Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

That summer, I did my first and only London season. That is to say, I went a full round of At Homes and other functions two or three nearly every evening dinners and goodness knows what. How I was drawn into this vortex matters not, but I think I began at Mrs Freke’s and saw Mrs Monckton and other amateur celebrities act. Mr Isidore de Lara was all the rage during that season, and I rejoice to think he has still retained his popularity. Personally, however, I had no real liking for this sort of life, and though people were kind and hospitable and I made many friends, I was really glad to get away from it all, and to Whitby Dog Show in the late summer. At that show was a novelty which remains in memory much more clearly than the more pretentious details of that London season. It was that the Whitby bellman was employed to summon the various classes into the ring, which he did in thoroughly orthodox fashion, thus: “Oyez, oyez, oyez! Class 20, in the ring immediately! Every man to his dog! God save the Queen!” This, of course, with bell-ringing, before and after the command.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

In 1875 the show was held on the day before the start of the grouse season (Northern Echo 1875/08/12).

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Original

That summer, I did my first and only London season. That is to say, I went a full round of At Homes and other functions two or three nearly every evening dinners and goodness knows what. How I was drawn into this vortex matters not, but I think I began at Mrs Freke’s and saw Mrs Monckton and other amateur celebrities act. Mr Isidore de Lara was all the rage during that season, and I rejoice to think he has still retained his popularity. Personally, however, I had no real liking for this sort of life, and though people were kind and hospitable and I made many friends, I was really glad to get away from it all, and to Whitby Dog Show in the late summer.

At that show was a novelty which remains in memory much more clearly than the more pretentious details of that London season. It was that the Whitby bellman was employed to summon the various classes into the ring, which he did in thoroughly orthodox fashion, thus:

Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!
Class 20 – In the Ring immediately!
Every man to his dog! God save the Queen!

This, of course, with bell-ringing, before and after the command.

There was a class for fox-hounds at that show, and some few reasonably good hounds were shown. “Bobby” Dowson, who is still remembered as a Whip of that old-world pack, the Bilsdale, had brought a great, throaty, mealy-pied hound from those kennels, and he had a biscuit in his pocket with which to make the heavy-jowled beast show himself. The judges at once relegated him to a corner as having no chance, but the little old man thought he was first choice, and kept holding up a piece of biscuit for his hound, and saying: “Nowt can ekal this dog! Nowt can ekal him!”

So engrossed was he in admiration of his exhibit that the prizes and other honours were given and the rest of the class had left the ring before he became aware that he had got nothing.

357 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Allison, William (1851-1925) (12), Yorkshire-born sporting journalist ·
• Balliol College, Oxford (1) ·
• Bell (6) ·
• Bilsdale (2) ·
• Dog show (1) ·
• Dog (12) ·
• Fox hunting (4) ·
• Foxhound (1) ·
• Glorious Twelfth (3) ·
• Handbell (2) ·
• Honour Moderations (1) ·
• Isidore de Lara (1) ·
• London (74) ·
• North York Moors (8) ·
• Queen Victoria (9) ·
• Town crier (4) ·
• University of Oxford (2) ·
• 📌Whitby (20), town, port and parish on the east coast of North Yorkshire/the North Riding at the mouth of the River Esk ·

All tags.

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