The Bedale Hounds, 1832-1908 17 



boots, a distance of twenty-two miles in six 

 hours. Mr. Hodgson was so delighted with 

 the man's energy and keenness that he engaged 

 him on the spot, at a guinea a week, as First 

 Whipper-in and Kennel Huntsman. On 

 expressing surprise that Will proposed to 

 return on foot, he was met with the reply, 

 ''The distance mattered nowt.'' Forty- 

 four miles in top-boots ! ! ! 



The sport shown by Mr. Hodgson and Will 

 Danby in Holderness needs no comment 

 here — it is too well known. It only remains 

 to say that Will had not seen the last of the 

 York and Ainsty in 1817, as he thought ; for 

 in 1837 he returned to that pack as hunts- 

 man to Mr. George Lloyd, and remained there 

 until 1853, when Sir Charles Slingsby took the 

 country, and decided to hunt hounds him- 

 self. He was presented with a handsome 

 testimonial on his retirement, and there is 

 now a capital oil painting of him — with 

 some hounds — in the Yorkshire Club at 

 York.* 



He did not stand down for very long, as 

 1855 saw him huntsman to the Hur worth 

 hounds. 



The following is a quaint account by Lord 

 Darlington, of a run from Newton House, 

 on November 17th, 1821 :— 

 '' Met at 11 a.m. 



Found in Gatenby Whin, broke away to the 

 south past AUerthorpe nearly up to Pickhill 



* The painting is by I. W. Snow, and is dated 1845. 



