Frank Houghton Brown, who has died from leukaemia aged 59, was joint master and amateur huntsman of the Middleton (1990-2004) and Tynedale foxhounds (2004-13), as well as a sporting scribe, conservationist and countryman of the highest calibre.
Despite the pressures faced by hunting in the 1990s and early 2000s, he steadfastly maintained the Middleton in North Yorkshire as a four-days-a-week pack that provided consistently good sport. This was particularly evident during March and April when huge fields gathered to enjoy hunting across Birdsall and Garrowby estates long after neighbouring hunts had finished for the season.
Under Houghton Brown’s tenure, stallion hounds from other hunts were carefully selected to transform the formerly plain-looking Middleton hounds into a pack that dominated the foxhound classes at the Great Yorkshire Show and beyond. As his reputation grew, so did invitations to judge at home and abroad, including visits to Germany, the United States and Australia. He also judged foxhounds at the prestigious Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show, foregoing his trademark battered trilby and scruffy brown brogues in favour of the judge’s conventional stiff collar and bowler hat.
However idiosyncratic his sartorial style off the hunting field, on it he was always immaculate. Often outspoken, original in thought, he had an uncompromising belief in his own views. Subscribers rode in fear of a dressing-down, but a succession of aspiring young huntsmen were nurtured and encouraged during gap years spent whipping-in. These included Otis Ferry, the future South Shropshire MFH, and Luke Tomlinson, who later captained the English polo team.
Valuable hounds were given to other hunts, some as far afield as Australia and Trinidad, where they were taught to hunt the unfamiliar quarry of agouti, lappe and deer. In 1984 the Ampleforth Beagles were rescued when Frank welcomed them to the Middleton kennels after they had been evicted from their home in the college grounds.
Frank Houghton Brown was born in Northamptonshire on April 3 1965, the second son of sporting and farming parents. His maternal grandfather, Frank Furlong, had won the 1935 Grand National as an amateur jockey on his father’s Reynoldstown. He later joined the Fleet Air Arm and in 1941 survived in an inflatable dinghy for three days and nights in the Atlantic after a bombing raid against the Bismarck.
Frank’s rural childhood roaming the family farm in the heart of Bicester & Warden Hill Hunt country was followed by prep school at Audley House, then Stowe, where he cut chapel every Sunday to go ferreting. Quick as a lurcher, Frank once excelled himself by catching a rabbit with his bare hands, but his real passion was reserved for the college beagles. He shared carrying the horn during his final year with Tom Bannister, before leaving Stowe prematurely, and landing a job as terrierman to Captain Ian Farquhar with his local Bicester Hunt.
Houghton Brown soon converted to the more glamorous vocation of foxhunting but knew his riding must improve. He was whipped into shape by the five-goal polo player Claire Tomlinson at Westonbirt, after which there was no fence too big for him.
His newfound equestrian prowess was at once put to good use in Australia, where he promptly broke his leg in a riding accident while working as a jackaroo. The injury took years to heal, but did not prevent him running the London Marathon twice in aid of the Countryside Alliance.
After further adventures around the world, in 1990 he was invited by Colonel Nick Crossley and Lord Middleton to join them in the mastership of the Middleton Hunt in North Yorkshire, where he was aided by his loyal kennel-huntsman, Anthony Nicholson. The Houghton Brown era began shakily with a foxless first morning on Lord Middleton’s Birdsall estate, but thereafter it was plain sailing.
In October 1999 Houghton Brown organised an American-style hunting competition at Birdsall, which was hotly contested by hounds from six differing packs. Honours were evenly distributed, but the host pack ran out as overall winners.
Houghton Brown’s first marriage, in 2003, was later dissolved, but a heady co*cktail of classic good looks, dark brooding eyes, red coat and deep reserves of charm inevitably attracted the attention of numerous female admirers, one of whom took her scissors to his suits after being overlooked in favour of a rival.
After 14 memorable seasons with the Middleton, Houghton Brown moved north in 2004 to become joint master of the Tynedale Hunt in Northumberland. Superb sport was immediately forthcoming but the 2004 Hunting Act threw up many challenges, which were overcome through bold leadership and a determination to keep the tradition alive. He also wrote regularly for Horse and Hound.
During his mastership of the Tynedale, Frank met Claire Angus, whom he married in October 2022 following their return to the family farm in Northamptonshire. Three days after Houghton Brown’s death, Middleton hunt staff wore black armbands at a Yorkshire hound show, which was won by a bitch descended from a bloodline he had retrieved from Ireland 25 years earlier.
He is survived by his wife and son, a daughter from his first marriage and another daughter from an earlier relationship.
Frank Houghton Brown, born April 2 1965, died May 25 2024
