8 



INTRODUCTION 



"Pigeon" and "Mottle" on account of their ex- 

 traordinary tendency to become fat, qualities 

 most likely not manifest in his Silvers, which 

 we infer would be more of the large bony type, 

 suitable for draught purposes, like the majority 

 of the cattle were at that time. The rising 

 importance of our manufacturing and commer- 

 cial interests would be creating an increased 

 demand for butcher's meat. Young Tomkins 

 saw in this a new sphere of usefulness and 

 profit in cattle other than the yoke and pail. 

 He saw manifest in these two cows some of the 

 characteristics he desired to conserve and in- 

 tensify for this purpose. _ Fortunately, we know 

 under what conditions ' these cows fed so 

 rapidly. Artificial foods were not used in those 

 days, and the Alton Court pastures are by no 

 means feeding lands, yet their cows quickly 

 became fat on them, having most likely come 

 off the still poorer Welsh Hills; at any rate they 

 apparently fed much more rapidly than any 

 of the others under the same conditions. 



Tomkins was impressed with this, and con- 

 ceived the idea of raising up a race of cattle 

 that would readily fatten on inferior food. As 

 the grass at the Court House partook of the 

 same character, he for upwards of twenty years 

 carried out his works on inferior pastures. 



Although Richard Tomkins was but a small 

 yeoman farmer, the minute books of King's- 

 Pyon show that the family received a good 

 education at a time when many of the middle 

 classes could not read nor write, and the peas- 

 ants were wholly uneducated. 



All the sons appear to have been enterpris- 

 ing, as they soon became established on farms 

 in the neighborhood: Miles at the Hill in 

 1727, Richard at Wormsley Grange in 1734, 

 Benjamin at the Court House in 1742, George 

 at Wooton in 1746; John, known as "Butcher 

 Jack," as a butcher in Canon Pyon, afterwards 

 joining the army as a life guardsman. The 

 daughter married Oakley, a farmer in Canon 

 Pyon, and the youngest son, Thomas, remained 

 with his mother, subsequently going with her 

 to Calverhill Farm, in the parish of Norton 

 Canon. This shows that there were a whole 

 colony of the family farming in the neighbor- 

 hood when B. Tomkins, Sr., was at his work 

 of improvement, and we know that all these 

 men and their descendants acquired the Tom- 

 kins cattle. 



B. Tomkins, Sr., had only two sons who lived 

 to grow up, Thomas and Benjamin, born 1743 

 and 1745. He had one daughter, who married 

 Williams of Brinsop Court, brother of Williams 

 of Thinghill Court. Both these men won 

 prizes for cattle at the early Hereford shows. 



When B. Tomkins, Sr., increased his holding 

 by taking Wellington Court, in addition to the 

 Court House, in 1758, his two sons were fifteen 

 and thirteen years old, by which time he had 

 become comparatively well oft', chiefly by the 

 sale of his improved cattle that were then in 

 possession of all the farming members of the 

 family and many others throughout the coun- 

 try. His most intimate friend, William Gal- 

 liers of Wigmore Grange, had a fine herd 

 founded on the Tomkins breed, as it was al- 

 ready called. This was in the recollection of 

 members of the family still living when Sin- 

 clair wrote his history. From the foregoing 

 it will be seen that B. Tomkins, Sr., was not 

 only the first who systematically improved the 

 Herefords as beef producers, but was actually 

 the founder or originator of the improved 

 breed, and pioneer improver of cattle in these 

 islands on systematic lines. He worked for 

 nearly fifty years, 1742 to 1789, and his son 

 B. Tomkins, Jr., worked with him for more 

 than thirty of them, continuing for twenty- 

 five years after his father's death. 



Unlike Bakewell, he was a quiet, steady 

 worker, accumulating means rapidly, without 

 pushing himself for public notice. This char- 

 acteristic was even more pronounced in his 

 son, whose name seldom appeared, but when 

 challenging the boastings of contemporary 

 breeders, whom he never failed to silence. 

 This, in some measure, accounts for the great 

 value of their work not being publicly recog- 

 nized until years after, when the glamour of 

 the famous sale at the Brook House in 1819 

 drew universal attention to the younger man's 

 work, quite obliterating the elder, by merging 

 his life into that ( of the more conspicuous 

 figure of his son. In the meantime their im- 

 proved cattle had been quietly absorbed and 

 helped to build up without exception all the 

 famous old herds that it has been possible to 

 trace back to their foundation. 



Soon after going to live at Wellington Court 

 in 1758 B. Tomkins, Sr., relinquished the 

 Court House to his eldest son, Thomas. The 

 younger son, Benjamin, appears to have re- 

 mained with his father until on his contem- 

 plated marriage with his first cousin he took 

 the Blackball' farm, King's Pyon, 1769. 



Writers have been uncertain as to the exact 

 date when B. Tomkins, Jr., began business at 

 the Blackball. The parish books of King's- 

 Pyon show this date, as the last signa- 

 ture of his predecessor appears in 1768 and 

 B. Tomkins, Jr.'s, first signature in 1769. B. 

 Tomkins, Jr., undoubtedly had his select breed- 

 ing cattle from his father's herd at Wellington 



