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Proposer of the Toast “The Immortal Memory of Robert Burns” 1902
Proposer of the Toast “The Lasses” 1903
Proposer of the Toast “Commercial Interests of the District” 1904
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Edward became a Member of ‘Let it Blaw’ in 1901. He was first mentioned in Toast List/Programme in 1902.
An extract from the History of the Linlithgow & Stirlingshire Hunt states : “To hunt the country two days a-week, to become resident in the district and take an active interest in the well-being of the Hunt, to purchase the pack, keep it up to a proper standard and, finally, give the refusal of it to the hunt committee, were the principal conditions on which the management was entrusted to Captain George Clerk Cheape upon the retirement of Mr Menzies in 1887.
Captain Cheape, who had served with the 11th Hussars, was master of the West of Fife Hounds from 1878 (on the retiral of Sir Arthur Halkett) to 1882 and, again, from 1885 to 1887. Throughout these seasons, he had hunted hounds himself, Jack Shepherd being his kennel-huntsman and first whipper-in during the earlier period, and James Beavan during the later.
Beavan, who had formerly been with the East Kent, Lord Fitzwilliam’s, the Morpeth and the Cattistock, now accompanied his master to West Lothian, as huntsman, while Edward Cotesworth, who had gained six years’ experience with the Old Berkeley (West), the Aibrighton and the Goodwood packs, was engaged as first whipper-in.”
In the record of the 1902 Supper, club secretary John Fairbairn minuted the following : “The Toast of the Evening was proposed in eloquent terms by Mr Edward Cotesworth, huntsman, of Golfhall. This was the first time in the annals of the Club that the Toast has been proposed by an Englishman and, on that account, and for the able manner in which Mr Cotesworth handled the subject, it was listened to and appreciated very much. The Toast was drunk with much enthusiasm”
At the 1908 Supper, Mr Torrance of Kinleith proposed the Toast to Absent Friends. John Fairbairn, Club Secretary in replying, stated that a letter with a shilling ( £0.05p ) had been received from Mr Cotesworth in Virginia, USA, wishing the Club a jolly evening !
We’re no doubt minded of a few lines from “The Twa Dogs, a Tale” :
Our whipper-in, wee, blasted wonner,
Poor, worthless elf, it eats a dinner,
Better than ony tenant-man
His Honour has in a’ the lan’:
An’ what poor cot-folk pit their painch in,
I own it’s past my comprehension.
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