54 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLH 



By the year 1800 the Tomkins herd had acquired 

 more than local fame, and shortly after that date 

 John Price of Worcestershire, who afterwards be- 

 came so famous as a breeder and partisan of the 

 Tomkins stock, made his first purchases. Not many 

 of the bulls used could be placed on record when 

 .the work of gathering data for the first volume -of 

 the herd book was in progress. The necessary par- 

 ticulars could not be obtained. The Silver Bull has 

 already been referred to. Another of the known 

 successes on the herd was Wellington, dark red with 

 a mottled face and bosom, calved 1808 and said to 

 have been the best stock-getter ever used in the 

 herd. He was bought and used afterwards by John 

 Price, and sold at his sale in 1816 when eight years 

 old for 283/lOs. Another of the few bulls of which 

 there is record was Sam (144), whose son Ben (96) 

 was also retained for service. There is also record 

 of Wild Bull (145), said to have been by Silver Bull ; 

 Phoenix (55), another brockle-f ace ; Proctor's Bull 

 (316), out of "a favorite cow" Old Pink; Voltaire 

 (39), a white-face; and Wizard (59), a mottle-faced 

 son of Ben (96), sold for 300 guineas. These com- 

 prise about all that is now known of the Tomkins 

 bulls. 



Mr. Tomkins was a man of mark, a "county mag- 

 nate," descended from one of the oldest and most re- 

 spected "county families." In rural England this 

 has a deep significance especially in the social 

 scheme. He easily became a loader in affairs agri- 

 cultural, not because of the fact jist stated, but by 



