HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



Mr. J. L. Hewer says, in reference to the char- 

 acter of his father's and grandfather's cattle, 

 that he believes that they were principally red, 

 with white faces, and from what he has heard 

 his father say, they must have been in posses- 

 sion of the family for some generations, as sev- 

 eral of their relatives in Gloucestershire had 

 the red with white faces before the nineteenth 

 century came in. He has also heard Mr. John 

 Hewer say that his father traced his best cattle 

 back to the bull, called Silver (540) 358, calved 





HEREFORD OX AT SEVEN YEARS. CHAMPION AT 

 SMITHFIELD, 1799; BRED BY MR. TULLY. 



in 1797, which impressed them with the red 

 with white face character, and also with that 

 massive, heavy flesh and full eye which distin- 

 guished all his late father's stock. 



It is of course not improbable that the Hewer 

 family in Gloucestershire had, during the last 

 century, obtained from the best breeders in the 

 county of Hereford some good specimens of the 

 breed, of the old red with white face variety. 

 Mr. Marshall has told us that the Gloucester- 

 shire graziers got their oxen from Hereford- 

 shire, and it is not likely that the transfer of 

 cattle from the latter county would be con- 

 fined to oxen. The Gloucestershire farmers 

 would doubtless have secured a few of the cows 

 that produced such excellent bullocks, and it 

 may be assumed the Hewers were among those 

 who did, so. Besides, it is evident that the 

 Herefords had penetrated, by the time of Will- 

 iam Hewer's settlement there, into the county 

 of Monmouth. There is nothing very definite 

 in these theories as to the origin of the Hewer 

 herds and hope of being able to discover a 

 more precise explanation had almost been 

 abandoned, when aid was received from an un- 

 expected quarter. Going through the notes on 

 herds contained in the appendix to the first 

 volume of the Herd Book we came across a 

 statement in the notice of the stock of Mr. Yar- 

 worth, New House, Brinsop, to the effect that 



in 1814 he sold to Mr. Hewer a bull calf by 

 Trojan (192) 378, while at his sale at New 

 House in 1820, the one-year-old bull Alpha, by 

 Trojan, dam Red Rose, was purchased by Mr. 

 Hewer, Northleach. The bull calf sold in 1814 

 went to Mr. W. Hewer, Great Hardwick, but 

 that transaction having occurred a good many 

 years after he had removed to Monmouthshire, 

 the fact did not help to an explanation as to the 

 original foundation of William Hewer's herd. 

 But connected with this sale of a bull in 1814 

 is an incident that brought some welcome guid- 

 ance, (fl 34.) 



In the year 1821 there was a furious newspa- 

 percontroversy between Mr. William Hewer and 

 Mr. Yarworth. It is a matter of regret to have 

 to refer to this unfortunate affair, but it is 

 desirable to explain the origin of the misunder- 

 standing. It appears that Mr. Yarworth, be- 

 fore going to Brinsop, occupied the farm of 

 Troy, near Monmouth. On leaving this farm 

 in 1814 he had a sale described as of valuable 

 Herefordshire cattle. William Hewer attended 

 the sale and purchased stock to the amount of 

 145 ($725.00). In 1821 Hewer and Yarworth, 

 probably as the result of show-yard rivalries, 

 quarreled, and Yarworth then wrote to the 

 Gloucester Journal (Feb. 4th, 1822) a letter ad- 

 dressed to Mr. W. Hewer, Llanlellen, near Aber- 

 gavenny, in which he referred to the cause of 

 the misunderstanding between them, and, as 

 was the custom in those days, challenged him 

 for 100 guineas ($500) to show 20, 15, or 10 of 

 his heifers above three years old, of his own 

 (Hewer's) breeding, and then in his own pos- 

 session, against the same number the property 

 of Mr. White, Upleadon, which were descended 

 from Yarworth's bull Trojan. Yarworth then 

 proceeded to write to William Hewer as follows: 

 "I beg to inform you for the first time how the 

 yearling bull, bull calf, etc., which you pur- 

 chased at my sale at Troy in the year 1814 were 

 bred, and from which bulls your stock since 

 that time is descended. The bull calf was got 

 by Trojan; his dam (which you bought) was 

 got by the late Mr. William Smith's old bull; 

 his grandam by a bull bought of Mr. Tully of 

 the Hay wood; his great-grandam by a bull 

 bought of Mr. Howells of Hadrock, near 

 Monmouth; his great-great-grandam by a 

 cross-bred bull of little value, out of 

 an old brindled Gloucestershire dairy cow, 

 which was purchased by my father (she being 

 an excellent milker) of my predecessor, Mr. 

 Dew of Troy Farm, in the year 1797 for 8. 

 The yearling bull was got by Trojan out of the 

 grandam of the bull calf." Mr. Yarworth ex- 

 pressed surprise that Mr. Hewer had not asked 



