EARLY HERDS 105 



of the Shorthorn ; for example (in 1720), Sir Thomas Gresley 

 of Drakelow House, near Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, 

 who " took such delight in keeping a dairy of cows similar in 

 colour and shape " ; Welby, a blacksmith in Linton, who 

 imitated Sir Thomas ; Webster of Canley, near Coventry, in 

 Warwickshire, who bred the first famous historical sire, 

 " Bloxidge " ; and Sir William Gordon of Garrington, nea 

 Loughborough. It is on record that it was from a cow 

 bought from Gordon that Bakewell bred " Twopenny," the first 

 of his famous stud bulls, about five years after the purchase 

 of Webster's two heifers. " Twopenny " was hired to 

 Fowler of Little Rollright, Chipping Norton, to mate with 

 choice cows also from Webster's herd. 



Of many breeders that followed Bakewell's example, 

 Robert Fowler of Little Rollright, in Oxfordshire, was the 

 most prominent. From animals of Bakewell's blood he 

 produced " Shakspeare," a bull which occupied a position 

 among Longhorns similar to "Favourite" and "Comet" 

 among Shorthorns. He was by the famous Bull " D " out of 

 a daughter of "Twopenny." At Fowler's sale in 1791, 51 

 animals, including calves and some old cows past breeding, 

 averaged 85, 2s. 3d. The highest priced two-year-old bull, 

 "Sultan," realised 210 guineas, and the highest priced cow, 

 " Brindled Beauty," 260 guineas. The Rollright catalogue 

 revealed in-and-in breeding to a dangerous extent. Bakewell's 

 herd was valued to his nephew at from 20 to 70 guineas each. 



Bakewell said that George Chapman of Upton had the 

 best herd of Longhorns of about seven famous herds bred 

 on Bakewell's plan. Of the owners of these the following 

 lived within an hour's ride on horseback, viz., Ashley, Bake- 

 well, Paget Knowles, Chapman, Stone, Wilkes, Taverner, 

 and Green. Among the ten founders of the Smithfield Club 

 in 1798 Ashley and Wilkes were numbered, and Wilkes pro- 

 posed the formation of the Club. 



" The Longhorn breed, . . . before the artificial improve- 

 ments, . . . varied in size with the fertility of the districts to 

 which it became indigenous, being larger in the richer plains 

 and smaller in the mountains. The prevailing colour . . . 

 was black and brown, and they had more or less of white on 

 the body, a (white) streak always extending along the spine. 



