Master of the Buckhounds
British Royal Household officer
The Master of the Buckhounds (or Master of the Hounds) was an officer in the Master of the Horse's department of the British Royal Household. The holder was also His/Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot. The role was to oversee a hunting pack; a buckhound is smaller than a staghound and used for coursing the smaller breeds of deer, especially fallow deer. The position was abolished by the Civil List Act 1901.
History
Hunting had played a role among England's royalty. The specific role of master of the hounds was first mentioned during the reign of Edward III. At this time it was a hereditary position held by the Brocas family. This tradition faded in the 17th century along with the feudal system, and the monarch instead selected the master of the hounds.
In later years, it was a political office and appointed by the Prime Minister, so the holder changed with every new government. In later years the position was always held by a nobleman who had rendered service to the party in control.
Hereditary Masters of the Buckhounds
The "hereditary" mastership was a serjeanty associated with the Manor of Little Weldon.
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This entry incorporates text from “Master of the Buckhounds” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.