Hugo Meynell (June 1735 – 14 December 1808) was an English country landowner and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

between 1762 and 1780. He is generally seen as the father of modern

fox hunt Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hou ...

ing, became Master of Fox Hounds for the

Quorn Hunt The Quorn Hunt, usually called the Quorn, established in 1696, is one of the world's oldest fox hunting packs and claims to be the United Kingdom's most famous hunt. Its country is mostly in Leicestershire, together with some smaller areas of ...

in Leicestershire in 1753 and continued in that role for another forty-seven years (the hunt is so called after Meynell's home, Quorn Hall in Quorndon, North Leicestershire).

Life

He was born the son of Littleton Pointz Meynell in June 1735. Meynell pioneered an extended chase at high speeds through open grassland. Borrowing the pioneering breeding techniques of his neighbour, the sheep farmer Robert Bakewell, Meynell bred a new form of hound, with greater pace and stamina and a better sense of scent. In 1762 Meynell was elected as one of the two Members of Parliament for

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

, after filing an

election petition An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election. Outcomes When a petition is lodged against an election return, there are 4 possible outcomes: # The election is declared void. The result is q ...

challenging the election of John Levett of Wychnor, Staffordshire. Meynell took the seat of Levett, a Tory. But apparently the

Levett Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories. Origins This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...

family held no grudge, because successive generations of Levetts were included in the Meynell hunts and became close family friends. He represented three constituencies as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

in the

between 1762 and 1780 (Lichfield 1762-1768,

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

1769-1774 and Stafford 1774-178) and served as

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

in 1758-1759. He died in 1808, having married twice. He was succeeded as occupant of Quorn Hall and Master of the Quorn Hunt by his son Hugo, who died two years later after a hunting fall.

References

External links

*
The Quorn Hunt and its masters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meynell, Hugo 1735 births 1808 deaths People from Quorn, Leicestershire English hunters Masters of foxhounds in England Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Lichfield Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Lymington Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Stafford British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 High Sheriffs of Derbyshire

Life

References

Further reading

External links