John Pickering, one of Irish foxhunting’s witty raconteurs and colorful characters, passed away recently in his adopted town of Tuam, County Galway, Ireland. In his career he hunted the East Down Foxhounds, the Golden Vale Foxhounds, the Oriel Harriers, and was whipper-in and huntsman to the legendary Master of the Bermingham and North Galway Foxhounds, the late Lady Molly Cusack-Smith.
I first met him when he was hunting the Oriel Harriers in the 1980s. At a meet north of Dundalk, in County Louth, hounds put a fox away from Bell’s Covert, but he only ran a couple of hundred yards before going to ground in an earth in the middle of a field. To make matters worse his best hound Heckler was down in the earth with only his stern in view. Pickering sat casually back in the saddle and remarked, “I think I will have to take that hound to a shrink.”
“Why”, I asked, to which Pickering replied, “Because he thinks he’s a bloody terrier!”
From the Shires to County Galway
John Pickering was born in Warwickshire where his father Howard was a farmer, and they also kept hunt liveries. His mother Kathleen Holden was from County Wexford. He started hunting as a nine-year-old with the Atherstone Foxhounds, and later with the Meynell and South Staffordshire Foxhounds, and the North Warwickshire Beagles.
He came to Ireland and in 1969 and joined Lady Molly Cusack-Smith and her daughter Oonagh Mary in 1972 as kennel huntsman to their pack, the Bermingham and North Galway Foxhounds. Lady Molly and her husband Sir Dermot had founded the pack in 1946 after the war. During the war years 1939 to 1943, Lady Molly had hunted the Galway Blazers—one hundred years after her great-grand-uncle John Dennis hunted the Blazers.
Pickering’s only previous knowledge of Lady Molly was from high society magazines describing the tall, well-groomed, elegant lady—a haut couture clothes designer, accomplished singer, cordon bleu cook , and sharp-witted lady huntsman and Master of Foxhounds. He admits to having been terrified of her when he first met her, peering down at him through her cigar smoke from the top of the long, winding, staircase.
He quickly got the opportunity to hunt the hounds, and Lady Molly reviewed each day’s hunting after dinner, getting him to blow the hunting calls correctly until she was satisfied. He admired her brilliance with hounds and on the hunting horn.
At the opening meet Lady Molly blew hounds away on a fox, but Pickering told her to be quiet, declaring, “I am now hunting the hounds.” Lady Molly responded by saying, “Well done, ‘Pick.’ I respect being put in my place when I am out of order!”
The East Down Foxhounds
After five seasons Pickering decided to move from Galway when offered the huntsman’s job with the East Down Foxhounds. As he said, he was attracted by better money and less abuse!
James Pooler, Albert Lowry, Patrick Forde and Charlie McCrumbe were Joint-Masters, and they enjoyed great sport and success in the hound show ring. They won the Ikey Bell Cup (named after the popular American Master and huntsman) with the un-entered bitch Password by Zetland Hamlet out of Passport, and made a clean sweep at the National Hound Show held at the Royal Dublin Society Show. They also added the Championship at Lisbellaw and Balmoral with Harker by Zetland Hamlet out of Portman Sample walked by East Down joint master Craig Caven. The current huntsman Declan Feeney started hunting with Pickering, much preferring fox hunting to school! He recalls a children’s meet when hounds found at Russell’s Bog, and ended up three miles from the kennels and seven miles from the meet, with children scattered all around the countryside.
The Oriel Harriers
In the early 1980s, after six seasons with the East Down, Pickering hunted the Oriel Harriers in County Louth for two seasons, with Mick Tuite and Sally Cox as Joint-Masters. Tuite had a great relationship with the farmers, and Sally was wife of the well known trainer and former champion amateur jockey Bunny Cox. They hunted politically sensitive areas in the North of Ireland for that particular time, such as Forkhill and Crossmaglen in South Armagh. There was a lot of support for the hunt, and showjumper James Kernan’s family was very hospitable, putting on a regular lawn meet.
The Golden Vale
Pickering’s next move was to the Golden Vale Foxhounds in County Tipperary. He loved the country, as it was great scenting ground. A fox could be gone ten minutes, and there was no difficulty in picking him up compared to the more difficult light scenting conditions in County Galway.
He enjoyed being with people, and the followers were always amused when people remarked that although the previous huntsman reared a large family in the house in the kennels, it was too small for Pickering’s parties! Joint-Master and bloodstock breeder Timmy Hyde hosted exceptional lawn meets, and his fellow Master Michael Purcell, the beef exporter, were both popular with the farmers. Purcell supplied Pickering with a daily cattle price list from his beef processing plant, so that as well as hunting hounds, Pickering could also inform the farmers of Purcell’s current cattle prices as he hunted through their farms!
Back to North Galway
He was approached to go back in 1985 to the newly formed North Galway Foxhounds as huntsman, and could not resist the temptation to get back with Lady Molly now as Honorary Master, with Joint-Masters Professor James Houghton, James Storan, and Dr. John Waldron.
They had good hunting, and Pickering re-introduced some old bloodlines back into the pack with the support of the then Master and huntsman of the Westmeath Foxhounds John Smith. He managed to find six couple of hounds going back to two of Lady Molly’s favorite dog hounds, Planter and Godfrey. She did not like the hairy Welsh hounds, made no secret of it, and used to remark that all they would catch was sheep and fleas!
Former hunting correspondent to The Irish Field Colin Lewis gave Pickering a few bottles of a homemade cure for his sore knees, which had equal parts of Poitin (Irish home made brew—mainly neat alcohol), wintergreen ( a penetrating cream used for muscle injuries), and olive oil. Lady Molly drank some of it by mistake one evening, and afterwards when she was lighting her cigar after dinner there were anxious moments for her guests as they thought she would blow up!
During Galway Race week Lady Molly always had house guests, which could include Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, film stars, and nobility. Everything was done elaborately, with the gentlemen in black tie for dinner, and ladies in evening dress amidst cocktails and candelabra. All the staff that Lady Molly employed over the years were called into action, like May McGrath, Dick Tighe, Mrs Hannon and Tom Murray. Pickering recalled that the member of staff who was assigned the job of parking guests cars was only ever known to have ridden a bicycle, and it remained a mystery how the cars remained intact! The evenings always ended with the hostess singing one of her favorite party pieces like The West’s Awake or The Queen of Connemara.
Sadly, an era ends with the passing of John Pickering, the larger-than-life hunting personality. Following Mass in the Cathedral of the Assumption, former North Galway huntsman Eamonn Smith bid a final farewell to the sound of ‘Gone Away’ on the hunting horn in the cemetery.
Posted September 5, 2012
Go to Noel Mullin’s website for more of his writings and booklist.