Scientific instrument
H. M. Budgett (1882 - 1951)
Category
Scientific instruments
Date
1930 - 1939
Materials
Wood
Measurements
20 x 150 x 315 mm
Order this imageCollection
Dunster Castle, Somerset
NT 726023
Summary
A Pollard Scentometer with case and card, for measuring the percentage of possibility of it being a good (fox) hunting day. Scentometers were once a popular gadget in the 1930s - inspired and designed by one Budgett, Master of the Bicester Foxhounds - worked by taking readings of the wind, temperature, humidity and cloud figures and then producing a (albeit somewhat unreliable owing to locality) percentage possibility of it being a good day.
Provenance
Given to Capt. Yates by Commander and Mrs. Philip Reid in April, 1938, as a wedding present. Mrs. Philip Reid (nee Louisa Luttrell) was a granddaughter of George Fownes Luttrell, Master of the West Somerset Foxhounds.
Makers and roles
H. M. Budgett (1882 - 1951), designer