The Hon Diana Beaumont
The long-standing Tynedale secretary who always looks on the bright side
THE role of hunt secretary is probably the most onerous and least lauded position in a hunt, with the most work for the least reward. Diana Beaumont, colloquially known as “Dors”, has been secretary of the Tynedale since 1996, and she doesn’t see it like that.
“When I started as secretary, you could have said that I was a committed foxhunter and I was in a position where I had to put something back in to hunting,” she says. “When we were children, hunting is just what we did. My mother was absolutely brilliant about encouraging us all to hunt. Her other three children were all masters and I am a secretary — she did pretty well.”
Diana was brought up hunting with the Milvain and North Northumberland and her family moved back to Chesters in the Tynedale country when she was 10 years old. Diana’s greatgrandfather was a hunting legend, the late JC Straker who owned the Tynedale hounds. Part-ownership was passed on through the family via her mother Alice Benson and now her sister, Mary Hales, is co-owner of the hounds.
Diana’s brother, George Benson, and sister Mary have both been master of the Tynedale and her other sister, Caroline Dickinson, is a joint-master still.
“When I first took on this role, I found it very difficult to ask people who were far more senior than me for their subscriptions,” Diana remembers. “I have been learning ever since and I see myself as an information gatherer and giver. It is so important to be fair in how you deal with people and try to learn by one’s mistakes. In so many ways, being a secretary is so much easier these days — with emails, texts and WhatsApp, it’s much quicker and easier to receive and deliver information.”
‘I LOVE THE WHOLE THING’
DIANA is amazingly positive about hunting.
“I am surprised that hunting gets such bad press as it really is a broad church with some amazing characters from all walks of life. Everyone has a different reason why they love hunting and one would never meet all these different people if it wasn’t for hunting. It is my passion: I love the whole thing, from the way the season starts slowly in the autumn, to the long, fast hunts of January and the way it reaches a natural conclusion at the end of the season. I’m sad when it’s all over, but soon looking forward to the start of the next season.”
As for the future, Diana sees the bright side as usual.
“We are so lucky and privileged, particularly up here in the north, to have farmers and landowners who allow us access to wonderful parts of the country that you just wouldn’t otherwise be able to see,” she says. “Hunting is constantly evolving as it should and we mustn’t turn into dinosaurs. We adapted brilliantly to the ban and I am sure we will continue to change.”
Modest and understated as ever, Diana always has a humorous slant on things.
“I am hugely grateful to my husband Mark Henry for his support over the years,” she says. “He has had no wife for three days a week but perhaps that’s a bonus for him. I have been very lucky and definitely enjoyed the ride.”