48 



ers began to pay more attention to breeding. 



"After 1820, among the very best breeders 

 were Mr. Hayton, Mr. Smythies, Mr. J. Monk- 

 house (fl 39), and especially Mr. John Turner 

 (ff 40) of Noke Court, who not only bred but 

 managed his stock in a highly creditable man- 

 ner, and his three-year-old steers were always 

 greatly admired. I may also mention two gen- 

 tlemen who never pushed themselves into no- 

 tice, but who brought out some of the best 

 steers I ever saw, viz., Mr. Kichard Hill and Mr. 

 Trumper, of Orleton. Besides those before 

 named, there were many others possessing very 

 excellent herds, including Mr. Davis, Ladycott; 

 Mr. Davis, Oxhouse; Mr. Joseph Edwards, 

 Kingsland, and Mr. W. Wheeler, Irving Park. 



"At this time, 1825, several new stocks were 

 creeping into notice and eventually took a lead- 

 ing place, viz., Mr. T. Roberts (ff 41), of Iving- 

 tonbury; Mr. James Bowen, of Monkland; Mr. 

 Yeld, TJje Broome ; Mr. John Morris, Stockton- 

 bury; Mr. W. Bennett, Strettford; Mr. John 

 Thomas and Mr. Vaughan, Cholstrey; also Mr. 

 Wm. Parry, Mr. J. Williams, Kingsland; Mr. 

 Samuel Peploe, and others, (ff 42) 



"Few people at this time had better stock or 

 were better judges than the Eev. J. R. Smythies. 

 He began about the year 1820, and, regardless 

 of price, bought the best he could find. He 

 bought the remainder of Mr. William Galliers' 

 stock. After retiring from business, Mr. Gal- 

 liers took the Lynch House, and a portion of 

 the meadow land, and there took some of the 

 very best of his herd, all of which were pur- 

 chased by Mr. Smythies, among them the cele- 

 brated bull Cupid (198) 311 and the cows 

 Venus and Browny, which were equal to any- 

 thing ever bred in Herefordshire. Mr. Smyth- 

 ies also bought some of the finest of Mr. Yar- 

 worth's (of Brinsop) herd, among which were 

 Countess and Larkspur. He also bought about 

 the same time some of the very best of Mr. 

 Sheward's (of Little Dilwyn) herd, which cer- 

 tainly was on the whole equal to any other 



In addition to the aid afforded them by Mr. 

 Yeld's statement, Messrs. McDonald and Sin- 

 clair were enabled to estimate the position of 

 the leading herds during the first twenty years 

 of the nineteenth century by analyzing the prize 

 lists of the shows of the Herefordshire Agricul- 

 tural Society. These they compiled by the ad- 

 vertisements and reports contained in the Here- 

 ford Journal, the early records of the society 

 not having been discovered, if, indeed, they are 

 in existence. They found it necessary to qual- 

 ify the record by mentioning, that "of course 

 there were good herds whose owners did not ex- 



hibit/" 1 thus on only one occasion did Mr. Ben- 

 jamin Tomkins send an animal for competition 

 at the show. The list is, however, interesting 

 and valuable evidence as to the relative position 

 of the various herds. 



The completion of the records mentioned re- 

 late to the shows commencing 1798 and con- 

 cluding 1819, and from them it appears that 

 the largest number of first prizes for breeding 

 stock were won by Mr. Galliers, Frogdon, who, 



WOODSTOCK (24) 164, CALVED 1833, BRED BY J. PRICE. 



as previously stated, secured thirteen Messrs. 

 Jeffries of The Grove and The Sheriffs won 

 nineteen (nine falling to Mr. Jeffries, The 

 Grove, and five to Mr. Jeffries, The Sheriffs); 

 Mr. T. A. Knight followed with nine; Mr. Wat- 

 kins, Brinsop; Mr. Yarworth, Troy, and Brin- 

 sop, seven; Mr. Walker, Burton, six; Mr. Tench, 

 Bromfield, five; Mr. Walker, Wessington, five; 

 Mr. Samuel Tully, Huntington, four; Mr. 

 Moore, Wellington, four. Each of the follow- 

 ing gained three first prizes: Mr. Jos. Tully, 

 Bay wood; Col. Matthews, Mr. Yeoman, How- 

 ton, and Mr. R. Wainright, Hereford. Those 

 who gained two first prizes were Messrs. John 

 Apperley, of Withington; Mr. Skyrme, of Stret- 

 ton; Williams, of Thingehill; Rev. J. R, Smyth- 

 ies, of Lynch; Kedward, Westhydc; Williams, 

 Brinsop; Smith, Gattertop; Deykin, Brierly; 

 Weaver, Stretton; Hardwick, Wier; Jones, Faw- 

 ley; Cooke, Wintercott. The winners of single 

 first prizes were: Messrs. Croose of Sugwas, 

 Smith of Sufton, Powell of Titley, Downes of 

 Hinton, Glee of Downton, Downs of Ashford, 

 Tomkins of Wellington ; Croose, Ocle ; Da vies, 

 The Rodd; Welles, Earl's Croome; J. G. Cot- 

 terell; Barnet of Ledbury; Lowe, Gattertop; 

 Prichard, Eaton Mill; Edward, Dilwyn; Oakes, 

 Lenthall; Downes, Mansell; Green, Stoke; 

 Hughes, Marcle; Stevens, Cotmore; Hewer, 

 Abergavenny; Woolaston, Lynch; Salwey, Ash- 



