the owners of rights of common, and by persons holding the parliamentary franchise for a property lying in a parish any part of which lay within the Forest. This at the time just nicely covered the com- 21 22 THE NEW FOREST moners, and they alone were to have a hold, by an election held in rotation every two years, over the Court that had hitherto dealt solely with the Forest management. These elections are, I believe, the only ones left where open voting prevails. This ingeniously devised constituency was en- tirely upset by the revision and lowering of the franchise, which took place in 1885. By that alteration there became entitled to vote at a parliamentary election, and consequently at that of a verderer, an enormous number of persons who were not qualified by the Act of 1877. In fact, if a verderers' election were to arouse keen interest and the whole constituency recorded its vote, the commoners' vote, taken by itself, would be completely swamped by that of the other residents in and around the Forest who have no common rights at all ! But, as a matter of feet, there have only been two contested elections, and hardly anyone but those interested in com- moners' questions cared to record their votes, the polls being very small ones, and the interest taken in them very limited. The powers of the verderers were increased in several respects by the New Forest Act, 1877, under which it is now governed, but at the same time they are not very clearly defined. THE COURT OF VERDERERS 23 Some clauses of the Act are overridden by others, and altogether it is a clumsily drafted affair, difficult to understand, although many counsels' opinions have been called in to en- deavour to arrive at an interpretation on various points, and one or two lawsuits have resulted. Altogether this Act has cost a great deal of money to interpret. So impossible of administration was it that two years later the New Forest Act of 1879 had to be passed in order to enable the new authority over commoners' rights to escape the responsibility of enforcing the terms of the register of those rights, which was compiled in 1854 and regarded as so great a safeguard to them. By the terms of this Act the verderers were authorised to issue licences to non-commoners to depasture their cattle in the Forest in contra- vention of the Forest laws, which was rather an admission of weakness in the new regime. The ancient oath of the verderer, which dated back to Norman times and rather resembled the the oath of allegiance taken by a member of the House of Commons, was abolished, so that the members of the new Court should be troubled by no scruples when they attacked the interests of the Crown. 24 THE NEW FOREST A new and nondescript member of the Court was added, who was called the " Official Ver- derer." He is nominated by the Crown, which thereby gains a solitary representative in the Court, provided that the Official Verderer takes the view that he is in any way pledged to sup- port the Crown. But his duties are entirely undefined except that he is to act as the Chair- man of the Court. Some Official Verderers have interpreted their obligations in one way others in quite a different manner. Those who con- sider themselves bound to support Crown in- terests and authority, and to confer on such matters with the departments in charge of the Forest still in charge of and wholly responsible therefore to the public, in spite of the Act of 1877 usually have found themselves in a minority of one, as against six other verderers who re- garded no interests but those of their con- stituents, the commoners. And this was the natural and inevitable consequence of the recon- stitution of the Court. CHAPTER V MAKING A^START IN this condition with novel experiments in legislation on every hand, and with all the ill- feelings and suspicions on both sides, engendered by so prolonged and bitter a contest as had been raging for the previous ten years I found the Forest when I arrived in February 1880. I was perfectly ignorant of all that had been going on : marvellous as it seemed to my new neighbours, I had actually never heard of the " New Forest Question." I knew nothing whatever of the storms that had been raging, or why there should have been any storms at all ! I found myself terribly ill-informed, and set to work to study the various questions. Beginning with recent occurrences, and read- ing backwards, I studied the whole of the evi- dence given before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1875, and then examined the outcome thereof in the form of the Act of 1877. Gradually I extended my readings and study of correspondence, till I reached that best 25 26 THE NEW FOREST and most valuable history of the Forest, the Report in 1789 of the Committee appointed to inquire into all the Woods, Forests, and Land Revenue of the Crown. No one who desires to master all the disputes and discussions of the last 120 years should fail to study this most excellent and comprehensive report, which deals in measured judicial language with the troubles arising from the various conflicting interests, which were just the same in those days as they are now. A first-rate map, on a large scale, known as " Driver's Survey," formed one of the appendices to the Act. One factor only is left out the new one, viz., the great and increasing interest now taken in the amenities of the New Forest by the public at large. It is this new point in the argument that will ultimately nay even now has become the dominant feature of the whole question. While I had plenty to read up, and all the regular business of the office to transact, I had also to learn to find my way about the Forest, and to see for myself all that was going on. To this end I imported a couple of thorough- bred four-year-olds likely to make hunters, and set to work with a pocket map to find my way MAKING A START 27 from place to place. For I always found that if I had worked my way by map or plan it was never forgotten, but the route that was shown me by a companion was likely enough to slip out of my head alone, with a map, is the way to learn a new country. I had a sad double reverse in the first month of my office by the almost simultaneous deaths of my first assistant, William Reed, who had served the Crown for over thirty years, and not only knew every stick and stone in the Forest, but also had at his fingers ends all the customs and habits of the residents, and in most cases the character and antecedents of every one of them. The loss of this mine of information was irreparable ; and Harry Cooper, who died in the same week, was by far the best and most capable of the Forest keepers. He was the son of George Cooper, keeper of Boldre- wood Walk since the old deer removal days and before them ; he was a well educated, highly trained man, as was shown by the diary and notes which he left behind. The loss of these two men was a great blow, and it must have taken me two years at least to pick up what they could have told me in a month. In addition to this, my second assistant, John Holloway, who had some forty years' service in 28 THE NEW FOREST the Forest, had become very infirm, had in fact tendered his resignation, and only consented to carry on his duties in view of the awkward position in which I found myself placed ; for though I often got excellent advice from him he was not able to get about the Forest with me to any extent, and he lived eight miles away. In short, I had to set to work to find out every- thing for myself, and very hard work it was for I found it too dangerous to go outside my staff for information, after I made the discovery that there were among the principal residents some who were not at all above taking advan- tage of the difficulties of my position in order to gain for themselves small concessions, and en- deavoured to persuade me that it was in accord- ance with Forest customs that they should thus profit by my ignorance. Altogether I found that in the disturbed state of local feeling it was better to trust nobody, and the first two or three years in the Forest were hard ones for me. In addition to this I had hardly reorganised my staff and got it into working order when my chief Mr. James Kenneth Howard died, and I lost a most kindly amiable friend, as well as a good guide. He was succeeded by Sir Henry afterwards Lord Loch, a most able administrator, who came MAKING A START 29 from the Governorship of the Isle of Man to the Commissionership of Woods, but he only re- mained with us a couple of years, and then went as Governor to Cape Colony. He was, however, long enough connected with the New Forest to introduce and pass the New Forest Highways Act, 1883 a most valuable and necessary piece of legislation. The position of the New Forest roads, par- ticularly the main roads, was so bad as to be almost unique. Prior to the year 1866, the greater part of the New Forest was extra- parochial. There were no rates ; no one was liable to maintain any roads. The Crown did in the way of repairs whatever was deemed necessary for the mere haulage of timber. The main roads were in the hands of turnpike trusts for limited periods of years, and so long as the trusts continued the roads were well maintained. In 1866 an Act for the relief of the poor was brought in, to deal with these extra-parochial tracts. They were constituted into townships, and it was intended that all the property within them should contribute to all rural rates, as in rural parishes, the Crown, though not liable to rates, consenting to give an " ex gratia dona- tion in ease of rates," based on assessment and rateable values as in the case of other properties. 30 THE NEW FOREST A certain section of the residents of the New Forest, with what they imagined to be astute- ness, got up an opposition to the Bill, and suc- ceeded in getting it so modified that, while the relief of the poor was provided for, everything in the shape of highway maintenance was struck out. The idea of these agitators was that the Crown would be compelled for its own sake to maintain the roads for them. Nothing of the sort happened. The Treasury, having consented to a contribution for the local poor rates, was far less inclined than before to expend additional money on local interests. So the roads were not repaired at all except just so much as to enable timber to be carted. Worst of all, as the turn- pike trusts expired by the effluxion of time, the main roads became impassable, and the greater part of the New Forest was rapidly becoming impossible for wheeled traffic. In other districts it was provided that as the turnpike trusts ex- pired the maintenance of the road should fall on the rates. But here, in the New Forest, it had been contrived that there should be no rates for it to fall on. These great turnpike roads became derelict. No one was responsible, and the country suffered greatly. Surely such a condition of things could never have happened MAKING A START 31 except in the New Forest. Nothing but an Act of Parliament would suffice to get it out of the muddle. In introducing his Bill, Sir Henry Loch had careful regard to the element in the Forest that was so hostile to all or any proposals emanating from the Crown, and induced the Treasury to allow him to make a liberal offer with a view to obtain- ing a settlement of the matter, without too strict a regard to Crown interests. So he proposed to the various local highway boards that all the roads should be placed in good order by the Crown, and certain new ones made, and that the County Surveyor should be appointed arbitrator to decide whether the work was properly done. Most of the boards accepted this offer, and the Act was passed. We set to work, and in about two years we had good roads and new roads over three-fourths of the Forest. But alas ! on the western side, nothing would induce the rural board to come to terms, led as they were by a gentleman whose hostility to all Crown action was very marked. As the two principal main roads passed for part of their course through this district, they could only be repaired up to the boundary thereof, and through communication was impossible. The matter grew to be a considerable scandal. A 32 THE NEW FOREST man was upset in his cart owing to the condition of the road, and killed on the spot. Luckily the Deus ex machina arose in the form of the County Councils, which at that time were constituted. At the very first meeting of the Hants County Council this scandal was brought up for discus- sion. The representative of the obstructive District Council attempted to carry on his old line of argument, and to defend the action which he had advised his Council to adopt. He met with a short shrift. The County Council that day took the main roads into its hands, and made a proposal to the Crown to take over their main- tenance on far more liberal terms than those which the Crown had already offered to give. Needless to say, with two authoritative bodies involved free from petty local prejudice, the matter was speedily settled, and with it the vexed question of New Forest roads. The system was complete. All existing roads were repaired, and their maintenance was settled. The Crown accepted all, and more than all, the obligations of a liberal landowner, governing the largest pro- perty of the district, and at last I was able to contemplate " something attempted, something done," to alleviate one, at any rate, of the vexed questions of the locality, and to achieve a genuine practical improvement. CHAPTER VI SOME VERDERERS, OLD AND NEW DURING these years the newly constituted Ver- derers' Court, having obtained the assistance of an additional Act of Parliament to lighten its re- sponsibilities, was beginning to find its legs and form its policy. By the Act of 1877, each of the then existing verderers appointed under the ancient laws was entitled to retain his seat on the new court if he chose to do so. Only two of the number elected to continue to act. The remainder of the court was elected in manner prescribed, and naturally was formed from the ranks of those who had been the bitterest opponents of the Crown and at the same time the keenest sup- porters of the interests of the commoners. The clerk of the court was newly appointed, and had no experience of its work. For Official Verderer Mr. Sclater Booth, a distinguished member of the Conservative Government, was nominated, and he filled the position with complete impartiality and dignity. 33 34 THE NEW FOREST The two verderers of the ancient regime who remained at their posts were Sir Edward Hulse and Sir Henry Paulet. Of Sir Edward Hulse I may say, vidi tantum. He was already in fail- ing health when I met him, and only attended a few meetings of the new court. As soon as it might be said to be fairly on its legs, Sir Edward retired. He was a fine specimen of the old school of country gentlemen, and of unimpeach- able fairness in his dealings between Crown and commoner, and with all men besides. Sir Henry Paulet's was a remarkable, if slightly eccentric, personality. He was very well known and re- spected in all circles in and around the Forest. A keen sportsman, and chairman of the Hunt Club, he was also a regular shooter in the Forest of many years' experience. His appearance on these occasions was remarkable. He was very tall, and something rugged in appearance. He invariably wore his shirt and coat sleeves rolled up above his elbows. Putties were not then in general use in this country, so Sir Henry used as substitutes ordinary blue stable bandages. His shoo ting- coat appeared to be about the same age as himself, and was hung about with queer pockets, dog whistles, dog whips, &c. Altogether the the tout ensemble was such that it really was not to be surprised at that when a certain timid SOME VERDERERS, OLD AND NEW 35 young lady, walking with her governess in the Forest, came suddenly upon the worthy Baronet, they became so alarmed, that they fairly took to their heels, and never paused till they reached home, and described the wild man they had met in the woods. Of course a shout of laughter arose, for their description was unmistakable. But a more kindly, good-hearted gentleman than Sir Henry never existed, in spite of appearances. Sir Henry was always very friendly to me, and gave me much good advice on which I knew I might rely, for his sense of justice and impar- tiality was very strong. He had, moreover, having worked hand-in-hand with the Crown authori- ties for many years, a strong feeling as to the duty of the verderers to support the Crown and its authority rather than to undermine it. While he presided over the court, as in the absence of the Official Verderer he frequently did, one was perfectly certain that even-handed justice would be dealt out whether it was the Crown or a humble commoner constituent that was concerned with the matter. Sir Henry had some rather curious ideas about shooting. His estate at Little Test wood was only small, but he liked to rear a certain number of pheasants there. But since he had so little ground to shoot them on, he always began 36 THE NEW FOREST on October 1st, and in my first year he invited me to come to luncheon with him and shoot the pheasants afterwards. We sallied forth only the two of us Sir Henry with his bandages and bare arms, and two large and fat retriever dogs, one brown, the other black. The pheasants were mostly in turnips, and the sport not of the highest class, but I have seldom laughed so much in an afternoon's shooting. At every shot both dogs invariably ran in, and as invariably Sir Henry gave them the contents of his remaining barrel at a range far shorter than I have ever seen dogs shot for correctional pur- poses before. When they ran in to my shot, he gave them both barrels, impartially, right and left. The dogs, which certainly had the most curly and woolly coats imaginable, never seemed to mind. Neither of them ever howled or ceased to run in. I think he hit them quite often, but the whole proceeding was irresistibly comical, and I could not help thinking that if only they could be sold by the pound, what with the fat and the thick coats and the enormous amount of lead that they must have accumulated in their hindquarters, these dogs would have a value surpassing that of the most valuable re- trievers that ever ran at trials. Sir Henry Paulet died in 1886, which severed SOME VERDERERS, OLD AND NEW 37 the last link between the ancient Court of Ver- derers with all its historical associations and the new and totally different court created in 1877. As these older members passed away, their places were filled by co-option from the ranks of the party which had conducted the bitter cam- paign against the Crown from which the new court resulted. The character of the court, on which Sir Henry Paulet had exercised a wise and restraining influence, became much altered, and it was rapidly degenerating into little more than a committee of commoners, with no object in view but to enhance their rights and attack and impair those of the Crown. While this policy might commend itself to those who only desired to see the common rights so exaggerated that they absorbed the whole Forest, it completely destroyed the status of this ancient and venerable court, and wiped out its judicial position. It was inconceivable that cases should be brought before a court nominally a court of justice, when the members of that court ceased not to proclaim on every house-top that they were pledged to support one interest, and one only. So after several honest attempts to give the verderers a chance to keep up the jurisdiction of the court, and to deal impartially with all 38 THE NEW FOREST cases brought before it, the practice fell into desuetude, and it is now a long time since a case was brought before the verderers to deal with judicially, save only minor offences, under their own bye -laws. Not long after the death of the last of the old verderers, Lord Basing retired from the posi- tion of Official Verderer. He made no secret at all to me at least of his decision that he could no longer continue to hold the position of Crown representative on the Verderers' Court after they had adopted a policy of attacking Crown interests and undermining Crown authority on every pos- sible plea. There was no little difficulty in filling up the vacancy caused by Lord Basing's resignation, which, indeed, had been long decided upon, as was matter of common knowledge for about two years. Finally, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, a dearly loved relative of my own, consented to step into the breach and accept the position. A more un- fortunate decision was never arrived at. Lord Montagu was of all the men in the world the last that should have taken up this burden. A man at once the most amiable and high-minded of English gentlemen, he had, as many a time he told me, in our conversations on the impend- SOME VERDERERS, OLD AND NEW 39 ing retirement of Lord Basing, every disquali- fication for the post he often refused and finally was over-persuaded to assume. He was, to begin with, already an elected member of the new court. He was also the largest owner of rights of common in New Forest, and thus deeply interested in the business side of the management of Forest politics. In the case of such a man as Lord Montagu this mattered but little to those who knew him intimately ; but to the rest of the world it only appeared that all men even peers of the realm were very human, and that the chance of controlling favourably his own and his friends' interests on the Court of Verderers would appeal to the practical view of an able man of affairs. But besides this Lord Montagu had been, as Lord Henry Scott, M.P. for South Hants, one of 1>he leading spirits in the attack on the Crown's ownership of the Forest in 1875. His colleagues and intimate associates were gradually obtaining the control of the court they at that time strove to establish, and the overpowering loyalty of Lord Montagu's disposition almost forbade him to take any view hostile to theirs, although he had become nominally the guardian of the very interests which they and indeed he himself had jointly attacked for so many years. 40 THE NEW FOREST Of course there could be only one ending to this, and it came speedily. In one year's time Lord Montagu resigned the position of Official Verderer. He never ought to have accepted it. So he said time and again, and the task he essayed was too difficult a one for any man to undertake. Perhaps the best compliment paid to Lord Montagu came from my official chief at that period, Mr. George Culley, C.B., who had been altogether outside the New Forest controversies, and knew Lord Montagu personally only very slightly. He was duly informed by the Treasury of the appointment as Official Verderer of Lord Montagu in lieu of Lord Basing, and naturally was a little taken aback. But in his reply (I quote from memory) he said " that the appointment to that position of the largest owner of common rights, who was also a most active supporter of those rights as against the Crown, would have created an im- possible situation in the case of any person other than Lord Montagu, in whose appoint- ment he cordially acquiesced. " Lord Montagu was succeeded by the Eight Hon. Evelyn Ashley, who became chairman of the court just at the time when the attitude of the verderers had become most uncompromising. SOME VERDERERS, OLD AND NEW 41 Point after point was being raised by which it was sought to oust the jurisdiction of the Crown and to thwart its management. At last the doctrine was formulated that, although the Forest was the property of the Crown, and although its management was vested in the Office of Works as servants of the Crown, yet the interests of the commoners were such that nothing might be done by the Crown or any person thereby authorised which could affect even technically one single blade of glass that the animal of a commoner might possibly have eaten if it came that way ! This was, of course, a reductio ad absurdum. Under this theory no man might ride a shod horse across the waste, nor carry a stick with a ferule on it. There was no remedy for it was admitted that by no possibility could the ver- derers give a consent to any act which, they sought to contend, was a trespass against the actual rights of the commoners. Obviously such an absurdity did not really exist, and the law officers ere long gave a de- cided opinion that, although the Crown or its nominees might not do any serious or even tangible injury to the rights of any commoner as de facto exercised, yet that small or technical damage which did not actually, though techni- cally it might, injure the genuine interest of 42 THE NEW FOREST such a commoner, was perfectly within the bounds of the Crown's authority. The verderers had, however, endeavoured, on the plea of " technical damage," to restrain such things as the placing of a telephone pole on the waste, arguing that on the few inches of land it occupied there might have been some blades of grass. Making of holes on a golf green four inches in diameter and the mowing of a cricket pitch fell under the same ban, and all had to be carried out in the teeth of the opposition of the court. Finally matters culminated in a lawsuit as to whether the Crown, when felling or selling timber, had the right (which it had exercised from time immemorial) to cut it and convert on the open Forest, sometimes perhaps depositing temporarily a heap of sawdust caused by the operation. A considerable array of counsel appeared on both sides, with piles of arguments dating from Magna Charta at the least. There was every prospect of a case dealing with innumerable his- torical details and lasting many days, but at the suggestion of one of the judges trying the case (which, as he truly pointed out, affected an alleged damage that after all could not amount to 5 !) a compromise was attempted. It took SOME VERDERERS, OLD AND NEW 43 a long time to bring this about, and the law officers were changed at least once during the negotiations, but at last a settlement was effected which, after some little trouble, has worked well enough, and I do not think anyone, of late years, has desired to revive or to hear any more of the "sawing engine case." It is to be hoped that, with the various changes of time, the feelings which led to it have become greatly modified. One good effect, however, was produced ; com- promised as it was, this miserable case led to the expenditure of a considerable sum by each side. The amount which the verderers had to pay used up nearly all the capital with which they had been started under the Act of 1877, to hold on behalf of the commoners. There was no little disgust among that body when they heard that their capital had vanished. But the lack of funds to fight with had a wonderfully peace- making effect, and was most serviceable in keep- ing the litigious section of the verderers out of court for a time at any rate. CHAPTER VII MY WORK, MY STAFF, AND MY CHIEFS ONE of the first things I had to do was to set to work to reorganise my staff. I was allowed three assistants, one for each district of the Forest, and, as I have said, I lost two of them in the first year of office. I feared to go outside the department and import strangers at a time when I was so ignorant myself and so incapable of teaching others. I was able, however, to fill the vacancies by promotions in my own office. These men were truly assistants to me, and with- out their aid it would be impossible to carry on the work over a large tract like the Forest, especially for one who had in addition the charge of four other forests or large woodlands, involving in each case a journey by train, and a long day often two days spent away from home. I looked to my assistants to carry out all the details of the various work we set out first for the whole year, and again month by month as the year progressed. At the commencement of the year it would 44 MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 45 be settled exactly which sections of the various plantations should be thinned or cut altogether, and where the planting was to be done. A re- view was taken of all the draining that required cleaning or increasing. What sections of fencing would have to be done, and how many new gates were wanted. What cottages or lodges should be repaired, and tender obtained for the work. Having these returns from each of the three districts, with estimates, moreover, of the amount of produce that could be realised from the various operations, and the value thereof, we set to work to compile the totals of the three districts, and to ascertain how much of the projected work could be carried out with due regard to economy and to the amount the Forest seemed likely to earn. Of course we always wanted to spend more money than we were likely to get. The size of the Forest and its innumerable roads and rides would absorb any amount of expendi- ture, and dealing with them always seemed like pouring money into a sack with a hole in it. On the whole, I am bound to say that I was well treated in this respect, and was not often refused the grant of any money that I deemed it reason- able to ask for. Especially I was allowed to put in order and improve the bad cottages. Once these figures were finally settled, and 46 THE NEW FOREST the exact amount decided that was to be spent, or obtained, from each section of plantation or of open Forest, the routine work was carried out by my assistants, and very ably they did it. Each month they produced the several pay lists and sale books showing exactly what wages were due to each man, and what money had been obtained from the sales of minor produce, such as fern, faggots and the like, and I then handed over the cash that was due to each set of labourers. Pay day, once a month, was always a very busy day. In addition, I had to be constantly up and down in the Forest giving my personal attention to details I did not care to leave to any other person, such as the marking of any good timber that was rather more than mere routine thinning. The repairs and improvements to cottages were matters that I always kept under my personal superintendence. I am bound to say that when I came to the Forest in 1880, I found most of the labourers' cottages in a very deplorable con- dition. The accommodation was what we all term now a scandal. It was quite normal in those days, except on very well managed estates. How the fine fellows that fought our wars in the Peninsula, and in the Crimea, could have been reared in such miserable overcroweded tene- ments is really incomprehensible. It could only MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 47 have been that the fittest alone survived the hardships of their bringing up, and that men who had endured such things could be destroyed by nothing short of fire-arms. I set to work at once to raise the standard of these dwellings. It is not easy to get money, when it shows no increase of income, to be ex- pended by the Treasury, and in those days I had no Rural District Bye-laws and no Housing and Town Planning Act to wave in the face of Whitehall as an indication of what were con- sidered the necessary conditions for a labourer's dwelling. Luckily, however, the Ecclesiastical Commis- sioners had recently laid down a rule as to the minimum accommodation for a labourer's cottage. Nor does it at all err on the side of extrava- gance. Practically, it is to the effect that no cottage shall comprise less than a good kitchen and living room if not indeed a kitchen and an indepen- dent wash-house, and above stairs " three separate bed rooms which do not communicate with one another." With this trump card up my sleeve, and with the hearty backing of Sir Henry Loch, I introduced an estimate for the improvement of three cottages, and it passed muster for very 48 THE NEW FOREST shame they could not refuse with the autho- rities of Whitehall. What has once been agreed to in the Civil Service constitutes a precedent which, as a rule, passes with but little inquiry in future, and so I quietly introduced into my estimates plans for the improvement and repair of about three different cottages year by year, dealing first with those that harboured the longest families, and so on in succession. It took some years to get through the list, but many years before I left the New Forest I had the satisfaction of knowing that all our employees were housed in cottages that would bear any reasonable test of inspection, and were, year by year, kept in good order ; and I am bound to say that, after the first, expenditure incurred on the above lines was never cavilled at in White- hall, provided that the necessity for it was clearly explained. All these estimates were, of course, laid before, and approved of by, my chief, the Commissioner in charge of New Forest, and I was always glad when he found time to come down and see for himself what I proposed to do. Of course, with- out his backing and approval my figures had no chance of passing the Treasury, and by bear- ing in mind that " Chi va piano va sano" and by never putting forward on my own initiative MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 49 schemes so large as to frighten those apprehen- sive birds that frequent Whitehall, I was able generally to get all my estimates through. The successor to Sir Henry Loch in the Commissionership of Woods was Mr. George Culley, C.B., a gentleman who owned considerable property in Northumberland, and had already done service under the Local Government Board. A more kindly, considerate, and withal capable chief no Civil Servant has ever had to serve under. Mr. Culley had considerable tact, but also very considerable firmness in dealing with the troubles and disputes so rife in New Forest, and he did very much to allay them. It was only when the verderers had finally made up their minds to go to law with the Crown that he was driven to accept battle. Mr. Culley had a very clear knowledge of estate management generally, and was always happy on the back of a nice hack looking over the woods and property. He was able to pass in review, in a short visit, the conditions and main points of the woods he passed through, and to give a sound and considered opinion when he got home as to what was the proper course, quite regardless of what my view might be, but always kindly and gentle in explaining why he had formed a different opinion from myself. D 50 THE NEW FOREST Though not particularly like a bishop, Mr. Culley would have rivalled any bishop that ever dwelt in a palace in that he was " given to hospitality" in a marked degree. He never allowed me to come to London, as I very fre- quently had to do, without insisting on my dining with him, generally at the Oxford and Cambridge Club (the cellar there is world- famous). Not unfrequently he collected very pleasant small bachelor parties on such occasions. Some of these have been the pleasantest among my reminiscences. It was at one of these small parties that I first met Sir Edward Grey (who was a ward of Mr. Culley's) when quite a young man. I well recollect our host's remark to me, when we were talking over business after the others had gone away when he said, referring to his late ward, " That young man is sure to go to the top of the tree." He could hardly have foreseen the time when the name of Sir Edward Grey would become a household word in every capital of Europe. Mr. Culley died when of no great age. I always thought his life was short- ened by the strenuous work he did at the time of the Committee of the House of Commons which sat in the sessions of 1889-90. His grasp of the whole subject was marvellous. The multi- tude of figures, schedules, returns, and Acts of MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 51 Parliament that he had at his fingers' ends was endless; but Mr. Culley kept mastery of it all, and during all the early days of the Committee met their every point, and, by his frankness in producing and anticipating every possible return or figure that could be asked for, became the friend and ally of the Committee instead of an hostile witness, as he was regarded when he first entered the witness chair. This Committee originated partly in a mare's nest. There had just been a considerable scandal with regard to the Board of Works, and certain wiseacres had jumped to the conclusion that something of the sort was to be unearthed with respect to the office of Woods, especially with regard to the management of the London pro- perty, from which most of the income is derived. In about two sittings the whole of this idea was exploded. Mr. Culley so openly produced every return, document, or account, that, as far as those matters were concerned, the Committee had everything in their hands, and had nothing left to inquire into. It was immensely to the credit of Sir John Fowler, afterwards Lord Wolverhampton, that directly he found that the theory of malad- ministration, with which the Committee was at first imbued, was an erroneous one, he com- 52 THE NEW FOREST pletely altered his tone and bearing, and for the greater part of two sessions worked cordially and in a friendly manner with all those connected with the Office of Woods who could give him any information to make a complete and thorough investigation into the whole management of the land revenue ; and in all this he met with the heartiest support from all concerned. Naturally the report of the Committee gave the Department of Woods no cause for complaint. I always recollect with pleasure and amuse- ment Mr. Culley's kindly old-fashioned peculi- arities. He never would come from London to visit me without bringing with him a present of a little parcel of the best and freshest fish to be had that day from Groves*, whether we wanted it or not. He had made it a standing rule that he always desired to have an interview with me in London on the Monday in Derby week, just in case we might have anything to discuss or arrange ! And on those occasions he invariably gave me the number of the box he had taken in the Grand Stand at Ascot on the occasion of that great summer festival, held annually on the lands under the charge of the Office of Woods ; and he was disappointed if I did not pay him my respects there. Lastly he never MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 53 possessed any thick boots ! and this always caused me regrets whenever it was necessary for him to go on foot through any wet wood- lands where work was going on which he wanted to inspect. But he went there just the same, in spite of all I could say. Mr. Culley was succeeded as Commissioner of Woods by Sir Edward Stafford Howard, K.C.B., though he had not then attained to his present rank and titles. Sir Stafford is fortunately still amongst us, so I cannot recount our transactions, or relate anecdotes which might occur to me, actually as it were to his face. Mr. Howard, like his two predecessors, encountered at the outset a tempestuous time. The verderers had actually formulated their position as they desired to establish it, with regard to what was practi- cally the ownership of the Forest. The lawsuit they were promoting was already in the list, and Mr. Howard had to take charge of the proceedings connected with that suit when he was comparatively new to office. Whatever could be done by conciliation and kindly feeling, coupled with the most indefatig- able pains, to bring about a better state of things between the Crown and the verderers (claiming to represent the commoners), was done without sparing of himself by Mr. Howard. And 54 THE NEW FOREST his equanimity and patience when his cordial advances met with little response, or were countered by one or other section of the opposi- tion, were certainly beyond all praise. As an American Ambassador once said of a distin- guished leader of the Tory party, "He had often heard of the milk of human kindness, but never before had he seen the cow." I often used to think of that saying, when I fancied that a little stimulant in the milk would make it have better effect. Sir Stafford and I worked together for some twenty years with much contentment and good friendship, and (I hope) mutual self-esteem. Of all that he did in the matter of promoting Forestry and Forest Protection I will speak later on. It deserves a chapter to itself. I found the condition of affairs as regards the Forest keepers and the preservation of game and of all wild fauna such as I conceived a Royal Forest ought to be stocked with, was in a very bad state. In the Deer Removal Act it was set forth that, with the abolition of the deer, the necessity for so great a number of keepers would cease there were then thirteen head keepers, so this was obviously the case and that the lodges occupied by these thirteen men, or some of MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 55 them, might be leased by the Crown on certain conditions. In this way arose such mansions built on the desirable sites of some of the keepers' lodges as Malwood Lodge, built by Sir William Harcourt ; Bramble Hill Lodge ; Whitley Ridge, Rhine- field, and Lady Cross Lodges. The tendency of the tenant, as one succeeded another, has been to overbuild, and some of these houses have rather outgrown their sites. But they represent valuable property, all of which reverts to the Crown at the expiration of the lease, and they are all very lovely residences. But as the lodges went, so also did the keepers, regardless of the necessity for the pro- tection of the Forest. Without doubt, soon after the Deer Removal Act was seen to be a failure, and long before the Report of the Lords' Com- mittee of 1868, it had come to be looked on as a foregone conclusion that disafforestation was to overtake the New Forest, as it had done nearly all the other forests of England. In those cir- cumstances the area of the Crown property would have been much reduced, its character would have been materially altered, and a much smaller staff would have been required. And so, in anti- cipation of all this, the Office of Woods was gradually letting the old out-door staff slip away. 56 THE NEW FOREST When I came to the Forest there were but four responsible keepers left. As their colleagues had died or retired, under keepers were appointed in their places. These men were under no super- vision but that of the Deputy Surveyor, and, as they were as a rule merely promoted labourers, they were not the class of man to be allowed to act independently. No definite orders had ever been given to them, and they seemed to think that so long as they looked after the preserva- tion of foxes and pheasants, and kept a mild check on poaching, generally all the rest might be allowed to slide. Rabbits were supposed to be kept down by the keepers in the plantations, but they never accounted for them when killed, and everything in the shape of rare birds that they could get hold of they regarded as perquisites. With some trouble I discovered the Southampton bird-stuffer who was in the habit of regularly paying them 3s. 6d. per head for all kingfishers he could get. Everything in the shape of a bird of prey was, of course, looked upon as vermin, killed, and if possible sold. Had it not been for this laxity, the honey buzzard might have continued to be a far more regular breeder in the Forest than I have found it to be. The four remaining head keepers, though they had far higher pay and better houses than the MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 57 under keepers, had in charge only one of the thirteen " walks," or keepers' beats, in the Forest. They had no authority over the under keepers, who each had a similar " walk " which he considered his own, free of supervision. Everything was in a state of chaos, and I set to work to clear out what was verily an Augean Stable. First of all, I had to persuade the Treasury to give me one other head keeper at a somewhat lower salary than the four exist- ing ones. Each of these, and they were all excellent men, continued at their existing wage, but their places were each cut down to the limit I had decided on, as they fell vacant, and new men were appointed at what was quite an ample wage. I divided the Forest into five districts, containing so many "walks" each, and placed each of my five men in charge of one, with twelve under keepers among them. Each man had so many under keepers under his authority, and these men had no defined districts, to the boundaries of which they confined their energies as before, but had to attend to whatever duties were set them in any part of the district of the head keeper wherever he chose to send them. He was en- tirely responsible for their good work, and was supported heartily if he had any well founded complaint to make against any of his subordinates. 58 THE NEW FOREST Full instructions for all the keepers were carefully drawn out ; each man had his printed and signed copy, and realised that a deliberate breach of those instructions meant instant dismissal. In compiling this list of rules and orders, I had in view the object of preserving all the fauna of the Forest of every kind not merely, as gamekeepers are apt to think, game birds and ground game only. In a great wild National Park, where for many reasons very high preservation of game is neither possible nor desirable, there is room for every kind of wild animal, and I had to make my men understand that I desired the same care taken of the nest of a buzzard or a fern owl as of a pheasant. As to these instructions, I took the advice of such able sportsmen and naturalists as the late Lord Lilford and Professor Alfred Newton. Special rules were made as to particular care being taken of the rarer birds likely to occur, and orders were given that every instance of a strange visitor was to be reported to the Deputy Surveyor at once. And there was to be no killing of any birds save a few scheduled ones. All bird's-nesting was to be rigidly prevented. Of course these were rather novel ideas to some of the men, but, after a change or two had been made among them, they all settled down well to their work, and in some MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 59 cases became keen and intelligent observers of wild life. The old-fashioned head keepers, when in the employ of the Lord Warden of the Forest an office which fell into abeyance at the death of H.E.H. the Duke of Cambridge in 1850 were rather a different class of men to those now ful- filling what is left of their duties. They drew very good salaries and had good lodges (so have the head keepers now), and had in the days of the deer very responsible duties to perform, and a good deal of money passed through their hands. The Lord Warden provided a uniform : green coat, gold-laced hat, white breeches and top boots. Everybody always rode about the Forest in those days and until recently. Even the under keepers always had their rough pony to get about upon. But the bicycle has done much to knock minor horsemanship on the head. In my time we found horses best, if we really needed to get about in the Forest in all condi- tions and to all remote places. Altogether the Forest keeper of former days was apt to be somewhat of a personage, and many of them were much respected and looked up to locally. Some of them succeeded to their offices from father to son for generations. Most people now 60 THE NEW FOREST living in the Forest recollect George Bumstead, keeper of Ashley Walk and district, and, apart from his abnormal proportions, quite the modern prototype of the old-fashioned highly respected New Forest " groom-keeper," as they were called in old days in contradistinction to the " master keeper," or gentleman of high repute, who held appointment by royal favour as governors of sundry " walks." In 1789 Anthony Bumstead, groom-keeper of Ashley Walk, gave his (recorded) evidence before the Commission of that year to the effect, inter alia, that he was appointed to that position in 1763. Whether he succeeded a forebear or not, I have no record, but it is certain that George Bumstead succeeded his father and grandfather as keeper of Ashley Walk, and we may fairly conclude that there was an unbroken succession from 1763 up to the date of George Bumstead's death about 1890 a record in one family of not far from 130 years. So again, William Cooper, keeper of Eye worth Walk, comes 'before the same Commission in 1789 and says that he had been appointed some fifteen years before that date. Whether he was the father or grandfather of George Cooper of whom I spoke above, I am not sure; but the latter succeeded as keeper of Boldrewood Walk, and MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 61 died at a considerable age about 1878. He again was succeeded by his son Harry, who survived to my time, and died in 1880. George Cooper was quite one of the distinguished personalities of the Forest. These men were among the last of that rather curious type that lived and throve on the New Forest for centuries. Wholly deer-keepers, they were also bailiffs, revenue collectors, and above all sportsmen ; and on their efforts and never-failing goodwill depended all the sport and enjoyments of the whole Forest. Perhaps old James Coles, about the last of the type, expressed their senti- ments very well to me when, after a conversation as to the hunting and the shooting, and inciden- tally the proposed planting of trees in the planta- tions, and the necessary extermination of rabbits, he burst out with, " Rabbits, sir ! Why rabbits is the bread of life for everythink ! " I ruminated on that saying, and, taking into account all the interests I had to serve, made up my mind that when I planted I would also buy wire-netting. I have found this both a preservative and a keeper of peace James Coles's saying had a good deal to commend it as far as New Forest, with an abundance of foxes therein, is concerned. A strong staff of keepers or whatever you like to call them is a necessity in the New 62 THE NEW FOREST Forest, apart altogether from any questions of preservation of game or of sport. They are the custodians who do all the policing of the public property, and their duties are manifold. The Gypsy population at some seasons very numerous and often very lawless almost require a staff to them- selves. For many reasons it has not been found practicable to banish them altogether from a Forest that is practically open to all His Majesty's subjects ; but there is a code of rules for the regulation of their camps and other proceedings, and a great deal of the time of the keepers is spent in enforcing those rules and checking the depredations of these semi-savages. Again, the very fact that the Forest is open to all the public needs a staff of men to guard against ad- vantage being taken of this liberty. Were it not for the watchers employed, there would be endless damage done by cutting of trees, stealing of timber and of any portable property that is worth money. The keepers also are in charge of the gravel and sandpits which are all over the open Forest. They measure the gravel dug ; regulate, under the direction of the Deputy Surveyor or his assis- tants, the ground where the gravel is to be dug ; and render their accounts to the various High- way Boards or other purchasers of gravel. Thus MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 63 a New Forest keeper is now, and always has been, something very different from an ordinary gamekeeper, and, now that their numbers are so reduced, they have as much work to do as it is fair to ask anyone to perform. In the old days, when there was a great head of deer in the Forest, the keepers had, no doubt, a great deal to do in looking after them. But they were thirteen in number one for each walk, and each of them had a man under him, an assistant who was known as the "browser," one of his principal duties being to cut the holly, ivy, and similar underwood, for feeding the deer in the winter. The small enclosures round each lodge, fenced with low posts and rails, were called the browse pens ; the deer easily leapt in and out, but the ponies and cattle could not, and thus could not get at the fodder laid within the fence for the benefit of the deer. CHAPTER VIII THE NEW FOREST DEER WHILE treating of the keepers and their former vocations, it may be well to give some details of the deer as they used to be, when the Forest was a huge deer park full of half tame deer, and as it is now when it contains a compara- tively small number of quite wild deer. There is no doubt that the New Forest district did from very ancient times constitute a Forest specially suited to deer. In the days of Canute it was made into a Royal Forest, conveniently situated to Southampton, where he had a palace, and where also he tried the his- torical experiment of seeing whether the tide would or would not wet his feet. Like other monarchs in more recent times, he discovered that he was not superior to the forces of nature. There was therefore without doubt a stock of deer prior to the occupation of the Danes, or Canute would not have enacted laws for their preservation. The original stock of Great Britain was no doubt the red deer. They were pretty 64 THE NEW FOREST DEER 65 well everywhere, where the country suited them. But on the New Forest they never greatly throve or attained to a great herd, frequenting only certain parts of the Forest, and, at any rate during the last two hundred years, never increas- ing beyond a head of seventy or eighty all told, although practically nothing was done to keep their numbers down, while all round them was a numerous and ever increasing herd of fallow deer, numbering at various times from 3000 to 8000 head; nor did the red deer ever attain great size or carry very good heads. A similar state of things formerly existed in the adjacent forests of Alice Holt and Woolmer both under my charge. In the former, growing on a good clay and loam soil, with oak timber and open furzy spaces, fallow deer were numer- ous, but red deer never came there. At Woolmer, a heathy, sandy country, with no timber but the Scotch fir, there was always a great herd of red deer. It is recorded by Gilbert White, in his Natural History of Selborne, how Queen Anne, on a journey from London to Ports- mouth, diverged at Liphook into Woolmer Forest, and there, stationed at a spot to this day known as " Queen's Bank," saw the herd of red deer driven past her to the number of some 500 head. Yet these deer rarely put in an appearance at E 66 THE NEW FOREST Alice Holt Forest, practically contiguous to Wool- mer, but remained on their own barren wastes. There they lived and throve until the arrival of the "Waltham Blacks," and ultimately the passing of the Black Act. The " Waltham Blacks " were a gang or gangs of desperadoes, who throve in the neighbourhood of Waltham, in Hants, in the earlier days of George I. It was their practice to disguise them- selves by blacking their faces, and hence the name of " Waltham Blacks." At first their depre- dations ran chiefly in the line of deer-stealing, which they practised with devastating effect in Waltham Chase, among the deer of the Bishop of Winchester, and they went far to clear the Royal Forests of Woolmer and Alice Holt. They also extended their practices to such matters as cutting the dams of fish-ponds in order to secure the fish, setting fire to houses, barns, and stacks of corn and wood, maiming of cattle, and the like. The Black Act (9 Geo. I, c. 22) was passed in order to check the practices of these particular gentry. It made all the actions in which they habitually indulged into felonies, and the list was a long one. In it was included, besides the crimes I have recounted above, the cutting down or destroying of any trees planted as an avenue, or growing in a garden, orchard, or plantation in THE NEW FOREST DEER 67 fact, all the damage that these malefactors habitu- ally committed. These stringent measures, and the certain death penalty involved if any of the " Blacks " was captured, appear to have stamped out the gang. But the Bishop of Winchester refused to restore the deer to Waltham Chase, saying that " they had done enough mischief already." The deer in Woolmer Forest also were reduced by these depredators to a shadow of the former herd. It was deemed better for the peace of the neighbourhood that they should be done away with, and to that end came, as Gilbert White recounts, the Duke of Cumberland, with "a hunts- man and six yeoman prickers in scarlet jackets laced with gold, attended by the staghounds ; ordering them to take every deer in this forest alive, and to convey them in carts to Windsor. In the course of the summer they caught every stag, some of which showed extraordinary diver- sion. But in the following winter, when the hinds were also carried ofi, such fine chases were exhibited as served the country people for matter of talk and wonderment for years afterwards. " I myself saw one of the yeomen prickers single out a stag from the herd, and I must con- fess that it was the most curious piece of activity 68 THE NEW FOREST I ever beheld, superior to anything in Mr. Astley's riding school." This settled the Woolmer red deer, and it was not long before the fallow deer of Alice Holt were also wiped out. Both these properties were under my charge as Deputy Surveyor for the whole period of my residence in Hants, so it seems but natural to put in a few words about matters that I was so intimately connected with myself, though not in re- spect of the New Forest. Although there was no dividing line between the haunts of the red deer and those of the fallow deer in the New Forest, yet it was remarkable how they each kept to their own particular ground. The red, as I have said, were undoubtedly the indigenous deer of Great Britain. It is always believed that the fallow deer were introduced into England by the Romans, and Mr. Millais (see British Deer and their Horns) is of opinion that the New Forest deer are descendants of Asiatic fallow deer from the shores of the Sea of Marmora. At any rate, New Forest deer, which are very fine, and often attain to very good weights, differ in various ways from park deer. In parks you see fallow deer, i.e. deer that are of a pale red colour, with innumerable buff or white spots on their sides. Again you see dun deer nearly black on the back, but a lighter dun THE NEW FOREST DEER 69 colour on the under parts. Again one sees nearly black deer, and those that are nearly red without spots. Each one of these retains the same colour both in summer and in winter. But in the wild deer of the New Forest, just as in the case of wild roe deer, there is, a complete alteration in the colour of each individual deer in summer and in winter. In summer every deer is a perfect fallow colour that is to say a bright ground colour with conspicuous white spots on the sides. That is the true "fallow" colour, but in October they change rapidly, and become in every single case of the dun variety that is to say, of a very dark brown colour on the back, coming low down on the sides, and of a light dun on all the lower and under part of the body. I have never seen in a park a universal and a complete change such as these wild deer go through. At any rate the New Forest may heartily thank the Eomans for three very desirable things. First (as many say), the beech tree, the most beautiful object in the Forest ; secondly, the fallow deer ; and lastly, the pheasant. Long as it is since the tramp of the Roman legions was heard in England, yet the beautiful features which they introduced into the New Forest remain and thrive, when other memo- ries of that wonderful race have died away. Of the deer, without doubt there were two 70 THE NEW FOREST varieties in the district when the Conqueror afforested this great tract, where he desired to take his pleasure near his capital of Winchester. We read of him that he " loved the tall [i.e. the red] deer, as if he had been their father," and probably most of his personal hunting was the pursuit of the noble stag. But the fallow deer were certainly there in greater or in less numbers. Of the roe deer we have no record. His only appearances have occurred in recent years in the form of solitary deer mostly old bucks, that have probably been worsted in fighting and have strayed up from Dorsetshire, where they are now plentiful enough. They were, however, only in- troduced into Dorsetshire about 1830, though they have thriven so well there, and spread so greatly, that it is strange that more of them have not established themselves in the New Forest. The first that came into my ken was about the year 1880, when a solitary buck, wandering no doubt out of Dorsetshire, tried to make his way over to the Isle of Wight at low water by way Hurst Castle, and its long approach over that pebbly beach which leads to it. No doubt the buck thought that the tongue of land he tra- versed went all the way to the Island downs that he could see far-off, but he was deceived. First, he stuck in the mud, and then the tide THE NEW FOREST DEER 71 rose on him. He was taken alive by some fisher- men, who reported the capture to me, supposing that he belonged to the Forest. I hardly knew what to do with him, and sent him off to the Zoological Gardens, where I hope his life was a happy one. Deer were in Norman times the be- all and end-all of the forest. All legislation, customs, and habits of the country were regulated by their welfare. Many of these ancient laws seem very barbarous to us, and, no doubt, when first they were enforced were the cause of un- speakable cruelty. The clause in the Charta de Forestse of Henry III, enacting that " henceforth no man shall lose life or member for taking our deer," has a nasty sound in the ears of those who live in the twentieth century. But for all that, the penalties that remained to be paid, though not so hideous in their barbarism, were terribly severe. One of the cruellest enactments was that con- cerning the " expeditation " or "lawing" of dogs. But even this was not quite so bad as it sounds. By the laws of the Forest, a dweller within its verges might keep a small dog "for the protec- tion of his house and chattels." But he might keep no hound or dog of such size that it might chase a deer or fawn with any prospect of success. Such a dog, then, by strict law had to be " ex- 72 THE NEW FOREST peditated," or to have his three front toes cut off with an axe, so as to debar him for ever from running fast enough to chase anything let alone a deer. And the test was whether he would pass through a certain large stirrup which hung in the Verderers' Hall at the King's House at Lyndhurst, where the Forest courts were held. If the dog would pass through the stirrup he was a little dog, only fit to guard house and chattels, and free of all risks ; if he would not pass, he was liable to the penalty. The ancient stirrup used as this test still hangs in the hall, and though it has not the antiquity popularly assigned to it, being probably of Tudor date, yet it was no doubt used for the practical purpose I have described. Such stirrups were not very uncommon, though, I believe, this one is the last in existence. Such an one is referred to in the records of the Forest of Exmoor also, I believe, in those of the Forest of Pickering but this I cannot verify. But the actual lawing seems not to have been carried out after the earliest times. The "jingling of the guinea healed the hurt," that the dog never felt. For this lawing or expeditation was a sub- stantial source of income to the Crown, and those who desired to keep big dogs must pay for them or get rid of them. THE NEW FOREST DEER 73 In the Charta de Forestse of Henry III, it is laid down : " Let the inquisition or view of the lawing of dogs being within the Forest be henceforth made when the regard ought to be made to wit every third year . . . and let him whose dog shall be found not lawed give for mercy three shillings, and henceforth let no ox be taken for the lawing." So you could keep your dog uninjured at " a bob a year." These were substantial payments, and the whole thing was really a tax not a barbarity, though founded on one and there were remissions, e.g. in the 8th year of Edward I : " The foresters, verderers, re- garders and other jurors of the New Forest say upon their oath the men of the New Forest of Lymitthorn (Lymington) are quit, and ought to be, of expeditating their dogs of the same town up to a certain number, to wit thirty-two dogs ; and if there are more mastiffs in the said town they ought to be expeditated, or expeditation shall be given for them according to the custom of the Assize of the Forest" If this were not sufficient to prove that the whole business was one of taxation " ac- cording to the custom of the Assize of the Forest," the following quotation will illustrate the matter. In the Pleas of Venison of the New Forest 74 THE NEW FOREST presented in the 4th year of Edward III (1339), William de Bello Campo, Knight, keeper of the Forest, presents under the heading of " Expedita- tion " of dogs in the Forest aforesaid : " From John, son of Richard de Wynton, Knight, and Joan his wife from Edmond de Kendall and Henry de Hainhulle, tenants of the lands and tenements which were of John son of Thomas at one time keeper of the Forest, for two expeditations of dogs received by the said John, son of Thomas in his time, 90. " From the heirs and tenants of the lands of Roger de Inkpenne at one time keeper of the Forest, for one expeditation of dogs received by him in his time, 50." Presumably the keepers died without account- ing for the money received by them, and their heirs were held responsible. But these, at the rate of the day, are sub- stantial sums, and if each " regard " every third year, by a single keeper of one district alone in the Forest, was worth so much, expeditation must represent a tangible income if properly collected and accounted for. I don't know when the custom died out, and the income was lost to the Crown. Probably at the date of the Commonwealth. But in one way or another, to man or to beast, the deer were a source of trouble THE NEW FOREST DEER 75 if not severely let alone; nor was rank or position always a protection. In the pleas of juries and assizes held in the fortieth year of Henry III (generally at Win- chester), Nigel de Bokland, Simon de Ernewoode, and John Ernys, verderer, and foresters, of the New Forest, presented that Avice, Countess de Insula, in returning from the Court of the Lady the Queen, on Monday next before the Conversion of St. Paul 37 Henry III took in the Forest two deer [bestias], therefore let the matter be discussed before the King." Nor were the princes of the Church above helping themselves to the venison of their superior Lord the King, for at the same assizes it was presented and found that " On the vigil of Saints Tyburcius and Vallerianus, William Russel, with a horse carrying the saddle of a convert of Beaulieu named William, then keeper of the Grange of the Abbot of Beaulieu of Harisforde (Hertford), with three grey hounds, entered the Forest and slipped them [amissavit] after the game of the Lord the King. The foresters arrived, and William fled, leaving the horse and greyhounds, to a spinney. The foresters delivered the horse and greyhounds to John de Buttesthorn, steward of the Forest. The Sheriff is ordered to cause the Abbot to 76 THE NEW FOREST come that he may produce his servant, William Eussel, on the Friday before Ash Wednesday." The Abbots of Beaulieu seem to have been peculiarly troublesome neighbours to the adjoin- ing Crown Forest, and indeed up to the present day they have one after another been actively tenacious of what they, with wide views, con- ceived to be their rights. But the following incident is a very delightful instance of the royal economy in dealing with the Church subscriptions which existed then, and are now always with us. " The Abbot of Beaulieu was indicted at the Pleas of the Forest held at Winchester on the morrow of St Hilary 8 Edward I, for receiving Brother Richard his convert and Richard de Rames his servants \_familiarum] indicted for trespass of venison with snares and other engines in a close, made fine with the King for forty marks, came and brought the Queen's writ by which the Queen pardoned the Abbot and convert for the trespass aforesaid and gave the forty marks for the work of his Church. There- fore he is quit." Good and businesslike. This time the worthy prelate seems to have been fairly caught out and condemned to pay. But how cunningly he got out of the fix, and with what sound feminine economy did the Queen com- THE NEW FOREST DEER 77 promise for the inevitable subscription towards the building of the new Abbey. These royal personages and great churchmen were infinitely human ! But the deer and the care of them, at an assize held shortly after the date last mentioned, led to a very serious charge and conviction against a prominent Forest official for it was presented " that John le Espaniell yeoman [valetus] to the Queen took in the Forest in 55 Henry III, twenty does for the behoof of the Queen, and Walter de Kane' took in the same year one hart [cervus] and six bucks [damos] for the behoof of the Queen. And the said John le Espainell was in the same year with the Queen in foreign parts. The verderers and foresters being asked present this. They say that Walter de Kane' caused this to be so enrolled and well they recollect that the said John took the said bucks though they erred in their presentation. But they say that Walter took venison at his own will at all times of the year when he was steward. The verderers are amerced for a bad presentation concerning John. Concerning Walter the verderers and foresters being asked as to the destruction which the said Walter made for venison in the Forest, say that he and John de Buttesthorne and William de Barthon, and 78 THE NEW FOREST John de Ponte, and others who were under him when he was steward of the Forest, despoiled the Forest of five hundred beasts [ferasi] and upwards, and sent the venison where they wished to different parts for the said Walter de Kane'. "For the trespass of the 500 beasts taken by him at his precept taken 5000, namely, for each beast 10. For other beasts which he caused to be taken without number and without warrant, and for the waste made by him of his bailiwick as well of venison as of vert because it is not possible to estimate it at the will of the King and Queen. And for the trespass of the afore- said malefactors by him placed there, for whom he is held to answer, because they have nothing at the will of the King and Queen." A more appalling condemnation and sentence could hardly be faced by mortal man. To be " at the will of the King " meant no less than that your life, the lives of your family, and the whole of the property of every kind that you possessed, lay at the mercy of the King so-called, but practically of that of the convicting Court. Probably, unless extenuating circumstances could be effectually urged, the sentence was carried out to the full. But in any case the enormous fine of 5000 at the money value of that day im- THE NEW FOREST DEER 79 posed on the unfortunate Walter was one that no subject except one of the highest magnates of the kingdom could be expected to raise. Cer- tainly it was not then, or now, one that a salaried Forest official was likely to be able to produce. Therefore the very best prospect before poor Walter de Kane* was that of rotting in a dungeon for the rest of his life, and reflecting how meanly all his Forest friends and associates had rounded on him when the day of trouble came and they began to tremble for their own skins. But I quote these old records to show how very high was the value and importance set on the deer, and how it was still a matter of life or death to take liberties with them. The fine im- posed of 10 per head can only have been a vindictive one. Even in those days, when venison may have been of much greater value than it is now (for most people despise it, if compared with ordinary butcher's meat), no deer could possibly have been worth a fifth part of the value put upon it. It was the estimation in which the " venison" of the Forest, comprising a good deal more than mere deer's flesh, was held that caused these tremendous penalties to be fixed. I have not come across any particular records about the deer in Tudor times. Doubtless there are such records, interesting enough, but they require 80 THE NEW FOREST an immense amount of unearthing and the aid of those who can readily translate the language of Norman-French and dog-Latin combined, in which they are written. I have never had leisure for such researches in the course of my life. The Stewart records that I have had access to relate more to timber growing and building than to the deer. In 1670, however, we have a record of an order of Charles II for enclosing with pales certain land adjoining New Park "for the preservation of our red deer, newly come out of France." Whether the stock had fallen very low during the time of the Commonwealth (as is very probable), or whether His Majesty merely desired to introduce a cross of fresh blood, we are not told. But in this same year 1670 there was drawn up a very interesting census of the New Forest deer. Whether it had any- thing to do with the importation of fresh red deer from France at that particular date or not, is not apparent. This return was found at Bolton Hall, Wens- leydale, by a member of the family in possession there, who are the direct descendants of those Dukes of Bolton who for over a hundred years exer- cised so great an influence in New Forest, and took their title from Bolton Castle in Wensley- dale. This paper was found among ancient THE NEW FOREST DEER 81 documents connected with, probably, that last of the Dukes, who bequeathed his North Country properties to his daughter. She married Mr. Orde a Yorkshire gentleman, who afterwards assumed the name of Orde-Powlett. The term "rascall" deer is quaint, but no doubt a common one at that date. It seems to apply to all deer not actually fit for venison and doe venison, though a capital thing on the table, seems to have been " nothing accounted of" in the days of the Dukes of Bolton. The common expression "rascal" applied to many a worthless fellow, no doubt has its origin in the deer-park. A Veiw of the Deere in the New fforest IN THE COUNTY OF SOUTHTON TAKEN THE BEGINNING OP APRIL 1670. Bed Male. Red Rascall. ffallow Male. ffallow Rascall. North Baylwicke Godshill Linwood Burly South East Batramsley Inn ffritham Totall of each sort .... 2 23 19 14 6 15 24 103 10 50 34 15 37 42 2 64 157 45 232 189 149 69 230 81 257 1,409 675 183 470 1,292 759 633 721 124 1,327 6,184 254 Totall of y e Red Deere .... Totall of y e ffallow Deere .... Generall Totall . 357 . 7,593 . 7,950 The last yeares veiw amounted to ... 7,273 So there is this yeare increased . . . 677 = 7,950 F 82 THE NEW FOREST The stock of deer kept through the eighteenth century probably varied from 4000 to 8000 head. No doubt, when it approached the latter figure the ground became overstocked, and if bad weather came there was heavy mortality. It is recorded that, in 1787, 300 deer died in Boldrewood Walk alone during the winter. At the period of the Deer Removal Act, when the deer became a burning question, it was stated that the number had been cut down, from about 3000 to 4000 in recent years, to the number of 2000. Even then, as I have recounted above, there was considerable anxiety in various quar- ters to get rid of them and this was arranged to be done. According to the Act, the deer were to be wholly removed from the Forest within two years. No effort was spared to bring this about. At first the great bulk of them were simply shot down. But as they became scarcer and wilder, all sorts of means had to be adopted. Nets were used, and the deer were driven into them, set at the well-known tracks and paths through the woods ; hounds were freely employed to drive the deer into the nets and up to guns posted in likely places. Finally, hunting pure and simple had to be re- sorted to, and a deer when found was run down by the bloodhounds each keeper used to assist THE NEW FOREST DEER 83 him in his duties. At the end of the two years, the Act had been carried out as far as was possible in a wild densely wooded country like the New Forest. But it was impossible to carry out the provi- sions of the Act down to the very last deer, or to know for certain whether or no a few of the fugitives were left in various parts of the thick coverts up and down the Forest. Probably a few did survive. But it was overlooked by those who drafted the Act that in many parts of the Forest it is bounded by thick woods, the property of private landowners. The hotter the pursuit in the Forest grew, the more the deer sought refuge in these woods. In some they were killed just as they were in the Forest. But in others they met with more hospitable treatment, and as the Deer Removal Act grew to be more disliked, the deer that remained were viewed with more kindly eyes. People forgot the damage they had done, and thought with regret of the palmy days of the Forest, with its herds of deer constituting one of its most attractive features. In these circumstances the remnant of the herd found sanctuary outside the bounds of the Forest, and so the ancient stock of wild deer, dating back to the days of the Romans, never became really extinct in the district. 84 THE NEW FOREST The two years in due course rolled by, and with them came an end to the money allotted for the work of destruction. The strangers who had been employed to assist in taking the deer went back to their own places. The staff of keepers was considerably reduced, and the bloodhounds they formerly kept to track or to recover a wounded deer were got rid of. All that could be reasonably expected to be done in order to carry out the provisions of the Act had been complied with, and the little remnant of deer were left at rest. Gradually they crept back into the Forest, but no one seemed to think there was any obligation to continue year by year the de- struction of the deer after the prescribed two years had expired. A certain amount of hunt- ing was permitted, which for a long time pre- vented the deer from increasing too fast. Such, then, was the condition of affairs when I came to the Forest. There was a small stock of deer scattered pretty well over the Forest quite enough, and more than enough, to provide sport for a pack of hounds. My predecessor had already begun to kill down a few, and I soon found that the deer had a tendency to increase very rapidly, and that I must bestir myself if they were to be kept from overwhelming me. The first things I had to provide myself with THE NEW FOREST DEER 85 were some hounds. At first I got a draft or two from the pack that hunted the deer. It is difficult to improve on a well bred fox- hound for any sort of work that a hound is suited for, if once you train him to do what you want. Just at that time I heard that the old strain of bloodhounds kept for centuries at Bagot Park were about to be given up, and I put in a word for some of them. Lord Bagot very kindly gave me what were left, and from these I set to work to breed. Gradually I got together enough hounds of sorts, to enable me to provide one for each head keeper, and to keep two or three myself; for I found that the work of keeping down the deer was going to become a good deal more than I could do myself, and that the keepers would have to keep ' 1} H 1 -3 's 1 P 8 1 1 3 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD 15, 6m, 3/80 BERKELEY, CA 94720 (PH 0^-1 f ' A. i,55E!LEY LIBRARIES 372700 ~ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY