'The Gamekeeper' Saved
Unique history of gamekeeping launched by NGO.
The National Gamekeepers' Organisation has launched a unique, searchable archive of gamekeeping history on DVD and CD-Rom.
'The Gamekeeper', which described itself as "a Journal devoted to the interests of game preservers", was first published in 1897 and covered all aspects of gamekeeping practice: dog work, trapping, rearing, battles with poachers and much more.
The early issues provide a fascinating insight into the keepering profession 100 years ago. They are full of wonderful descriptions, lost knowledge and quaint misunderstandings that science has since disproved. The attractive adverts provide insight into a lost world of trapping, homespun remedies for disease and the peculiar economics of game shooting in former times. Much of the interest in 'The Gamekeeper' lies in how little some things have changed whilst others have evolved beyond recognition.
In 2005, the National Gamekeepers' Organisation was approached by General Wilson of Morbath, Somerset, who had a complete bound set of the first 336 issues covering the years 1897 to 1925. He kindly made these available to the NGO. Thanks to a generous donation in memory of Ben Agger, a passionate young follower of gamekeeping and shooting, the journals were purchased by the NGO and converted to CD-Rom and DVD format by Secure Data Services, who specialize in the online retrieval of priceless paper archives.
Gilbertson and Page, the gamekeeping suppliers who originally published 'The Gamekeeper' kindly waived their interest and so the National Gamekeepers' Organisation is now proud to present 'The Gamekeeper' journal in an electronic format suitable for all modern PC's. It is a lasting, attractive and entirely searchable product.
You can view the journals page by page in the original printed format, with all their sepia photographs and fine line engravings. You can view them in modern text, which can be cut and pasted into other documents or emailed to friends. You can even search the entire archive in seconds to find, for example, all references to your local estate or a particular subject.
The NGO hopes that this unique electronic archive, as well as providing interest and fun, will encourage greater understanding of the origins of the gamekeeping profession and the importance of its continuing traditions today and in the future.