NOTES TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 255 



He died in Paris in the spring of 1823, in the seventy-fifth year 

 of his age, leaving an only daughter, who in 1838 married 

 Captain (afterwards Admiral) the Hon. E. T. Wodehouse. His 

 will, dated October 2nd, 18 18, wherein he is described as of 

 Falconers' Hall, Boythorpe, in the East Riding of York, and of 

 Pont-le-Roi, France, was proved in London by his executor, 

 Mr. B. Curling, to whom probate was granted 26th April 1823 



IX. Silver Gilt Urn, presented to Colonel 

 Thornton, of Thornville Royal, by the Members of 

 the Falconers' Club, at Barton Mills, 23rd June 1781. 

 Now in the possession of the Earl of Orford. 



The members of this club, whose names are given below, used 

 to meet at Alconbury Hill, which was a favourite rendezvous on 

 account of the number of Kites which at that time were to be 

 found there. (For a description of Kite-hawking see an article in 

 The Field of loth January 1891,'with an illustration by J. Wolf) 

 They used then to go on to Barton Mills, as appears by a 

 memorandum in the handwriting of Colonel Thornton, which in 

 1823, the year in which he died, was in the possession of Mr. T. 

 Gosden. 



The handsome trophy, of which a representation is now for 

 the first time given, is of unique design in silver gilt. It is 

 appropriately surmounted by figures of a Goshawk holding a 

 Hare, and bears the following inscription : — 



" Colonel Thornton, proposer and manager of the Confederate 

 Hawks, is requested to receive this piece of plate from George 

 Earl of Orford, together with the united thanks of the members 

 of the Falconers' Club, as a testimony of their esteem and 

 just sense of his assiduity, and of the unparalleled excellence to 

 which, in the course of nine years' management, he has brought 

 them, when, unable to attend them any longer, he made them 

 a present to the Earl of Orford. Barton Mills, 23rd June 

 1781." 



Then follow the names of the members on a scroll surrounding 

 the armorial bearings of the Earl of Orford. With a magnifying 

 glass these names may be easily read on the plate. 



