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Kane Croft was the Kennel-Huntsman of the South Dorset Hunt from 1898 untill 1904. The Kennels were at Eastfield Farm near Winterbourne Kingston. The Kennel-Huntsman is the head employee of a hunt when the Master hunts the hounds himself. The Kennel-Huntsman is in charge of looking after the hounds making sure they are properly fed and exercised and the kennels kept clean. It is a very responsible position and he would have had a number of men working under him He would have been something of a local celebrity known to all the local Gentry, farmers and farmworkers. In 1898 there were 25 couple of hounds i.e. 50 and they hunted two days per week on Mondays and Thursdays. The hunting season started as soon as the harvest was completed in September and continued untill March or April in the spring. Each hunt has its own registered country to hunt in and they are the only pack to operate there. The South Dorset covered an area some 20 miles North South and 15 Miles East West from Poole Harbour and Blandford in the East to Weymouth and Dorchester in the West and North to the Edge of the Blackmoor Vale. The Master at this time was Mr J Ashton Radcliffe who lived at Tolpuddle and was Master from 1894 untill 1920. I believe that Kane had earlier in his career been whipper-in to Tom Firr at the Quorn Hunt in Leicestershire (one of the most famous huntsman and hunts of all time) and his birthplace of Artingworth in Northamptonshire is in the Pytchley Hunt country another famous pack. I believe that Kane left the South Dorset in the Autumn of 1904 at the start of the season which is an unusual time I am not sure if he was dismissed or if ill health or an accident was the cause.

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