David Jones has written a fascinating and comprehensive book on the history of gamekeeping since the inception of the profession in the late seventeenth century until the present time. He writes about all aspects of gamekeeping with chapters on training, pay, cottages, gamekeepers in wartime, loaders and loading, lady gamekeepers, gamekeeping throughout the UK and Ireland and also overseas, especially in the days of the British empire. There is an interesting section on the moorland gamekeeper which includes the memories of George Grass of Ramsgill.

‘Gamekeepin'g not only contains a large selection of historic illustrations depicting the gamekeeper’s work but also draws on oral and written testimonies from gamekeepers, contemporary newspaper cuttings and extracts from historic documents. With its comprehensive coverage and wealth of stunning illustrations, this book provides a unique insight into gamekeeping and gives an accurate record of gamekeeping in times past, something often neglected by other authors who have painted a much rosier picture of the gamekeepers life in bygone days, rather than a truthful one based on hard facts.
AUTHOR David S D Jones has been an archivist and historian for the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation for over a decade. Descended from a long line of gamekeepers, he is keenly interested in shooting and gamekeeping history and has written extensively on the subject of gamekeeping over the past thirty years, contributing numerous articles to all of the major British sporting titles. In addition, he owns the Gamekeeping Photographic Archive and the David S D Jones Photographic Collection, both of which supply historic shooting, gamekeeping and general countryside images to the sporting press. In addition to his shooting and gamekeeping interests, he is an acknowledged expert on the history of the Scottish shooting lodge and field sports in the Highlands and Islands, having studies the subject for over twenty years, and has written a number of books about specific lodges. He is author of the widely acclaimed ‘Sporting Estates of the Outer Hebrides
Past and Present’ and ‘Sporting Lodges’ with J C Jeremy Hobson.