164 England's oldest hunt. 



Joe war a huntsman ya ken fer fotty lang years, 

 On hoss back an' foot, at least so it appears ; 

 He hunted his pack wi' t'grettest o' skill, 

 An' offens Ah've heeard war t'fost in at t'kill. 

 Byv t'Dove he wad stan' and theear cast the fly 

 On t'rippling water, an' watch it sail by 

 An' fra t'winding stream monny a fish did he take, 

 An' ivvery fly his awn han's did make. 

 He war chuck full o' sport, an' hearing t'hoonds pass, 

 Thoff a hundred an' one, he louped ower t' lass ; 

 Sha war weshin' t'door step, bud thoff he cleared Peg, 

 He slipped on t'ice, an' Joe brak his leg. 

 Writing in his Parish Magazine, the Rev. J. Graham, 

 then Vicar of the parish, referred thus to the death of one 

 of old Joe Duck's sons, and incidentally to old Joe in January, 

 1903 :— 



The late Henry King Duck was of a very quiet, subdued and silent 

 temperament, and a great lover of the silent and beautiful handiworks 

 of God, which the book of nature reveals in all its glorious magnificence 

 in our secluded dale. His whole soul seemed to revel in the solitude 

 of the river Dove, where he was to be found with his fishing tackle, 

 and endowed with the skill and patient endurance of a keen sportsman, 

 which he seemed to inherit from his renowned father, who was acknow- 

 ledged to be one of the greatest inland fishermen in the neighbourhood 

 and was laid to rest in Bransdale churchyard on Dec. 19th, 1890, at 

 the advanced age of 102 years. 



William Duck had followed his father years before this 

 as huntsman of the Farndale. I am told he rode a good 

 horse to hounds, but his connection with a hunt was a short 

 one, spreading as it did only over a couple of years. Like 

 his father, he did not ride in scarlet, and being younger and 

 more impetuous he rode closer to his hounds, and was as 

 intent upon " brushing the fox " as any of the field, amongst 

 whom friendly rivalry in this direction exists to-day. The 

 hunt was still continued in the same primitive manner. 

 He was " a quiet civil lad," is about the summun totum 

 of the information I can gather regarding him. Here, so 

 far as I can procure information, is a list of the huntsmen 

 of the Farndale Hounds : — 



No regular huntsman .... — ... 

 Joe Duck, from about 1835 — 75. 

 Wm. Duck, „ 1875—77. 



