Women in the Hunting Field

During the 17th and 18th centuries, European women hunted more than those in England, because on the continent there were vast areas of protected royal and noble forests. These were made accessible by wide, well kept rides which the ladies could either trot or canter in a sedate fashion without being required to jump. Alternatively, they could follow the hunt along these wide avenues by carriage.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries only three sorts of women hunted. These were hard-riding ladies of easy virtue, professional equestriennes or riding teachers and a few wives and daughters of great houses. In the mid 19th century there was a surprising change of opinion about women in the hunting field. Writers such as Surtees and Trollope remarked upon it and noted that if women rode well they rode very well and with better hands than men. However, there were some who did not share this change of opinion. They felt that some women took advantage of being the “weaker sex” to push through gaps and gates. Those who followed pilots often jumped dangerously and, in the case of a mishap, gentlemen felt obliged to stop and help.

During the First World War there were radical changes. Women were encouraged into service as master and huntsmen. Wives and daughters even became grooms, kennel men and second whips. By the Second World War, women’s competence in the hunting field was established and their influence widely felt.