The Master and huntsman of arguably the most exclusive and storied foxhunting pack in the world—the Duke of Beaufort’s—looks ahead after a forty-five-year career carrying the horn. Captain Ian Farquhar is not encouraged by what he sees.
From his comfortable farmhouse on the Highgrove estate of the Prince of Wales, filled with photos, paintings, and artifacts that could be said to mock his earlier years of untrammelled post-war sport, Farquhar and his beautiful wife, Pammie-Jane—herself a noted horsewoman—contemplate their upcoming move to retirement in the West Country. Just fifteen years ago, like a knife in the heart, a despised piece of legislation, the Hunting Act, was passed by his nation.
At age seventy-two, the wear and tear of a half century of hard riding while showing sport to immense fields of illustrious sportsmen and women has taken its toll. He followed the oft-trod traditional route from cavalry officer (in the Queen’s Own Hussars), serving in foreign posts, racing over fences, playing polo, and as equerry to the Queen Mother. Today, he watches as younger men virtually just out of school take up the hunting horn—in his view a sacred object to be earned in the traditional ways.
Soon after his and Pammie-Jane’s marriage, he served as Master at the Bicester from 1973 to 1984, a time he describes as “the best hunting I ever had”—long hunts over grass country that supported dairy cattle and sheep. He was milking two hundred cows himself, but was soon to witness the beginnings of erosion of Britain’s concern and respect for their storybook countryside.
What with livestock quotas and booming wheat prices, grazing land was turning to crop land, hedgerows once containing livestock were burned, and shooting ultimately increased five-fold. Urbanization was growing, and England’s countryside and rural population would soon be under attack from Government neglect and the nation’s urban majority.
In 1985, however, one year after the death of the iconic Tenth Duke of Beaufort, Captain Farquhar became Master and huntsman at the Duke of Beaufort’s Foxhounds. The Tenth Duke had been Master for sixty years, huntsman for forty-seven years, had authored a book on hounds and hunting, and was known universally as ‘Master.’ The Captain’s father was a cousin of the Tenth Duke and a trustee of the Badminton estate. Captain Farquhar had known the Eleventh Duke since boyhood and would share the Mastership with him until that Duke’s death in 2017.
Captain Farquhar brought with him to the Beaufort kennels a reputation as a natural huntsman and a knowledgeable breeder of foxhounds. He also brought with him descendants of Medyg ’69, the acclaimed Welsh sire bred by Sir Newton Rycroft, MFH of the New Forest Foxhounds and author of numerous authoritative and eye-opening articles on hounds and hunting. The Captain believes that the Welsh bloodlines improved the hunting of the Beaufort pack through their accuracy and perseverance.
For Captain Farquhar, the physical discomfort of a hard-used body after a long career hunting hounds is, of course, to be expected at some point in time. The passage of England’s Hunting Act of 2004, however, was perhaps the most crushing blow of his hunting life. To this day, he feels the bitterness of realizing that the bigotry of class resentment could win over common sense. With thousands of foxes being shot, often wounded and unaccounted for, or snared, how has this legislation, inspired and ratified by old class warfare, helped the fox? he still wonders.
Captain Farquhar has long been a familiar figure in North America, judging hound shows and speaking at MFHA-sponsored seminars. He’ll be remembered by many foxhunters here for his contributions to a sport for which he expresses grave concern.
In a tribute published in Horse and Hound magazine, his recently-deceased Joint Master, the Eleventh Duke of Beaufort said, “[Captain Farquhar] fulfilled all my expectations when I appointed him—a great huntsman, a wonderful breeder of hounds and above all, a marvelous leader who has the knack of getting on with everyone in the country.”
A fund has been established for individuals wishing to express their appreciation for Captain Farquhar’s contributions to foxhunting. Funds may be contributed electronically or by check. Click for details.
Posted January 11, 2019
With appreciation to Kate Green and Joe Bailey, authors of a Country Life interview that provided some of this material.