niE HUNTSMEN. 73 



leggings. After luiiuing the Inst season, Kay gave notice on May 26th, 

 1846, to resign liis situation, on the ground of liis family requiring his 

 presence at home. His resignation was accepted, and Mr. Oi<ell was em- 

 powered to apply to the gentleman who recommended Kay to put the R.R.B. 

 on the track of a successor. On June 15th, 1846, before his notice of 

 resignation had expired, poor Kay met with a melancholy end in the 

 discharge of his duty. The minute book records : — 



On this day our huntsman, Thomas Kay, whilst bathing the pack on the 

 Rock Ferry slip, slipped into the river, and was unfortunately drowned. His 

 body was found the same evening. He leaves a wife and nine young children. 



Mr. Rawson has t\irnished a graphic account of this tragic incident. 



He writes : — 



In the first season, when taking the hounds to bathe from the end of the 

 Rock Ferry pier, Kay fell into the river. All the pack swam to him, and had 

 he only put his arms and hands on a k)t of them, they would have held him up 

 till succour came. When he sank, the dogs landed on the pier, and hunted his 

 back trail full cry all the way back to the kennels, to the surprise of his poor 

 wife at hearing the hounds hunting in sorrow. 



This extraordinary story is vouched for, and fully believed in, by 

 Mr. Rawson^, though other surviving contemporaries have lost all recollection 

 of the circumstance, which must at the time have made a great impression. 

 Our late huntsman, Cole, thinks it ipiite a likely thing for the hounds to 

 hunt the back trail in lull cry. It is also quite possible that the hounds 

 might have brought Kay ashore, as very little supports a man entirely 

 immersed in water. The Committee of the R.R.B. resolved that — 



In testimony of the respect which the Hunt feel for their late huntsman, 

 Thomas Kay, and with the wish to in some degree mitigate the sad bereavement 

 to his wife and large family, the Hunt take upon themselves the whole expenses 

 of his funeral ; and as many of the members as are able are requested to 

 follow the remains to their last resting place at Bebington parish church. 



It was also resolved that a subscription be at once raised, for the 

 relief of his poor widow and family. Four committee-men and a few other 

 members attended the funeral. The subscription realized ;^75. 



At the first farmers' dinner, Kay was called in to favour the company 



with a scng. He gave them — 



Smiling May ! Smiling May 1 

 Deck'd all out with flow'rets gay — 



and so on for fifty verses, taking nearly three-quarters of an hour for its 

 delivery. Tinley Barton says that at the next annual dinner they excused 

 Kay from obliging with his song ; but this is an instance of the treacherous 

 character of memory, for poor Kay met with his death before the second 

 dinner. 



