Sir Roger Scruton

Upon hearing the sad news of the passing of Sir Roger Scruton, Jim Barrington recalls their first meeting.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

The death of philosopher Sir Roger Scruton will leave numerous groups, from the worlds of politics, the arts, architecture, the law and education, bereft and all the poorer.

One of those worlds in which Roger Scruton took a serious interest was that of hunting with hounds and this is how I first met him. For someone whose intellect was indisputable, to want to talk to anti-hunting people, rather than simply demolish their arguments through the media, was a quite extraordinary step. Being quizzed by Roger at the time on why I believed hunting to be wrong and why I supported animal rights was an abstemious and educational experience and one that perhaps every anti-hunter should endure, given that so many think their argument to be incontrovertible.

The various meetings subsequently arranged by Roger Scruton to discuss hunting showed his philosopher side, focusing those attending to think carefully about their views. That could be quite uncomfortable and no doubt the reason he was attacked so vehemently by the Left.

Scruton's book On Hunting is still quoted today as one of the best on the subject and his thoughts on how hunting, animal welfare and wildlife management should be addressed were explained perfectly in his contribution to the Countryside Alliance's publication Wildlife Law.

It begs the question why would someone of Roger Scruton's standing and intellect argue in favour of hunting with hounds if it really was cruel?

Roger leaves his wife Sophie, daughter Lucy and son Sam. (Sophie Scruton is the Joint Master of the Vale of White Horse Hunt).