April 6, 2014
Foxhunting Ban Could Be Eased After All
It would appear that British Prime Minister David Cameron’s admission in the House of Commons—that there will be no change to the Hunting Act due to lack of agreement among coalition ministers—is not his final word on the subject. (See earlier FHL news item.) The ban on fox hunting with a full pack of hounds could be relaxed after all, according to Christopher Hope in The Telegraph. Cameron’s words in the House of Commons notwithstanding, the Prime Minister has asked government officials to gather factual evidence to support a change to the Hunting Act. Under the ban as currently constituted, in cases where the landowner wants foxes killed, no more than two foxhounds may be used to flush a fox to a gun. Cameron along with Environment Secretary Owen Paterson had earlier proposed to amend that restriction, through a parliamentary device known as a statutory instrument, to allow up to forty hounds to flush a fox to a gun. Their proposed amendment was in response to complaints by Welsh sheep farmers of fox depredation on their flocks. Critics argued, however, that it was a “back door” attempt to reintroduce foxhunting. Cameron and Paterson were unable to garner sufficient votes, even within their own party, to bring the matter to a vote. Cameron now hopes to build a case based on hard evidence to persuade recalcitrant members of his coalition government that the ban should be eased in some parts of the country. The hill farmers argue that fox control under the ten-year-old ban has been insufficient, and changes are needed to ameliorate the growing threat to their livelihood. Before achieving leadership of the Conservative Party, Prime Minister Cameron rode with the Heythrop Foxhounds. Click for more details in Christopher Hope’s article in The Telegraph. Posted April 6, 2014
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Outrageous Fortune
Outrageous Fortune: Growing Up at Leeds Castle, Anthony Russell, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2013, 306 pages, Illustrated, $26.99Imagine having two grandmothers who both live in their own castles. Anthony Russell, a writer, musician, and composer in Los Angeles, comes from a family that served England’s kings and queens for five hundred years, which left them very, very wealthy…wealthy enough for his grandmums to purchase castles in England and Ireland.
Russell tells the story of a childhood at the highest levels of British aristocracy in Outrageous Fortune: Growing Up at Leeds Castle. His father, Lord Ampthill, was Prince Philip’s roommate at boarding school. Lord Ampthill also was known as “the Russell baby,” whose paternity and conception were at the heart of a sensational divorce case in the 1920s and a court challenge to his right to the title.
Lord Amptill’s mother (Lady Ampthill, she of the castle in Ireland) swore that he was the son of her husband, despite the fact that their marriage was never fully consummated. (It all had something to do with a bath sponge.)
Lady Ampthill (the author's grandmother) was a well-recognized figure hunting with the County Galway Foxhounds (the Blazers). She rode side saddle well into her later years, until suffering a fatal accident in the hunting field in 1976.
