Mr. Thornhill, on whose death through accident the following verses were written, was son of Bache Thornhill, Esq., of Stanton in the Peak. He was a man of refined tastes, fond of antiquarian pursuits, and was highly esteemed in the county of Derby. He was M.A. of St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was a fellow-student with Sir Robert Peel, with whom to the period of his untimely death he kept up an intimate friendship. On the 13th of December, 1827, Mr. Thornhill was accidentally shot by the discharge of the fowling-piece of a friend. He lingered until the 27th, when he died, at the age of forty-two. He was buried at Youlgreave, the coffin bearing the inscription—"Rev. Bache Thornhill, Vicar of Winster, and Vice-Vicar of Ashford and Longstone, died the 27th day of December, 1827; aged forty-two."
The writer of these verses was John Brimlow, of Winster. Brimlow had been a soldier in Colonel Thornhill's regiment, under which gallant officer he served in Egypt. He afterwards suffered from opthalmia, became blind, and got a precarious livelihood by rambling about the country with a basket, gathering "rags and bones." The verses are here reprinted from a broad-sheet.
As I sat musing by the fire
I heard some people say
A dreadful accident has befel
A worthy man this day.
Then I got up, went out of door
For to see, and likewise hear,
On every tongue enquiry sat,
And, in many an eye, a tear,
Saying our worthy Pastor he has fall'n,
Oh! how hard has been his lot,
By accident a gun went off,
And this good man was shot.
The rich, the poor, in groups they meet,
Their sorrow for to express,
Saying if fifty come there will be none like Bache
To those that are in distress.
For he was a friend to every one,
To all alike was kind,
He was the same to rich and poor,
Likewise sick, lame, or blind.
Oh! cruel Fate, what have we done,
That this good man should fall,
But the die was cast, and the thing is past,
And there must be an end to all.
But, hark! a messenger has just arrived,
Glad tidings doth he bring,
This good man he is still alive,
Oh! let us praise the King of kings.
Rejoice, my friends, he better gets,
For the Lord has heard our prayer,
And He has promised when a few does meet
That He always will be there.