HISTORY OP HEREFORD CATTLE 



36r 



classes, viz., the mottle faced, the dark gre_y, the 

 light grey or white, and the red with white face, 

 yet, after the lapse of only thirty-eight years, 

 people question the purity of the breed, if they 

 have not the characteristics of the well-known 

 white face and markings. 



"Mr. Duckham says, 'the present uniformity 

 of the color is due to the influence of the bull,' 

 and this is a remarkable corroboration of my 

 views, expressed in a paper on 'Breeding, facts 

 and principles,' which I read at a meeting of the 

 Central Farmers' Club, some few years since, 

 when I propounded the dictum (which, by-the- 

 bye, was not new), 'that the male exercised the 

 external characteristics, and the internal organ- 

 ization followed the female,' in nearly every 

 class of animal. 



"Long before the commencement of the Herd 

 Book, the Herefords had made 'a reputation 

 and a name,' by being continually successful at 

 the Smithfield Club annual fat stock show, 

 from its establishment in 1799, by Mr. West- 

 car, of Creslow, near Aylesbury, Bucks, and 

 who for twenty years in succession won the 

 premium prize with Hereford oxen, against 

 all kinds of cattle. I had not an opportunity 

 of knowing Mr. Westcar, as he died before ray 

 day, but I had been for many years on intimate 

 terms with his relative and successor, Mr. R. 

 Rowland, who gave me many interesting stories 

 of Mr. Westcar, who was, undoubtedly, the first 

 man to bring the Herefords to the front against 

 all the world. I remember Mr. Rowland telling 

 me, whilst standing in the midst of the far- 

 famed Creslow Great Ground, and on a spot 

 marked by a clump of trees, where Mr. West- 

 car's lifeless body was found, he having fallen 

 dead from his horse, how the Duke of Bedford, 

 in the latter part of the last century, was down 

 with Mr. Westcar to Hereford in his carriage 

 and four post-horses, taking two days for the 

 journey, and stopping one night on the road at 

 the well-known country inn, the Staple Hall, at 

 Witney, and accompanied by Lord Berners, in 

 another carriage and four, with some ladies and 

 other members of their families, to attend the 

 great fair at Hereford, and where the Duke de- 

 sired Mr. Westcar to order dinner for a hun- 

 dred persons at the principal hotel, and to in- 

 vite all the more celebrated breeders and dealers 

 to meet him. He described the annoyance of 

 some of the dealers at the noblemen being 

 brought down to see these grand bullocks, which 

 they had only seen in the Creslow pastures, as it 

 had the effect of raising the price of the cattle 

 in the fair at least £1 ($5) per head. After 

 dinner his grace and Lord Berners announced 

 their desire, to have from ten to twenty of the 



best cows that could be found, and two liulls, to 

 bring into Bedfordshire, there to establish a 

 herd on their estates. Lord Berners, who was 

 a breeder of Longhorns, gave up the breed and 

 took to Herefords. This visit of the Duke of 

 Bedford, with the continued success of the 

 breed m the show yard at Smithfield, by Mr. 

 Westcar, brought them prominently into notice, 

 and fairly established their merits. 



"Sir Brandreth Gibbs, the honorary secretary 

 of the Smithfield Club, in his history of the 

 club, states that at their first show Mr. West- 

 car's prize ox measured 8 feet 11 inches long, 

 6 feet 7 inches high, 10 feet 4 inches girth, and 

 that he was sold for 100 guineas. This animal 

 was bred by Mr. Tully, of Huntington, and 

 weighed '247 stone (1,9^70 lbs.) dead weight, 8 

 pounds to the stone [making, according to the 

 English rule, the live weight 3,458 lbs.— T. L. 

 M.] Enormous as the dimensions of this ox 

 were, they were far exceeded by another Here- 

 ford, fed by Mr. Grace, of Putlowes, near Ayles- 

 bury, which was 7 feet high, 12 feet 4 inches 

 girth and weighed 260 stone (2,080 lbs.), dead 

 weight (or 3,640 lbs. live weight). Mr. Duck- 

 ham mentions that about the vears 1813 or 

 1813, Mr. Potter sold for Mr. Westcar at the 

 Metropolitan Christmas market, fifty Hereford 

 oxen that averaged 50 guineas ($250) each, 

 making 2,500 guineas ($12,500) ; and he men- 

 tions that Mr. Smythies, of Marlow, Salop, ob- 



PEERESS (V. 12. p. 152) 10902. 

 Bred by T. J. Carwardine. 



tained the following extract from Mr. Westcar's 

 book for the sale of twenty Hereford oxen at 

 different periods from 1799" to 1811, and which 

 I can corroborate, as the same was shown me by 

 Mr. Rowland, when visiting him at Creslow. 

 The list was confined to those which sold for 

 £100 ($500) and upwards: 



