OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 289 
KNIGHT OF THE GOLDEN DAYS 
113. Most delightfully reminiscent of all the makers of 
bovine history who were wont to gather at the old Drake-Parker 
hostelry in the days of the Lake Front Show, was RicHarp Grs- 
SON, whom Mr. Sanpers has fitly termed a “Knight of the 
Golden Days.” Mr. Gipson possessed the essence of all those 
qualities that have made the Anglo-Saxon foremost as breed 
builders and inherent animal fanciers. He had an exceptional 
appreciation of the products of the breeder’s art, and he loved 
with every fibre of his being, any choice representative of 
blooded race. “Like ‘Jorrocks’ of old he was a devout believer 
in the efficacy of ‘a bit o’ blood’ whether it be in a ’orse, a ‘ound, 
or a woman.” He was an ardent admirer of rural English 
sport, the course, the chase, the coach and the cock-pit. He 
teemed with the sentiment that exalts rural beauty, and treasured 
its shades and odors. Shortly after coming to America he 
requested and received acorns from one of the royal domains 
of Britain, and having successfully grown them into seedlings, 
he presented some to the city of London, Ontario, for plant- 
ing in Victoria Park in commemoration of the coronation of 
Kinc GEORGE. 
RicHarp Gigson was born February 20, 1840, almost within 
the shadows of Belvoir castle walls. He was the eldest of eight 
sons in a family of fourteen. In early life his father removed 
from Leicestershire to Derbyshire. He was educated in the 
grammar schools of Derby and Lincoln, and received his first 
business training in the office of a Lincoln grain merchant. Fol- 
lowing this, he returned to his father’s farm, Swarkeston, and 
for four years worked patiently to learn the details of the farm- 
ing and livestock operations upon an estate of approximately 
600 acres. Here he managed to win several prizes for excep- 
tional work in plowing and cultivation. When twenty-one he 
and his brother Joun, (of Lincoln sheep fame in Canada), 
