More ByBrook Otter Hunts Jacqueline Worrall (nee Hawthorne) February 2019
The hunt in 1912 (courtesy Jane Browning)
I was born in 1949 at and lived in The Mill House, where my father Jack (aka Jock) Hawthorne was responsible for the Mill and the occasional otter hunts which still took place in the 1950s. I clearly remember them and the beautiful otter hounds. I especially remember being upset at seeing the dead body of one otter displayed on the wall of the Mill Yard. The Bybrook from the Mill going upstream was private fishing belonging to an angling club, I think it was Bathampton. The brook was full of brown trout and the otters posed a problem as they took the trout, probably the reason for the hunt.
Jane Browning, who supplied the photos on your original article lived at Bargates almost opposite Ann Bush and we all left Box School to attend City of Bath Girls' Grammar School, where Ann's older sister Ingrid attended. We were the only girls from Box School to sit and pass the entrance exam that year. The result pleased Mr Adams, Box School Headmaster, as there were only a few places available to girls not living in Bath. There were only two other girls from Wiltshire, Angela Haynes from Kingsdown (she lived near The Swan and probably went to school at Bathford) and Linda Barker who lived at Corsham. They both became friends with us. Ann, Linda and myself travelled to school by train with Ingrid and Jane went by bus.
I think John Giddings was the only boy to pass for the Bath Boys' Grammar School that year. He lived near Kingsdown, I think near what was known as Fiveways. The same year John McAlister went to Bath Technical School and Marcus Adams, son of the Headmaster, sat for and gained a place at King Edwards, Bath.
Jane Browning, who supplied the photos on your original article lived at Bargates almost opposite Ann Bush and we all left Box School to attend City of Bath Girls' Grammar School, where Ann's older sister Ingrid attended. We were the only girls from Box School to sit and pass the entrance exam that year. The result pleased Mr Adams, Box School Headmaster, as there were only a few places available to girls not living in Bath. There were only two other girls from Wiltshire, Angela Haynes from Kingsdown (she lived near The Swan and probably went to school at Bathford) and Linda Barker who lived at Corsham. They both became friends with us. Ann, Linda and myself travelled to school by train with Ingrid and Jane went by bus.
I think John Giddings was the only boy to pass for the Bath Boys' Grammar School that year. He lived near Kingsdown, I think near what was known as Fiveways. The same year John McAlister went to Bath Technical School and Marcus Adams, son of the Headmaster, sat for and gained a place at King Edwards, Bath.