PrintThe New York hunt had a rich history that continues today in South Carolina.
If one listens carefully as the Aiken Hounds (S.C.) move off, the notes ascending from the huntsman’s sterling silver horn can be heard in another time and place.
The horn, which was handed down through generations, is the same that blew for the East Aurora (N.Y.) hounds in the early 20th century, proving yet again that in the timeless tradition of foxhunting, history often repeats itself.
Creating A Bright Spot
During the dismal years of the Great Depression until World War II, the East Aurora Hunt flourished in Western New York State, just southeast of Buffalo. According to a 1968 article that appeared in the East Aurora Shopping Guide, “The hunt was colorful, not only because of the scarlet coats but also the excitement it brought to the area each fall . . . It was a new source of village pride with everyone learning to share the exuberant interest of the huntsmen.”
In 1930, the country of the Lake Shore Hunt Club—a New York hunt that existed from 1920 to 1933—was divided and the East Aurora Hunt began. In the beginning, East Aurora shared MFHs—Howard Kellog and William C. Warren Jr.—with Lake Shore.
But by 1932, Mrs. Seymour H. (Helen) Knox and Mrs. Reginald B. (Cecelia “Peach”) Taylor took over as joint Masters of the East Aurora Hunt, and it is their legacy that reverberates in today’s equestrian community.
Knox’s granddaughter, Linda Knox McLean MFH, hunts the Aiken Hounds, and Taylor’s grandson is Mason Phelps Jr., the chairman of the National Horse Show Association and an alternate for the 1968 Olympic eventing team. Phelps started his eventing career riding his grandmother’s homebred field hunters, to the envy of other cross-country competitors.
The Masters of Foxhounds Association Executive Director Dennis Foster said that the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, which still held records of hounds at that time, recognized the East Aurora Hunt on Jan. 1, 1932. Hunt colors were dark green with orange facings. There were two professional huntsmen officially listed, Frank Vinall (1932-34) and Fred Yull (1934-39).
According to Yull’s nephew, Robert W. Yull, following Fred Yull’s premature death due to polio, his cousin Don Yull, Sr., briefly took up the horn. Fred’s father Paul, a longtime hound man originally from England, was professional whipper-in. But throughout East Aurora Hunt history, it was the Knox family that provided the club’s foundation. A mid-1930’s article from a Buffalo newspaper noted that “hunters gathered at the kennels on the Knox estate,” known then as Ess Kay Farm.
Seymour Horace Knox was the Buffalo, N.Y., businessman who made his fortune in five-and-dime stores when he merged his more than 100 stores with those of his first cousins, to form the F.W. Woolworth Company and then used his merger proceeds to purchase a controlling interest in the Marine Trust Co. (today HSBC Bank USA). His children, Seymour H. Knox II, Marjorie and Dorothy and their spouses were avid equestrians.
If one listens carefully as the Aiken Hounds (S.C.) move off, the notes ascending from the huntsman’s sterling silver horn can be heard in another time and place.
The horn, which was handed down through generations, is the same that blew for the East Aurora (N.Y.) hounds in the early 20th century, proving yet again that in the timeless tradition of foxhunting, history often repeats itself.
Creating A Bright SpotDuring the dismal years of the Great Depression until World War II, the East Aurora Hunt flourished in Western New York State, just southeast of Buffalo. According to a 1968 article that appeared in the East Aurora Shopping Guide, “The hunt was colorful, not only because of the scarlet coats but also the excitement it brought to the area each fall . . . It was a new source of village pride with everyone learning to share the exuberant interest of the huntsmen.”
In 1930, the country of the Lake Shore Hunt Club—a New York hunt that existed from 1920 to 1933—was divided and the East Aurora Hunt began. In the beginning, East Aurora shared MFHs—Howard Kellog and William C. Warren Jr.—with Lake Shore.
But by 1932, Mrs. Seymour H. (Helen) Knox and Mrs. Reginald B. (Cecelia “Peach”) Taylor took over as joint Masters of the East Aurora Hunt, and it is their legacy that reverberates in today’s equestrian community.
Knox’s granddaughter, Linda Knox McLean MFH, hunts the Aiken Hounds, and Taylor’s grandson is Mason Phelps Jr., the chairman of the National Horse Show Association and an alternate for the 1968 Olympic eventing team. Phelps started his eventing career riding his grandmother’s homebred field hunters, to the envy of other cross-country competitors.
The Masters of Foxhounds Association Executive Director Dennis Foster said that the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, which still held records of hounds at that time, recognized the East Aurora Hunt on Jan. 1, 1932. Hunt colors were dark green with orange facings. There were two professional huntsmen officially listed, Frank Vinall (1932-34) and Fred Yull (1934-39).
According to Yull’s nephew, Robert W. Yull, following Fred Yull’s premature death due to polio, his cousin Don Yull, Sr., briefly took up the horn. Fred’s father Paul, a longtime hound man originally from England, was professional whipper-in. But throughout East Aurora Hunt history, it was the Knox family that provided the club’s foundation. A mid-1930’s article from a Buffalo newspaper noted that “hunters gathered at the kennels on the Knox estate,” known then as Ess Kay Farm.
Seymour Horace Knox was the Buffalo, N.Y., businessman who made his fortune in five-and-dime stores when he merged his more than 100 stores with those of his first cousins, to form the F.W. Woolworth Company and then used his merger proceeds to purchase a controlling interest in the Marine Trust Co. (today HSBC Bank USA). His children, Seymour H. Knox II, Marjorie and Dorothy and their spouses were avid equestrians.
