rect type, and they secured fame by 

 their prepotency. The Duke of North- 

 umberland, however, had much fame in 

 the show ring. Mr. Bates did not exhibit 

 his cattle often, but he appeared on 

 various occasions with representatives of 

 his herd. In 1838, at the Yorkshire show, 

 the Duke won Jirst place in a class of 

 eight 2-year-olds. In 1839 at the firs 1 , 

 annual show of the Royal Agricultural 

 society, held at Oxford, he was first 

 in a class of seven. Referring to that 

 show, George Drewry, late herd man- 

 ager of the Duke of Devonshire, after 

 fifty years wrote: "The two things that 

 I remember best at Oxford were the 

 Duke of Northumberland and Duchess 

 43d. These, I still think, were the two 

 best Shorthorns I ever saw." 



An interesting incident occurred while 

 the Duke was being transported to Ox- 

 ford. He was shipped by steamer from 

 Middlesborough to London. The story 

 is told that in endeavoring to lead the 

 Duke on the gang plank from the steam- 

 er to the wharf, he slipped and fell 

 across the gangway, where he lay. Bates 

 rushed to him and began patting His 

 head, exclaiming: "Poor boy! poor boy!'' 

 There he remained until relieved, and 

 fortunately no harm was done. 



In 1839, referring to the Duke of 

 Northumberland, Bates wrote: "I can 

 state from measurements I took of the 

 celebrated Comet (155) that the Duke 

 was nearly double his weight both at 10 

 months and at 2 years old." 



In the summer of 1841 A. B. Allen of 

 New York made a visit of a week with 

 Mr. Bates at his home at Kirklevington. 

 In a most interesting series of letters on 

 this- visit (National Live Stock Journal, 

 1884), Mr. Allen gives special attention 

 to the Duke of Northumberland. He 

 made careful measurements of his body, 

 assisted by the herdsman, Tommy Myers. 

 He stood five feet high at the withers, 

 was eight feet four inches long from the 

 base of the horn level to the end of the 

 rump, at the joining on of the tail, "and 

 girthed eight feet behind his shoulders. 

 His weight was estimated at 2300 pounds. 



The general testimony of the critics is 

 that this bull was a magnificent speci- 

 men of the breed. Mr. Allen's reference 

 to him is worth quoting: "At the open- 

 ing of the door to the stall of the Duke 

 of Northumberland, he made a bound 

 outside, with the agility of a 

 deer, stood still and stared at 

 me a moment. and then com- 



16 



