Jasper Hall Livingston
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Jasper Hall Livingstone (March 23, 1815 – March 30, 1900) was an American horse owner, gentleman rider and sportsman. He was
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(Secretary of Legation) under Ambassador Washington Irving at Madrid and later the Master of the Pau Hounds for 11 non-consecutive winter seasons between 1847 and 1873. He was an innovator of
drag hunting Drag hunting or draghunting is a form of equestrian sport where mounted riders hunt the trail of an artificially laid scent with hounds. Description Drag hunting is an equestrian sport where a field of mounted riders chase a pack of hounds who fo ...
and mocked in the development of this "fictitious" sport (now widely practiced), while some considered it ideal for young riders or "the impatient and brave who hunted to ride rather than rode to hunt".


Family

Livingston was born on March 23, 1815, in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
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, as the youngest son of
Henry Brockholst Livingston Henry Brockholst Livingston (November 25, 1757 – March 18, 1823) was an American Revolutionary War officer, a justice of the New York Court of Appeals and eventually an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Early life ...
, Justice of the Supreme Court, and previously widowed Catherine (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Seaman) Kortright. His twin sister, Catherine Louisa Livingston, married
Maurice Power Maurice Power (14 May 1811 – 28 December 1870) was an Anglo-Irish politician who served as member of parliament for List of United Kingdom by-elections (1832–47), County Cork (1847–1852) and as List of colonial governors of Saint Lucia, ...
, later a British MP and Lieutenant Governor of
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. Their paternal grandfather was
William Livingston William Livingston (November 30, 1723July 25, 1790) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War. As a New Jersey representative in the Continental Congr ...
, the first governor of
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
and a Signer of the US Constitution. Their aunt, Sarah Livingston, was the wife of
Founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...
, Statesman,
New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...
and Chief Justice
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. Jasper Hall Livingston married Mathilda Anne Cecila Morris, the youngest daughter of Sir John Morris, 2nd Baronet of Clasemont, May 26, 1851, at Dover, Kent, England. The couple normally spent the winter hunting season at Pau, France, where they owned a villa. Their children, Florence and Guy were born at Pau. Livingston was a member of the English Club.


Master of the Pau Hounds

Livingston is first recorded as hunting at Pau during the 1847–48 season along with his nephew, Charles Carroll Livingston (1832–1904). Livingston was reported to have been attracted to Pau solely for his passion for fox hunting and "imbibed" into the sport as a young man under
George Osbaldeston George Osbaldeston (26 December 1786 – 1 August 1866), best known as Squire Osbaldeston, was an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament but who had his greatest impact as a sportsman and first-class cricketer. Early life He w ...
and Sir Harry Goodricke both Masters of the
Quorn Hunt The Quorn Hunt, usually called the Quorn, established in 1696, is one of the world's oldest fox hunting packs and claims to be the United Kingdom's most famous hunt. Its country is mostly in Leicestershire, together with some smaller areas of ...
. Livingston was credited with saving the
Pau Hunt The Pau Hunt was established in 1842 by the Société d’Encouragement as a spectacle authorized by the government of Louis Philippe I, Louis Philippe to hunt predatory animals such as wolves and foxes. Internationally, the Pau Hunt, dominated by ...
by purchasing the hounds from Pery Standish of
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. He was complemented for his management of the Hunt; although, some outsiders criticized him for using "Bagman" foxes that had been captured and released at the beginning of a fox hunt or at the end of a drag hunt, ensuring a kill and the continued viability of the hounds. Livingston organized the first recorded Drag Hunt at Pau on Saturday, November 26, 1847, on the ''Route de Tarbes'' between Pau and
Gardères Gardères (; ) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France. Together with Luquet, the commune forms an enclave of Hautes-Pyrénées within the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. A neighbouring second enclave com ...
making a distance of 21 km (13 miles) in one hour. This was a welcomed diversion to the actual meet. This method of distraction presented no problem as it was seen as supplementary to the hunt. The Pau Drag Hunt would replace fox hunting on alternating days of the week as foxes became less numerous. Famous participants of the Pau Hunt during his Mastership included
William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton William Alexander Archibald Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and 8th Duke of Brandon (19 February 1811 – 8 July 1863) styled Earl of Angus and Arran before 1819 and Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale between 1819 and 1852, was a Scottish noblem ...
,
Ward McAllister Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of America, widely accepted as the authority to which families could be classified as the cream of New York society ( The Fou ...
and Marshall Pierre Bosquet. In late 1858, ''Le Sport Magazine'', published an article by the Marquess Théodore de Foudras entitled "Historical Anecdotes of Contemporary Hunting, the state of foreign hunting in Béarn : The Pau Drag Hunt". This article was then mocked with a series of thirteen lithographs by Pierre Eugene Marc (1819–1885) assembled in album form in 1860. The earliest known album copy was signed by J.H. Livingstone on December 10, 1860. Three lithographs by artist A. Duruy were published in subsequent editions.


Death and legacy

Livingston died on March 30, 1900, at the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
. In 1907, a memoire written between 1894 and 1896 by
Lord Howth Earl of Howth ( ) was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1767 for Thomas St Lawrence, 15th Baron Howth, who was elevated to Viscount St Lawrence at the same time, also in the Peerage of Ireland. The St Lawrence family descended ...
, who had served as Master of the Pau Hounds during the 1879–1880 season, was published stating real hunting had ceased at Pau between 1847 and 1863. He scorned that Pau drag hunts ended with the release of a Bagman. He legitimized neither Jasper Hall Livingston nor Richard Francis Lalor Power as Masters of the Pau Hounds during this period and thought it unfortunate young Americans from the "wild-west" had never had the opportunity to hunt wild animals with a pack of hounds.


References


External links


Jasper Hall Livingston Grave

Charles Carroll Livingston Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Jasper Hall 1815 births 1900 deaths Livingston family People from New York City American male equestrians 19th-century American diplomats Fox hunters