Melton Mobray Midnight Steeplechase of 1890Captain Otho Paget hunted six days a week with the Quorn, Cottesmore, and Belvoir Foxhounds during some of foxhunting’s golden years—the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods. His hunting reports, under the pseudonym Q, were published by The Field, Horse and Hound, and other publications. A collection of the reports was published by Methuen in 1920 in an edition titled Memories of the Shires.
Paget’s grandson Sir William Jaffray has furnished Methuen with additional period illustrations and information about the author for a new edition of the book.
One of the book’s highlights is the account of the famous Melton Mobray Midnight Steeplechase of 1890 in which competitors rode the course in their nightshirts. Captain Paget was one of only four to complete the course.
“The white gowns of my fellow competitors was all that could be seen from the start to the finish,” he wrote.
Sir William will talk about the new edition at Imperial College, London, on November 21, 2012 at 4:20 P.M. and again on November 29 at 12:30 P.M. He is also scheduled to speak at the Melton Mobray Hunting Museum on November 22 at 6:30 P.M.
The 2012 edition of Memories of the Shires is available for purchase from the Countryside Alliance.
Posted November 1, 2012