FAMOUS HERDS AND PROMINENT BREEDERS 129 



Mersons at Brinsworthy ; W. M, Gibbs of Longlands, near 

 Taunton, and his brother, George Gibbs, who held the adjoin- 

 ing Portman Farm, and whose herds were in the front rank 

 from 1850-80 ; Walter Farthing of Stowey Court, near Bridg- 

 water, who succeeded to his uncle's herd of seventy years' 

 standing, and took many prizes for cattle bred from pure 

 North Devon bulls on large-framed Somerset- Devon cows; 

 Viscount Falmouth of Tregothnan, Truro, who had a herd 

 of seventy-six animals, sold off in 1890 at an average of 

 61, 2s. 6d. ; Bodley of Stockley Pomeroy, Crediton, who 

 kept a pedigree record of his herd years before John 

 Tanner Davy, himself a successful breeder, started the 

 Herd Book ; William Umber of Wappenbury, Warwickshire, 

 who began in 1810, and was the first of a family of noted 

 Devon breeders ; John Tapp of Twitchen, Devon, who owned 

 one of the oldest and best herds, although unknown in the 

 show-ring ; John Joyce of Allercott Farm, Timberscomb, 

 Somerset, who, by the judicious use of North Devon bulls, 

 bred a herd of Somerset-Devons that " showed in an extra- 

 ordinary degree the size and substance of the Somerset with 

 the symmetry and quality of the North Devon" the herd of 

 forty head averaging 38, os. 6d. at the sale in September 

 1875 ; the Webber family, of Halberton Court, who fortified 

 their herd by the purchase of " Hundred Guinea " (56), and 

 many other good sires, and took many prizes ; W. H. 

 Punchard, of Bourton Hall, Totnes, Devon, who blended the 

 style and quality of the North Devon with the great size and 

 heavy flesh of the Somerset-Devon one of the Myrtle tribe 

 from the Pound herd, while in his possession, being declared 

 the second best dairy cow at the London Dairy Show in 

 competition with all breeds ; the Cecil Smiths, father and son, 

 of Lydeard House, Taunton, who gained many prizes, includ- 

 ing one at the Paris Exhibition, with superior animals bred 

 from the most fashionable strains of Devon blood ; John 

 Walter (proprietor of The Times), of Bearwood, Berks, who 

 on several occasions gained premier positions at Smithfield, 

 and in 1879 at the International Show at Kilburn ; the Earl 

 of Dartmouth, who had a herd at Patshull, Wolverhampton ; 

 and Edward Pope of Great Toller, Dorset, who inherited a 

 herd which had been maintained in the family for at least 

 three previous generations, and which carried off many prizes 

 at the Royal, Bath and West, and Smithfield Shows. 



The most prominent breeders of North Devon cattle 

 since the beginning of the twentieth century have been : 



H.M. King Edward VII., at the Royal Farms, Windsor; 

 Wm. Brent, Clampit, Callington, Cornwall ; B. J. Bucknell, 



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