Barnoldby le Beck Obelisk
Obelisk to Will Smith, Yarborough Huntsman
In 1845 Will Smith died after falling from his horse and breaking his neck in Barnoldby-le-Beck during a hunt. He was taken to the nearby home of Richard Nainby (Pelham House) where he later died on Wednesday 15th April.
He was remembered as one of the best huntsman who ever blew a horn or cheered a hound. He was 14 years old when he was a whipper in for his father Tom Smith, who made hounds his special study. Will was born in Brocklesby in 1789.
In 1860 a meeting chaired by Mr Nainby and overseen by William Heaford Daubney at the Yarborough Hotel, Grimsby, discussed the erection of a monument. It was to be constructed from granite and sculpted by Mr Maughan. Costing £100 (£10,381.41 in today’s money) the obelisk was erected by Nainby in 1861 at the site where Smith fell – the monument was later moved near to the church.
Will was 56 years old when he died and had been with them a quarter of a century. The meet was at Irby Dales on 11 April and it was the last hunting day of season. They were hunting a cold line from Bradley Woods up towards Barnoldby church. The fields were surrounded by high hedges and small enclosures.
He was following his favourite hound, when it took off along the side of a hedge. Will holloas his final cheer ‘Yoich Ranter boy!’
A small hedge let him into a garden, and the horse blundered at the next fence (a brook) sending the huntsman, who had never taken his eye off the hound, over its head. It was said the horse jumped further than he expected and alighted on his knees causing Will to fall on the pommel of the saddle by which he was stunned, and then as the horse got up, Will was thrown over its head turning a complete somersault and falling on his head.
He was described as black in the face. It was found he had a dislocation of his vertebrae, which caused paralysis. He was compus mentis a lot of the time and on being taken to the house immediately asked after his hounds.
He lingered for five days in Nainby’s house before succumbing. His wife Sarah and a son were in attendance. His body was returned to Brocklesby where he is buried in the churchyard.
The below lines were penned by Sir Charles Anderson Bart and engraved on the obelisk which was erected over the exact spot where Smith fell. It’s a beautiful verse which conveys the sentiment felt by his Lordship and how highly esteemed he was by the Field.
“The Huntsman skilled, of two of Yarboro’s Lords – honest and true, of temper well approved,
By Master honoured and Field beloved:
No need to paint that well known form and face,
Which stampt on memory, find a welcome place
In the warm hearts that knew him – they recall,
By covert side, in cottage, farm and Hall
(Where friend meets friend beside the yule-log’s glow,
And kindly feelings swell and overflow),
Thise happy days when on the breeze were borne
‘Will’s tuneful hollow and his echoing horn,
Cheering his gallant pack, so stout and bold,
A perfect horseman, as o’re crossed the Wold!
And as the vision fades, too bright to last,
They sigh to think those days are now the past.
No need of aught, for such as know him beat,
To keep in mind their valued friend at rest –
But for posterity this stone shall tell
The fatal spot where, midst his friends, he fell,
And bid them ponder, both in faith and fear,
How frail the tenure of man’s sojourn here!
