The late Mr R. R. Wright formed a pack of bloodhounds in 1951 and these were called the North Warwickshire Bloodhounds, kenneled at Coleshill in Warwickshire. He was helped considerably by Mr Eric Furness, who had hunted bloodhounds before the war, and who had also formed a new pack just after the end of the war. These were based in the Peak District and named the Peak Bloodhounds. Mr Furness and Mr Wright had similar ideas and were determined to hunt the "clean boot"; that is to say hounds hunt a person who does not carry or use any artificial scent and who runs across country for a distance that varies between one to six miles. The bloodhounds are laid on, that is, taken to the point from where the runner started, and they will hunt the scent of the man until they catch up with him. It must be emphasized that no artificial scent of any sort is used, the hounds following the natural scent that a man, or indeed any animal leaves behind. Hounds do not necessarily need to know the runner and nothing is dragged across the ground in any way. Very often, the hounds will follow the natural scent at such a speed that a horse has difficulty keeping with them.

Mr R.R. Wright

Phil Drabble being hunted

The hounds used are - and have been since the early 1950s - pure bred bloodhounds crossed to - mainly - foxhounds; although various crosses have been tried over the years. In the early days, Messrs Wright and Furness decided that the pure bred bloodhound was not fully suitable for pack hunting and lacked stamina. Both packs were crossed with Dumfriesshire (black and tan) foxhounds, belonging to Mr Rupert Buchanan Jardine. Mr Furness continued for some years with this breeding, but closed down many years ago. Mr Wright continued by crossing his hounds to English Foxhounds and back to bloodhounds, a policy still in practice.

In the late 1970's Messrs A & N Burne were inducted into the sport and became Joint Masters under the guidance of Mr Wright, continuing as a private pack, hunting mainly on foot, the kennels still being at Coleshill. Mr Wright died in 1991 and hunting continued on a smaller scale until new kennels were found in Staffordshire. The name was changed to the Staffordshire Bloodhounds and hounds were managed in the same way as before.

Another move was made in 1999 to Hinstock in North Shropshire and it seemed sensible to change the name again; this time to the Burne Bloodhounds, again continuing the long established policy. In 2005 Mrs Jan Gration joined the Mastership.

Since 2005, the hunt has been successful and hunting has taken place mainly in Derbyshire. It is anticipated that future hunting will take place over a wider area. A point worthy of note is that when Mr Wright formed his original pack, he also formed a pack of hare hounds, which became known as the North Warwickshire Beagles and he eventually gave the pack to the committee. That hunt is still thriving. Another historical fact is that over the years Mr Wright gave considerable assistance to the formation of several other packs. For example supplying hounds or helping with the breeding of MrStringer's pack in Germany and also in England, with the Windsor Forest, the Coakham, the Isle of Man and others; with particular reference to the late Mr Peter Boddy with the Readyfield Bloodhounds. Certainly the old North Warwickshire blood runs in many packs, including packs of minkhounds.

Mr A Burne MBH

The Burne Bloodhounds