166 THE BROCKLESBY HOUNDS. [1896 



Jim Smith. 



The doings of Lord Yarborough's hounds under the 

 present huntsman, Jim Smith, are of too recent a date to 

 require much comment. But it being the purpose of the 

 writer to make the history of the pack as complete as 

 possible up to the beginning of the present century, it 

 will be necessary to deal with some of the most important 

 runs, and to give a general summary of the different 

 seasons. The father of the young huntsman, who is 

 showing such good sport in the Brocklesby country, was 

 sergeant-major of the Earl of Yarborough's Light Horse, 

 and the boy first saw service with Mr. J. Maunsell Richard- 

 son, in 1878, in whose stables he learnt to ride. When 

 Mr. Richardson transferred his hunters to Brocklesby, on 

 account of his hunting the dog pack, young Smith had 

 the offer of either staying with the steeplechase horses at 

 Limber, or going to Brocklesby to ride Mr. Richardson's 

 second horse, and he chose the latter course. Smith 

 entered Lord Yarborough's service in 1884, and rode 

 second horse to Will Dale till 1889, when he was promoted 

 to be second whipper-in, the following year finding him 

 at Blankney, under Capell, in a similar capacity. Li 1891 

 he was promoted to be first whipper-in, and he remained 

 three seasons, returning to Brocklesby in 1894, as first 

 whipper-in to Dale ; and when Dale left to take charge 

 of the Duke of Beaufort's pack, Smith was promoted to 

 be huntsman. 



Jim Smith commenced his first season as huntsman 

 to Lord Yarborough's historic pack in 1896, cub-hunting 

 beginning on August 17th at Thomas's Wood, Fred 

 Reeves and Sam Morgan being his whippers-in ; and a 

 moderate morning's work finished with the killing of a 

 cub at Newsham. It was a bad cub-hunting time on the 

 whole, and foxes were far too numerous ; still hounds 



