History 2

Fox-hunting hereabouts in the more orthodox, English manner dates from the end of the prosperous 1920's. Several prominent residents of Staunton and Augusta County, good horsemen and horsewomen all, banded together and, in February, 1930, organized a formal fox-hunting establishment to be known as the Glenmore Hunt. Glenmore, which in Gaelic denotes "Big Valley," described well the Shenandoah locale of the new organization. Moreover, "Glenmore" was the name of the family farm, well out beyond what were then the eastern outskirts of Staunton, of the first Master, Mr. Houston I. ("Jack") Todd. And how felicitous it was that the first Master's name should itself be an old English variant of "fox!"

The first hunt in the formal style was held on March 4, 1930. Mr. Todd served not only as M.F. H., but as Hon. Huntsman. His whippers-in were Dudley Brooks, Forest Taylor, Ralph Crosby, and Mason Sproul. "Colors" chosen for the new hunting entity were a Yale blue collar for the traditional scarlet coat, and its buttons were engraved with an elegant script "GH."

The redoubtable Major Charles S. Roller, Superintendent of the Augusta Military Academy, and later Colonel and General, became the second Master of Foxhounds in 1934. Under his leadership, the Glenmore achieved the status of formal Recognition by the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America, awarded in 1935. Major Roller always did things in style. He routinely appeared at covertside resplendent in a high silk hat. Even in the depths of the Great Depression, two separate packs of hounds were kept, one for Saturday drag hunts and the other for Wednesday live hunts. One legendary hunt at Christmastide near the grounds of the Augusta Military Academy saw Major Roller's guests riding from check to check, always somehow discovering at each halt delightful little miniature bottles, tied in the trees with Christmas ribbons. On another state occasion, a joint meet in Hot Springs with Mrs. Ingalls' Bath County Hounds, Major Roller, riding in front with the Master and the renowned Farmington huntsman, Grover van Devender, scored a sensation when he jumped clean a formidable five foot gate on his great, eighteen-hand, black hunter, the famed High Boy.