70 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



exhibited by Mr. Thos. Jeffries of The Grove. The 

 old portrait of this bull shows that he was a fine 

 specimen of the immense Hereford bull of the color 

 and type which Mr. Jeffries was very particular in 

 maintaining. Cotmore was a son of John Hewer's 

 Sovereign (404), his dam also by a Hewer bull Lot- 

 tery (410). He was remarkably big and level, and 

 it is officially recorded that he weighed as an aged 

 bull 35 cwt. or 3920 Ibs., probably estimated. This 

 has been claimed as the record weight for all Brit- 

 ish-bred bulls. 



The Jeffries were at this time generally acknowl- 

 edged as reliable and leading Hereford breeders, and 

 Thos. Jeffries was most highly esteemed up to the 

 time of his death in 1844. The farm of The Grove 

 in his time and in that of his successor Benjamin 

 Eogers was the birth-place of many of the best Eng- 

 lish Herefords. The house is an old-fashioned one 

 standing quite by itself ; the road leading up to it is 

 through a bye-lane first, and then through fields that 

 must be good and strong by the way The Grove 

 Herefords were always brought out. 



Another extraordinary animal bred by Thomas 

 Jeffries was the cow Governess, owned by J. B. 

 Green of Marlow. She is said to have lived to be 33 

 years old and produced the twin bulls Zeal and Zeal- 

 ous but a few years prior to her death. 



Although John Hewer and Thomas Jeffries are 

 generally credited with being largely instrumental 

 in turning the tide of battle on color markings from 



