The Hunt at Tarbes (1832-1842) Under the license of
Royal Wolfcatcher, Mister Dupont invited Pau's British winter colonists, including hunter and explorer
James Erskine Murray in 1835, to lodge at
Tarbes, hunt in the mornings and dining in the evening. Dupont was attentive to his hounds, managed clean kennels and preferred hunting wolves and hare - avoided fox hunting, fearing the ruin of his hounds' noses. His nephew and huntsman at Tarbes, also named Dupont, continued serving as huntsman for the Pau Hunt until at least 1858. Murray had not been familiar with the Béarnais method of capture and release that would be adopted by later Pau Hunt masters, somtimes criticized as unorthodox and "American" forty years later. In 1837 Sir Henry Chudleigh Oxenden began wintering at Tarbes where he leased Aureilhan Castle in 1839 after his father's death. Oxenden returned to
Broome Park in the summer of 1841 due to financial difficulties, and in late autumn 1842, sold his horses to M. Larienty and offered his fox hound pack to his French and British friends at Pau.
The Hunt at Pau (1842–1848) After Oxenden gifted his pack to friends at Pau, the local newspaper, dated 3 December 1842 announced the authorization to hunt predatory wolves and foxes by the Société d'Encouragement, with at least 14 foxes hunted during the first season 1842-1843. Cornwell hunted with MFHs Lt. O’Shirley, Roussel, Charles Whyte, Pery Standish and William Cecil Standish. In 1845, keeping just one of Oxenden's hounds "Fallacy because she had a good nose", Pery Standish brought in a new pack of hounds to newly built kennels in today's village of
Soumoulou.Accompanied by Huntsman Dupont, Livingston went to England to replace his hound pack for the 1849-1850 season. The speed and endurance of hounds during a hunt was determined by the fox and were augmented considerably by laying an artificial trail with defined obstacles, improving training for horses and riders. The capture and release of wild animals (this is no longer done) was used to simplify and expedite a hunt, most frequently capturing and "bagging" foxes then later releasing them at another meet where they would be unfamiliar with the country, keeping them from going underground. A bagman could be released at the end of a drag hunt as an incentive/reward for the hounds. As early as Livingston, the hunt advertised to buy caught foxes in the local press. A similar concept was developed for fallow deer, bringing them to meets in cages, releasing them and then hunting them. None of this is done today. Lord Howth rebuked claims foxes became less numerous and was the reason traditional fox hunting was replaced with hunting bagged foxes, eventually alternating with drag hunting. He wrote that new sports corrupted traditional game hunting on horseback. An 1858 article by the Marquess of Foudras mocked these new sports at Pau. The response of Livingston and Power was to mock the Foudras article through a commissioned series of lithographs by Pierre-Eugène Marc in album format with the title translated as "A Hunting Album, The Pau Drag". First released in 1860, this parody of the Foudras article was depicted in 10 lithographs by Pierre-Eugene Marc. An additional lithograph by Marc and two by Jean-Alexandre Duruy were available between December 1860 and 1863 mocking their critics. Famous participants of the Pau Hunt during this period included
William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton,
Ward McAllister and
Marshal Pierre Bosquet. at Pau in 1858. Sometime after 1861, Power had financial difficulties and was replaced by Captain Philip Savage Alcock for the 1864-1865 season, who hunted with a pack of
harriers. A general meeting was held the following day, approving the by-laws of the association and by prefect Jean de Nadaillac, along with a plan to compensate landowners for damages. The by-laws were finalized for the
La Société de la Chasse à Courre on April 5, 1875 at which time Tiffany resigned as MFH. Howth made it his quest to make 'real fox hunting' accessible to those in ill health, while other members preferred the expediency of bagmen for fox hunting and wanted more drag hunts with the release of a bagman at the end. An additional method, dubbed 'a new departure', became popular combining a drag hunt with a fox hunt, by releasing a bagman upon hearing the pack's approach near the end of the drag hunt's artificial trail, beginning a fox hunt for the second segment. Bennett purchased 40 couples that were delivered in 1881. In 1882, Mayor Nicholas Renault insisted the Société de la Chasse à Courre be reconstituted to conform with the law, proposing they alternate packs to satisfy the needs of all riding levels. Satisfied, Bennett agreed and gave the new pack to the municipality with Thomas Burgess replacing him as MFH with the newly formed committee’s first meeting on 1 November 1882. ===
La Belle Époque (1882–1910) === Dubbed “The Capital of Sports”, the relatively mild climate, outdoor activities, three clubs and a variety of places to worship made the capital of Bearn a famously fashionable winter resort. Master Mr. Neilson Winthrop (the brother of
Egerton Winthrop) was followed by Mr. Frederick William Maude,
Sir Victor Brooke, William Knapp Thorn, Lt.-Col. Talbot-Crosbie and Maude again. The first French Master was Baron Robert Lejeune and then Arthur Smyth Este "Baron d'Este", with Mr. Charles Henry Ridgway and Mr. John Harvey Wright Jr. at the turn of the century. Events featuring cross-country and point-to-point matches were called Hunters Stakes in 1875 and later renamed Pau Hunt Races, marking the end of the hunting season. Entries were limited to horses that had been certified as having hunted at Pau during the season. The expense of the races, voluntary subscription fees and continued property damage made finances problematic. Masters Maude, Brooke, Lejeune and Este refused to underwrite the hunt's deficits, while regional and local governments provided subventions for advertising. grandson Alfred Torrance (1852-1887).The hunt secured some financial security through the gift of today's Pau Hunt kennels in memorial of American Alfred Torrance by his mother Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt and his cousin
Mr. William Knapp Thorn Jr., the daughter and grandson of
Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. Thorn arranged his aunt's purchase of a farmhouse, followed by the construction of modern kennels, a fox house, staff lodging and a telephone line between the Pau Hunt and the English Club, making it a world-class facility that was donated to the town of Pau and opened for the 1891-1892 season with the condition foxes continue to be hunted. The hunt continued to develop drag hunting with separate fox and drag hound packs and later paper chases. Lord Howth continued defending fox hunting for those with poor constitutions and proposed modifications to make drag hunting easier, such as locating meets' closer to Pau to limit fatigue for the return. In 1884 Howth published an article
Invalided Sportsman describing his position. The following week the gazette published a severe reprimand submitted by Maude. The final word was Lord Howth's,
Leicestershire in France or the Pau Hunting Field, published in 1894 and translated into French in 1907. Hunts were three times a week wearing red coats with green collars for the foxhound pack and green coats with red collars for the draghound pack, still followed by carriages and now joined by motorcars. The years of Charles Henry Ridgway's mastership ended the hunt's financial difficulties.
The Pau Hunt Races The Pau Hunt Races closed the winter season and were first held by the Société d'Encouragement. The first recorded was 31 March 1846 with Lieutenant O'Shirley winning the cross-country match on Andre Manascau's Malle-Poste previously owned by Sir Henry Oxenden. American Jasper Hall Livingston and Béarnais property owner M. Blair rode their own horses Yankee and Beeswing, while Hope-Johnstone rode Eclipse owned by M. Auguste de Perpigna. The most famous race was held 3 April 1906 between the stables of
Frederick Henry Prince and Annie Hutton. Each stable provided six hunters certified by the MFH with six jockeys wearing their respective racing colors. The course was designed by Master Charles Henry Ridgway and committee president William Knapp Thorn Jr. The winning stable with all of its horses crossing the finish first was that of Miss Hutton. The winning hunter, Sahlia was ridden by the Viscount d'Elva wearing Mr. Prince's colors.
Thirty Prince Years (1910–1939) The winter tourist colony would disappear at the end of this period. In 1910, its second generation was either deceased or aging. During the 1910-1911 season, Charles Henry Ridgway was ill and ceded mastership to financier
Frederick H. Prince, while Joseph "Pito" Barron replaced hunt president William Knapp Thorn Jr. who had died unexpectedly. Henri Fortuné Piscatory de Vaufreland joined them as secretary and eventually chronicled his perspective of equestrian sports and the 20th-century winter colony. ready for the meet Frederick and Abby Prince rented Villa Sainte-Hélène from the
Grant de Longueuil family, where they held hunt dinners each Saturday. Opening day dinner was held in November at Villa Bilhère as had been the tradition for decades. More and more counties and states had prohibited alcohol while fewer and fewer states permitted betting on horses. Owners such as
Harry La Montagne moved their stables to France only to have their hunters and thoroughbreds requisitioned at the beginning of World War I, when tourism paused and many permanent residents left. Many of the men from the Pau Hunt went to war, some fighting with France and some losing their lives including
Norman Prince. In 1917, the Baron d'Este wrote an
advertorial for Pau's annual tourism publication, creating the
legend of the Duke of Wellington's troops founding the Pau Hunt in 1814, including an impossible 43 mile (63 km) foxhunt between
Orthez and
Luquet by British officers and enemy French
dragoons. Prince joked that Wellington played checkers with Napoleon's soldiers in the nearby Happy (
heurèuse) Valley. After the war, Prince's generosity sustained both the Pau Hunt and the English Club. He brought hunters in for the 1919-1920 season and purchased Villa Sainte-Hélène the following year. He was joined by American and British stable owners during prohibition and horse betting interdictions in the United States. The Princes, La Montagnes and
Belle Baruch were all painted hunting at Pau by
Sir Alfred Munnings. After the
Wall Street crash of 1929, the Pau Hunt used
Lord Wellington in promotional articles, including the European edition of The Chicago Tribune, the home of Prince's empire. They listed Wellington as one of its former masters in Baily's Hunting Directory. During the Great Depression, prohibition and betting restrictions were lifted, fewer tourists come to Pau and the core third generation were now aging. Anticipating war,
Bernard Baruch pressed his daughter Belle Baruch to move her stables to
Hobcaw Barony in 1936 for her own safety and to avoid potential requisition of her horses. Prince was 79-years old when he left Pau in 1939, Pito Barron died in Billère in 1947. Vaufreland worked on his chronicles during the war and helped revive equestrian sports in Pau after the war. ==List of Masters at Tarbes==