The Pau Hunt was established in 1842 by the Société d’Encouragement as a spectacle for tourists authorized by the government of Louis Philippe to hunt predatory animals such as wolves and foxes. Dominated by American and British Masters, it was one of the most renowned and glamorous hunts until the breakout of World War II. Its field, between Gardères and the hills surrounding Pau was nicknamed “Leicestershire in France”.
Innovative hunt masters and committee members organized the capture of game and its later release (bagmen), Their first recorded drag hunt was in 1847. Cross country and point-to-point events later called The Hunter’s Stakes and finally Pau Hunt Races were first held in the mid-1840s, closing the season for over 90 years. A plethora of private photos, articles, publications, photos and works of art during its heyday are housed in private collections, including the collection of the English Club of Pau.
In 1947 the association reorganized as the "Pau Hunt Drags", and continues its tradition of drag hunting.
History 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.
There was a separate Béarnais hunt at Pau in 1835 that Murray described unfavorably. Its country was strictly limited to one forest (le forêt domaniale de Bastard) - and corresponds with a royal patent dated 1771; however, no documents have been found that certify the 1771 and 1835 hunts were the same. Murray had not been familiar with the Béarnais method of capture and release that would be adopted by later Pau Hunt masters, sometimes 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. He imported hunters and hounds for fox hunting around Tarbes and Lannemezan. J. Cornwell hunted with him. 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. The season ended with the first recorded cross country and steeplechase matches on 31 March 1846.
Jasper Hall Livingston was accredited with saving the hunt by purchasing the Standish pack upon the brothers' departure. MFH Livingston, joined by his nephew Charles Carroll Livingston, held their first recorded Drag Hunt at Pau on Saturday, November 26, 1847 on the Route de Tarbes between Pau and Gardères making a distance of 21 km (13 miles) in one hour: a welcomed diversion before the meet.
Before the steam engine, train service and automobiles, innovative sports were developed to increase speed and skill levels of both horses and riders. Many of these techniques are no longer used due to animal rights and property issues. At Pau, the government sanctioned Société d'Encouragement awarded cash prizes at the racetrack (hippodrome) that was inaugurated in 1843 as an incentive for private breeders to improve the health, speed and endurance qualities of the horse, which were the primary mode of transportation of humans and goods and indispensable for national defense.
Revolution (1848) No hunt was held at Pau. Jasper Hall Livingston hunted boar at Roux Castle and lost most of his hounds.
Development of the Hunt at Pau (1849–1875)
Accompanied by Huntsman Dupont, Livingston went to England to replace his hound pack for the 1849-1850 season. He sold the pack to Richard Francis Lalor Power in 1854, who moved it to a kennel in Lescar. In 1857, Power purchased a farmhouse he named Billère Lodge with land strattling Billère and adjacent Pau, where he built kennels, stables and the Villa Bilhère. The third edition of a travel guide by Dr. Alexander Taylor published in 1861 states there were two packs; one at Power's in Billère for subscription and a private pack at Villa Livingston, both used to continue developing difficult hunt-like sports of drag hunting and the capture and release of foxes and larger game including fallow deer. 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.
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. Local property owners began demonstrating due to property damage, but local politicians attempted to appease them because of the popularity of the Pau Hunt among tourists including the French who comprised over one-third of the kennel committee.
Alcock resigned and was replaced by Jasper Hall Livingston in 1868, with kennels at Villa Livingston. Livingston's hunt was fashionable and began appearing in publications not related to sports; an article by children's book author Aunt Fanny, Frances Barrow which was later published in Schribner's Monthly Magazine, and in Miss Maria Grant's two tomb romance novel The Sun-Maid set in Pau and published in 1877. Livingston did not arrive for the 1873-1874 season and was replaced by Major William Henry Cairnes followed later in 1874 by William George Tiffany, who along with Norman Story moved the kennels to Villa Navarre, began keeping kennel financial records and began writing by-laws. They then relocated the hounds to what were believed to be permanent kennels at the Petit Chantilly, now Villa Beverly in December 1874 with most of the expenses paid by Tiffany and Story. Landowners continued demonstrating due to property damage.
On January 26, 1875, Tiffany and Story were hunting and ordered a peasant to open a gate, who refused, and then suddenly swung it open when Story started jumping it, making his horse fall on him. Story died the following evening. 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.
Difficult Years (1875–1880)
Major William Henry Cairnes became MFH and brought in an English huntsman, retaining the French one, Pascal as Whip. In ill health, he was replaced by Captain W. Browne in 1878, who refused the title MFH. Lord Howth served as MFH with a new pack for the 1878 - 1879 season, but did not complete the season and was followed the next year by John Stewart. This period was tumultuous and ended with the liquidation of the Pau Hunt, which had always been known to be accessible to subscribers with pulmonary diseases. The difficulty level, popularity and frequency of drag and bagman hunting was seen by Lord Howth as exclusionary to less capable riders, himself included. 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.
The Count of Bari moved into today's Villa Longchamp in 1874. After Lord Howth's tenure, he brought in a private pack of hounds in 1879 and began a second hunt with Tiffany proposing Bari become the Pau Hound master. The Pau Hunt, claimed he had no right to hunt in their territory, but Bari replied he had no intention to negotiate and would continue the competing hunt during the 1880-1881 season. On April 14, 1880, the kennel committee voted 12 to 7 in favor of dissolving the committee and liquidating the Pau Hunt. They notified Mayor Aristide de Monpezat that they could no longer operate the hunt while there was a competing pack.
Hunting during the dissolution of the Kennel Committee (1880–1882) At the beginning of the 1880-1881 season, Thomas G. Burgess, whom Lord Howth described as in ill health, wrote for the assistance of James Gordon Bennett Jr., who arrived from Paris. After meeting with the mayor, influential Bennett met with the Count of Bari, who gave his hounds to the town hall. The hunt was immediately reconstituted on December 2, 1880 with Bennett as Master assisted by Thomas Burgess. 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)