114 ^ CATTLE. 



of Durham, and breeder of short-horns, had an examination made of 

 the records of the various ports in his vicinity, viz., New-Castle, 

 Sunderland, and Stockton, and found that no cattle from 1666 to 

 1821 had ever been imported at any time into Stockton, and into 

 New-Castle and Sunderland, only during the period of permission 

 from 1801 to 1814. In his history and pedigrees of his own short- 

 horns, he states these examinations, and denying an importation of 

 Dutch cattle, by Dobison, says : " I should like to know when Mi- 

 chael Dobison of the Isle took his trip to Holland, to select bulls to 

 improve the breed ? Nay, I will not be very particular, only let me 

 know in what k'mg^s reign it was, and I shall be satisfied. Thus it 

 appears that all that has been written about these importations of 

 Dutch animals is not to be depended on." Mr. J. Hutchinson, and 

 his brother, were contemporaneous with the Collings ; and their 

 uncle, who died in 1789, and whose stock they inherited, was con- 

 temporaneous with Dobison. 



In addition to this, the late Mr. Thomas Bates, of Kirkleavington, 

 Eng., was informed by Mr. Christopher Hill, collector of the port of 

 Sunderland, that he had made an examination by correspondence 

 with the various collectors of the ports on the eastern coast of Eng- 

 land, from Berwick in Scotland, to London, and that the records of 

 the customs in those ports furnished no proof of the importation of 

 any cattle from 1666 to 1*796. Mr. Christopher Hill was the last of 

 the family of that name, distinguished as breeders of short-horns at 

 Blackwell. He parted with his stock entirely in 1790, and was in 

 1794 appointed collector of the port of Sunderland. 



With all this evidence, who for a moment can believe in the im- 

 portation, some time in the last century, of Dutch cattle to the county 

 of Durham, and their being used to improve the short-horns. The 

 Mr. Milbank of 1740, of Barningham, first mentioned by Mr. Bailey, 

 was prior in point of time to Mr. Dobison, and there is no pretence 

 that any Dutch cattle were imported until Dobison 's time. Sir Wil- 

 liam St. Quintin was breeding about 1760 to 1780, subsequently to 

 Mr. Dobison, and died in 1795. Of course Mr. Milbank could have 

 had no Dutch blood in his cattle ; and Mr. Baily expressly mentions 

 him, and Mr. Croft of Barford, as among those " intelligent breeders 

 that steered clear of this evil, [the Dutch blood,] and from them the 

 pure Teeswater breed has descended to the jircsent time." The 

 other breeders of that period who were noted with Wilbank and 

 Croft, were Mr. Brown and Mr. Appleby, of Aldborough, Mr. Best, 

 and Mr. Watson of Mansfield; Mr. Waistel, of Great Burdon ; Mr. 

 Stephenson, of Ketton ; Mr. Harrison, of Barmpton ; Mr. John Hall, 

 of Haughton Hill ; Mr. Sharter of Chilton; Mr. Pickering, of Fox- 

 ton ; and Mr. Bamlet, of Norton. These are named particularly, as 

 from the herds of every one of them, Charles and Robert Colling 

 derived animals, either directly, or from intermediate breeders. 



