A fine gentleman and incredibly knowledgeable huntsman, Jack Taylor was in his nineties when he died in  2005. Jack, as he was known to all who met him in those ninety years, spent his life in hunt service in his native Ireland.  Jack was one of six sons of the famous Tommy Taylor, all of whom went into hunt service in Ireland and England.  One brother, Sam, was killed in combat in World War II, while Jack had volunteered for service with the Royal Ulster Rifles as part of the glider troops that landed in France prior to D-Day.

Jack began under his father's tutelage whipping-in at the Killultagh Old Rock and at the Chichester Harriers in County Antrim.  He then moved on to whip-in at the Kildare foxhounds, then to the Craven Hunt and then for three seasons as first whipper-in at the Hursley Foxhounds before returning to his native Ireland to volunteer for military service with the outbreak of World War II

Post war, Jack return home serving again as a hunt servant and working with many of those in whose service he had previously been.  Jack Taylor was named to take the horn to succeed his father as huntsman of the East Antrim, leaving the Killultagh to hunt the East Antrim's hounds for thirteen seasons before going to the Cumberland Farmers’ for the next sixteen seasons, eventually retiring from hunt service in 1981.

A Social Tradition

Based outside Dundrod, County Antrim, an area more renowned for the roar of motor cycle engines than the call of the hunting horn, the Killultagh area is bounded by the Bow Mile Water at Antrim Town, the Broad Water, between Moira and Aghalee, Lough Neagh and the outskirts of the City of Belfast

But Jack Taylor's work in the foxhunting world was not yet finished.  The very high standards in hound work and horsemanship of the Taylor family are continued today in Jack's son Robert, professional huntsman for the Goshen Hounds in Maryland, USA.  When Robert agreed to hunt the Goshen hounds, he knew that his father, Jack was there to support him.  Jack spent several years as Goshen's kennel huntsman working closely with Robert to establish the breeding and training programmes and training program that the Goshen still enjoys today.  Typical of Jack was his response when offered the position of kennel huntsman at Goshen to which he replied "Aye, that's right up me street!" Indeed it was, but far more to the benefit of Goshen than Jack could ever comprehend.

For those of us that have an interest in pedigrees, Jack's keen sense of horsemanship and hunting lives on.  Of his many grandchildren, at least two continue the hunting tradition.  Robert's two youngest children, MacKenzie and Hunter are regular members of the Goshen hunt field. The notes of Tommy Taylor's silver horn are still heard across the hunting fields of Goshen.  Indeed, Jack Taylor is gone, but he will never be forgotten