19 
years the most coveted distinction was the Club’s Gold 
Medal, which was given up to 1842 to the breeder of the 
best animal in any of the Classes, and after that date to the 
feeder, and it may also be noticed that up to the year 1845, 
oxen, steers, cows, and heifers, competed together, but 
afterwards two separate Gold Medals were offered, viz. one 
for oxen and steers, and another for cows and heifers. In 
1869, however, the Club determined to offer a Champion 
Plate, value £100, for the best beast in the show, and this 
may now be considered the “ blue ribbon” of the Annual 
Meeting. It would be difficult to describe adequately the 
keen interest which this contest draws forth, or the 
anxious solicitude with which the many hundreds present 
follow the movements of the judges, and await their 
decision. In the same year, 1869, it was also resolved 
to offer a Champion Plate, value £50, for the best pen of 
sheep in the yard. 
The tables following this history supply the list of 
victors, but it may here be noticed, as the public have 
noticed with enthusiasm, that Her Majesty the Queen has 
more frequently than any other, won the eee of 
the Show. She has taken it no less than times. Her 
Majesty was not the first exhibitor or prize taker among 
Royal Personages. King George III. was an exhibitor in 
1800, and the Duke of York gained a prize in 1806, while the 
success of Their Royal Highnesses the Prince Consort, the 
Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York, as exhibitors, is 
well known. But no exhibitor’s success has been more 
phenomenal or more popularly greeted than the Queen’s. 
Even after Her Majesty insisted upon the rule that all 
animals shewn from the Royal herds must be bred there, 
the Queen’s success has been most remarkable. 
The very large amount given in prizes by the Club has 
often occasioned surprise, considering the number of 
members, but it should be noted that, in addition to 
members’ subscriptions, the revenue of the Club is augmented 
by the sum received from the Hall Company, which has 
been increased since 1875 to what practically amounts to 
1,355 annually, by fees from exhibitors of live stock, and 
chiefly by the fees paid for standing space by the exhibitors 
of implements. - 
It might also be stated as a smaller matter, that with a 
view to stimulating the interest of the servant in the success 
of his master, it was decided, in 1864, to give a framed 
