‘His presence was an enormous help’: farewell to ‘well-liked’ countryman

Jeffrey Thomas Hall died on 27 December, aged 83.

He grew up in Leicestershire and served an apprenticeship for a firm but did not join the company, becoming involved in hunting professionally instead.

Jeff was well known as an otterhounds huntsman who had won the Horse and Hound horn-blowing competition twice running, which perhaps rankled with the hunting fraternity and led to the organisers the following year inviting him to judge instead of competing.

When he arrived at the Ampleforth College Beagles in 1975, he was only the third full-time huntsman during what was to be 79 years. Continuity and stability had produced a pack of hounds that was universally admired. In his first season he won prizes at Peterborough including champion doghound with Redcap 73.

During 19 seasons at Ampleforth he won 11 doghound championships and had five bitch champions. He enhanced the reputation of the hunt and gave excellent sport on the North York moors. Hunting a pack in a monastic school brought new challenges. The majority of those out hunting two days a week or walking hounds daily were boys, some from sporting families, others coming to it for the first time.

He soon became well-liked among the farming and shooting community. He developed contacts with other packs of beagles as it was widespread practice to borrow hounds to introduce new blood into the pack. He became friendly with the Cheshire Beagles huntsman and offered him a hound he described as the best hound that he had ever known. Trueman was becoming independent as he got older and could lead the pack astray, but was still a valuable stud dog.

It was agreed that the handover would be done at Peterborough so Jeff entered Trueman and was astonished when he became champion doghound. As he walked out of the ring he gave him to the Cheshire huntsman.

In March 1981 Jeff fell off a wall when hunting and landed on his head. He remembered that nobody took any notice of him with blood dripping down his face because hounds had caught their hare after a two-hour hunt. His injury meant the master, Alexander Fitzalan-Howard, hunted hounds until he left in January 1983.

In 1988 change was in the air. The hunt secretary Father Walter Maxwell-Stewart retired after 47 years. Father Charles Macauley succeeded him for five years and then, after a period of decreasing interest in the school as the number of extra-curricular activities increased, Father Hugh Lewis-Vivas, who had succeeded Father Charles, had to write to supporters to say the college was giving up ownership of the beagles.

So, on 12 March 1994 Jeff blew for home for the last time and ended his career as a professional huntsman, though his presence was an enormous help to supporters and old boys who took over ownership and management of the pack that still exists. Jeff and his wife Lyn eventually moved south to be closer to Lyn’s family.

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