HISTOKY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



69 



writer to prepare the work, the Scotch editors 

 whose experience in preparing the history of 

 their favorites, the polled Aberdeen-Angus cat- 

 tle, qualified them for such work, took up the 

 matter. They had no trouble in securing many 

 cf the facts that, though easily accessible to 

 Youatt, were ignored by him, a portion of 

 which being so suitable to this work, will close 

 this chapter (j[ 51). 



Benjamin Tomkins, the younger, drove 20 of 

 his cows to Hereford on the day of the agricul- 

 tural show, and offered 100 guineas to anyone 

 who would show an equal number superior to 

 them, bat the challenge was not accepted. 



In 1810, Mr. Meek, of Lichfield, gave a chal- 

 lenge to show his Longhorn bull against any 

 Hereford for 100 guineas. His challenge was 

 accepted by Mr. J. W. Walker, Burton Court, 

 who sent his bull Crickneck (175) 305 to Lich- 

 field, but when he got there it appeared that 

 Mr. Meek had made himself acquainted with 

 the superiority of Mr. Walker's bull, and rather 

 than submit to defeat, allowed judgment to go 

 by default in favor of the Hereford. 



Mr. Haywood, of Blakemere, and Mr. Hill, 

 Felhampton Court, have portraits of the Here- 

 ford bull Prizefighter, bred by Mr. Sam- 

 uel Haywood, Clifton-on-Teme. The inscrip- 

 tion on the painting states that he was "shown 

 at Shifnal, 29th December, 1800, by Mr. Tench, 

 of Bromfield, against Mr. Knowles, of Nailston, 

 Leicester (whose nomination would doubtless 

 have been Longhorn), to decide a bet of 100 

 guineas; determined in favor of the Hereford- 

 shire by Mr. Pestcar, Somersetshire." 



Mr. Price, of Ryall, issued two challenges, 

 in 1812 he gave a challenge to be decided at 

 Lichfield Agricultural Meeting, to show 20 of 

 his cows in milk against 20 Longhorn cows for 

 100 guineas, which was accepted by Mr. Meek, 

 and was decided in Mr. Price's favor. In 1839 

 Mr. Price sent forth a public challenge tp show 

 20 cows and a bull of his own breeding against 

 the same number of any other person's breed- 

 ing, or any breed, open to all England, but no 

 one came forward to accept it. 



Mr. Weyman, of Stockton, challenged all 

 England with his bull Stockton (237) 167 for 

 500 guineas, which was accepted by one of the 

 Tomkins family, who, however, afterwards 

 withdrew, leaving Mr. Weyman the- victor. 



Mr. Turner, of Ayniestry, in 1803 offered to 

 show a six-year-old Herefordshire ox, of his 

 own breeding, against any breeder in the county 

 of Hereford, or any adjoining county, for 100 

 guineas, for "weight and least coarse meat." 



Mr. Walker, of Burton, was offered 60 

 guineas ($300) by Mr. T. Day, the exhibitor 



of the Durham ox, for a four-year-old work- 

 ing ox. 



In 1825, at the Smithfield Club, there was a 

 sweepstakes between three Herefords belonging 

 to the Duke of Bedford and three Durhams be- 

 longing to the Right Hon. Chas. Arbuthnot, 

 which was won by the Herefords. 



The preparation of an account of what the 

 Herefords have done in the show yards espe- 

 cially engaged the attention of Mr. William 

 Housman, whose intimate acquaintance with 



HOPE (439) 324, CALVED 1836, BRED BY T. JEFFRIES. 



the history of the breed is well known. In 

 order, however, to trace the progress of the 

 breed it is desirable to briefly refer here to some 

 of their early achievements at shows. The 

 Smithfield Club and the Agricultural Society 

 of Hereford Were founded about the same 

 time. The Smithfield Club was instituted 

 under the title of the Smithfield Cattle 

 and Sheep Society, at a meeting held in De- 

 cember, 1798, the name by which it is now so 

 widely and favorably known having been 

 adopted in 1802. The history of the club has 

 been written by the late Sir Brandreth T. 

 Gibbs. From this valuable little book we 

 learn many interesting details regarding the 

 position taken by the Herefords at the early 

 shows. 



At the first show, held in 1799, Mr. Westcar's 

 first prize bullock, a Hereford, sold for 100 

 guineas ($500), was 8 ft. 11 ins. long, 6 ft. 7 

 ins. high, and 10 ft. 4 ins. girth. In his Ciren- 

 cester lecture Mr. Duckham said that from the 

 dimensions given upon a colored print which 

 he then exhibited together with the names of 

 the feeder and purchaser, all corresponding 

 with the figures given by Sir Brandreth T. 

 Gibbs, he had no doubt it was intended to rep- 

 resent this prize animal of Mr. Westcar's. If 

 so, says Mr. Duckham, he was bred by Mr. 



