John Peel (13th November 1776? – 13 November 1854) was an English huntsman who is the subject of the nineteenth century song "D'ye ken John Peel" - "ken" meaning 'to be aware of' or 'to know' in some dialects of the North of England and Scotland.

Peel's life

thumb|Caldbeck cottages, home of the huntsman John Peel. [[Caldbeck was a stopping place for travellers to whom the monks provided hospitality.]]

thumbnail|Headstone of John Peel in the churchyard of [[St Kentigern's Church, Caldbeck|St Kentigern's Church, Caldbeck, Wigton, Cumbria]]

Peel was born at Park End, near Caldbeck, Cumberland; his family moved a short time after to the Greenrigg farm. He was baptised on 24 September 1777, but most sources suggest he was born the previous year. Peel married in 1797 to Mary White. In 1977 his grave was vandalised by anti-hunting activists.

Peel Region, the equivalent of a county in Ontario, Canada may be named after him.

It is believed that three inns were named after his hounds, Hark to Towler at Heywood, Hark to Bounty at Slaidburn, and the Hark to Bellman at Clitheroe in Lancashire. Residents now passed of the area have always understood that John Peel hunted in the Clitheroe district, later arriving by train to Chatburn railway station, with hounds and horses, and from there to the Bellman Inn (less than 1/2 mile) for a tot of whisky before going hunting. The railway opened in 1850, and the Bellman Inn was granted its first licence in 1826, but was known as the 'ancient hostelry of the Hark to Bellman' in 1832. There was also a racecourse very near the Bellman hostelry which ran from at least 1811 to 1839. The hound Bellman was also said to be a completely white hound. John Peel has a fact file in Tullie House Carlisle.

"D'ye ken John Peel?"

References

  • An arrangement of the tune
  • The Olde John Peel Inn public house