Hugo Meynell is generally seen as the father of modern fox hunting, became Master of Fox Hounds for the Quorn Hunt

Quorn Hunt

The Quorn Hunt, usually called The Quorn, established 1696, is one of the world's oldest fox hunting packs and claims to be the United Kingdom's most famous hunt...

 in Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

 in 1753 and continued in that role for another forty-seven years (the hunt is so called after Meynell's home, Quorndon Hall in North Leicestershire). 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 seated as MP after circulating a petition challenging the election of John Levett

John Levett

John Levett of Wychnor Park, Staffordshire, was an English landowner and investor, and a Tory politician.-Biography:John Levett was the son of Theophilus Levett , Lichfield attorney and town clerk, and his wife Mary Babington, daughter of Zachary Babington. The Levett family had common roots in...

 of Wychnor

Wychnor

Wychnor is a civil parish in Staffordshire, England, situated in the East Staffordshire local government district adjoining Alrewas and Barton-under-Needwood. It is situated on the A38, formerly the Roman road Ryknild Street, and contains the hamlet of Wychnor Bridges where the A38 crosses the...

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

. Meynell took the seat of Levett, a Tory. But apparently the Levett

Levett

Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...

 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

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 between 1762 and 1780, and served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire

High Sheriff of Derbyshire

This is a list of High Sheriffs of Derbyshire from 1568.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been...

 in 1758-1759.

Further reading

• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)

External links