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He was a ‘hound’ man all his life. His nanny had taken him out otter hunting from the age of two. There were, in his parents’ time at White Hill, up to sixteen dogs of all varieties actually in the house. He was Chairman of the Dumfriesshire Foxhounds and latterly he practiced the art of falconry over dogs of varying breeds.
Captain John, as he was known by many, was the third generation of Bell-Irving involved with otter hounds as a pack. David J Bell-Irving, his great uncle had started them in 1889. In 1926 Major Johnny Bell-Irving took them over |
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from his two sisters, who had been in control for about a decade The Captain returned home after the War and a spell of farming in Somerset in 1953. He took over from his father the responsibility of the organization of the Dumfriesshire Otter Hounds (DOH) and also the breeding of the hounds from the mid ‘50s.
He was very thorough and went to great lengths to keep the breed going strong. He tried to introduce out-crosses with the French blood (Griffon Nivernais), Bloodhound and even imported an otterhound in the ‘70s from the USA. This had some benefit, but at a considerable cost to him, because of several months of quarantine kennels to pay for.
Billy Scott, the Kennel Huntsman of the DOH, and Captain John worked together very well. Between them they kept the pack going. It was a very sad time for all of us who were connected with the DOH, when the time came to disband the pack in the mid ‘80s. |
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John Bell-Irving, his beloved wife Anne and William, at their home in Dumfriesshire |
