38 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



for information as to the breeding of the stock 

 at the time of the sale, and said: "Although 

 they were only culls I then sold, I assure you 

 there were only four of them but were well 

 bred; three out of the four you made choice of 

 namely, the yearling bull, the cow, and her 

 bull calf." Mr. Yarworth advised Mr. Hewer 

 to part with his stock descended from the old 

 brindled cow. He added: "When Mr. Bluck 

 asked how your bull was bred, you answered 

 that he was got by your old bull, which you 

 bought of old Tomkins, and that you had let 

 him that season to two gentlemen in Brecon- 

 shire for 100 guineas ($500), but I am sorry 

 you forgot it was the bull you bought at my 

 sale in 1814, then a calf. The two heifers you 

 sold at Tredegar your son said were out of the 

 two old cows you bought of old Tomkins. Now 

 in a letter I received from Miss Tomkins, of 

 the Pyon, dated the 12th inst., she assures me 

 that you never bought any stock of her, and 

 her sisters, or to her knowledge of her father." 



In reply to this attack on the character of 

 his stock, William Hewer wrote a long letter, 

 in the course of which he said: "Mr. Yar- 

 worth's bills of sale were headed thus: 'Par- 

 ticulars of the valuable Herefordshire cattle, the 

 property of Mr. Jas. Yarworth, of Troy Farm, 

 near Monmouth.' Mr. Yarworth, in reference 

 to my purchasing a bull calf at such sale, ob- 

 serves that it was a most strange and unac- 

 countable thing I did not inquire about the 

 breed, and whether I did so or not I cannot 

 charge my memory at this distance of time, but 

 it is a matter of no importance to me, as I had 

 stock far superior to any Mr. Yarworth pos- 

 sessed; and I added to them five cows and 

 heifers by a purchase I had made of Messrs. 

 Tully, of Huntington, previous to Mr. Yar- 

 worth's sale in Troy. And as to my old bull 

 being the calf I purchased at Troy sale, it is 

 sufficient, in contradiction, to state one fact, 

 viz., my old bull was calved at least a year be- 

 fore Mr. Yarworth's came into existence. I 

 deny having stated to Mr. Bluck that I ever 

 purchased any stock of Tomkins, though I can 

 prove I have descendants from some of Tom- 

 kins' prime cattle .... His (Mr. Yarworth's) ad- 

 vice to get rid of my stock descended from his 

 brindled cow comes too late by many years, as 

 I have none of them left." Mr. Hewer further 

 expressed the opinion that Mr. Yarworth's stock 

 sold at Troy were, as he himself had publicly 

 described them, pure-bred Herefords, and that 

 the story as to the brindled cow was an inven- 

 tion. 



So out of this very unfortunate squabble two 

 most important facts are gleaned that Wil- 



liam Hewer had at a very early period in his 

 career obtained five cows and heifers from 

 Tully, of Huntington, and that he had in his 

 herd descendants from "some of Tomkins' 

 prime cattle." That of course is not a full ex- 

 planation of the foundation of the Hewer stock, 

 but it shows some of its principal ingredients, 

 and clearly proves its descent in part, at least, 

 from the herds of Tomkins and Tully. It is 

 thus apparent, as had always been supposed, 

 although until the discovery of these docu- 

 ments we had no means of verifying the im- 

 pression, that the Hewer cattle were not a new 

 or mysterious element imported into the breed, 

 but mainly the result of a most skillful com- 

 pounding of the old strains. 



In the Herd Book there are six bulls en- 

 tered as having been bred by Mr. William 

 Hewer, as follows: 



Silver (540) 358 of whom all the information 

 given is, as we have said, that he was red with 

 white face, and calved in 1797^ Old Wellington 

 (507) 290 also red with white face, calved in 



DOWNTON CASTLE IN 1775, SEAT OP T. A. KNIGHT. 

 (From a water-color drawing.) 



1801, by Silver (540) 358, dam Primrose, bred 

 by William Hewer; Young Wellington (505) 

 294, red with white face, calved in 1812, by 

 Old Wellington (507) 290, dam Silky 362 by 

 Waxy (403) 356, grandam Silk 404 by Silver 

 (540) 358; Old Favorite (442) 292, calved in 

 1819, by Young Wellington (505) 294, da*n 



