Edition Bobbett1. Texts by Elizabeth F. Bobbett: 1.1.3. Correspondence, Letters to newspapers

1940 Elizabeth Bobbett: Letter to the Irish Independent, 01.06.1940

Our Readers’ Views. On Topics of the Day

Empress and Maynooth. To the Editor “Irish Independent.” Sir. I have followed the letters in recent issues regarding the incident of the Empress of Austria’s first visit to Maynooth, and to anyone who knows anything about hunting the errors are palpable.

My father, the late William Bobbett of Clonsilla, was a constant follower of the Ward Union Hounds during the period when the Empress was hunting in Ireland, and he often told me of her wonderful horsemanship and how she jumped the wall into Maynooth College grounds after the stag. Everyone knows it is a stag the Ward Union Hounds hunt.

The Empress was admired by all, and everyone, even the humblest, sought to do her a favour. There was an old man who followed the Ward Hunt in the capacity of a “racker.” He had the opportunity one day at a meet to render a small service to the Empress, and when her Equerry offered him a tip he refused it, but asked would her Royal Highness shake hands with him. The Equerry conveyed his request to the Empress, who graciously granted it.

From that day the old man always used his left hand to shake hands, and one day a friend asked him what was wrong with his right hand, and he just replied, “Nothing. I keep that for Royalty.”

Elizabeth F. Bobbett, Springfield, Kilbride, Wicklow.

Note: Perhaps some of your readers do not know that rackers are men who used to follow the hunts on foot take short cuts across fields, and if any rider fell, or a horse got away, they would assist to catch the horse or take it out of the ditch. At times it necessitated the acquiring of ropes to pull a horse out of a ditch. These rackers were rewarded by a good tip.