92 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



contestable evidence of his supremacy as the most 

 prepotent and the most valuable sire of his period, 

 his greatest single legacy to the breed doubtless be- 

 ing the remarkable bull Sir Benjamin, of which 

 more anon. 



Tudge of Adforton. Imperishable renown at- 

 taches to the name of William Tudge of Adforton, 

 in the west of Herefordshire, as the breeder of the 

 far-famed bull Lord Wilton (4740), whose sons, 

 grandsons, daughters and granddaughters by the 

 score have graced so many great herds on both sides 

 the sea. Mr. Tudge was born in 1805 and com- 

 menced his herd on a farm near Knighton in 1832 by 

 buying heifers from Mr. Weyman of Stocktonbury, 

 another one of the many old-time cattle growers who 

 sought to impress the excellence of his stock upon 

 the public by challenging i l all England, ' ' offering to 

 show his bull Stockton (237) for 500, and again to 

 show a bull with twenty cows. "But," says Mr. Wil- 

 liam Tudge, the younger (late of Leinthall), whom 

 the author had the pleasure of visiting some years 

 ago, "no one accepted the challenge." As a matter 

 of fact these propositions were not often taken 

 seriously. Still they argued at least the confidence 

 of the owner in the superiority of his own stock. Mr. 

 Tudge was fortunate in one of his first stock bulls 

 Turpin (300), bred by J. Morris but bought at 100 

 guineas from Eyton, founder of the herd book. The 

 Turpin heifers were said to have been "very thick 

 and deep, with capital broad backs and very curly 

 glossy coats of a dark rich color." These are said 



