The Southdown Hunt Country Life Magazine Portrait March 24 1928

The Southdown Hunt at Poynings, Devil's Dyke Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, March 24 1928. LXIII No. 1627

The featured frontispiece this week is a photograph titled "In the Southdown Country: At Poynings under the Dyke", capturing a hunting meet in the South Downs of West Sussex.

• Location: The scene is set at Poynings, beneath Devil’s Dyke, a striking V-shaped valley and well-known landmark in the South Downs.
• The Hunt: The image depicts the Southdown Hunt (now the Southdown and Eridge Hunt), a prominent fox-hunting pack of the region.
• Master of Foxhounds: At the time, the hunt was led by Mr. C. B. Kidd, who held the Mastership from 1922 to 1929.
• The Huntsman: The day-to-day control of the hounds was carried out by the huntsman, often a professional such as F. Archbold.
• Landscape: The rolling chalk downs around Poynings provided ideal terrain for hunting, offering open ground for the hounds and sweeping views for riders and followers.
• Social Context: Hunting meets such as this were key social and sporting events of rural British life in the early 20th century.

This is an authentic original page from Country Life magazine, part of the iconic series often affectionately referred to as the “Girls in Pearls” portraits — elegant society images that captured a distinctive era of British publishing and portraiture.

Size: Approximately 13.75 x 9 inches (35 x 23 cm)

Condition: Very good for its age. As with all vintage magazine pages, light signs of handling or minor age-related blemishes may be present. Please review the large photo carefully for full condition details.

This original Country Life Magazine frontispiece portrait forms part of The Old Map Shop’s curated archive of society portraits published between 1897 and 2026.