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him on the 9th of September 1858, in the eighty-third 

 year of his age. 



Although it is chiefly as the greatest hunting man of 

 his own, or perhaps any other, age that Thomas Assheton 

 Smith is known to fame, yet it is a great mistake to 

 suppose that he was but a sportsman pure and simple. 

 He was a man of very considerable scientific attainments, 

 and of some inventive capacity, which found a vent in 

 shipbuilding. He built several steam and sailing yachts 

 after his own designs, and he undoubtedly discovered, by 

 his own independent experiments, the wave principle in 

 yacht-building. Moreover, he was the originator of 

 steam-gunboats, and his designs were adopted by the 

 Government for the Navy. He was as good a sailor as 

 he was horseman, and no member of the Royal Yacht 

 Club, to which he belonged, was a better master mariner 

 than he. In the management of his great estates in 

 Hampshire and Carnarvonshire he showed not only 

 great business capacity, but a kindliness and considera- 

 tion for his employees, which won for him their deep 

 and lasting affection. He was always planning schemes 

 for their comfort, and his model cottages, both on his 

 Welsh and English estates, were really appreciated by 

 those for whom they were intended, because they found 

 that their wants had been thoughtfully and sensibly con- 

 sidered and provided for. 



For several years Assheton Smith was member for 

 Andover, and discharged his parliamentary duties with 

 the same energy and zeal which he displayed in every 

 other phase of life. Moreover, he did a bit of soldiering at 

 one time. He raised and equipped a troop of Yeomanry 

 at his own expense, and his old friend the Duke of 

 Wellington did him the honour to review the corps in 



