604 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



Duchesses of Gloster. This sort, like the 

 Victorian, owed its excellence at Sittyton to 

 the skill and judgment of Amos Cruickshank. 

 Although, like the Victorias, they were de- 

 scended originally from a very celebrated Eng- 

 lish cow; yet the female that brought the 

 blood of Magdalena, by Comet the only cow 

 that Charles Colling reserved at the time of 

 the Ketton dispersion to the Cruickshank 

 herd was not herself an animal of special su- 

 periority. The blood was acquired by purchase 

 of a cow called Chance, by Duke of Gloster 

 (11382), bred by Earl Ducie and bought in 1855 

 from a Mr. Robinson of Burton-on-Trent, who 

 had obtained her from Tortworth. She is said 

 to have been somewhat wanting in constitu- 

 tion and her first heifers produced only two 

 or three calves each. Her descendants were 

 named Duchesses of Gloster, and the first good 

 one of the line is said to have been the 7th 

 Duchess, sired by Lord Raglan. She had five 

 calves by Champion of England that measured 

 well up to Mr. Cruickshank's standard. In 

 fact, the Lord Raglan Duchesses of Glosters 

 seemed to "nick" particularly well with the 

 Champion. It was this blending of blood that 

 produced the very handsome and thoroughly 

 satisfactory breeding bull Grand Duke of Glos- 

 ter (26288). This bull perhaps resembled 

 Champion of England more than any other of 



