THE SHROPSHIRE 555 



Marlow, Horton of Shrewsbury, Farmer of Bridgnorth, Thomas 

 Mansell, Thomas Harley, J. & E. Crane, and John Stubbs. 



Shropshires were first exhibited at the Royal Show in England 

 in 1853 in a special class for short- wooled sheep, and in 1859 

 were given a class as a separate breed. Within a few years it was 

 the most prominent breed shown, 875 head being exhibited at the 

 Shrewsbury Royal in 1884 compared with 420 representing all 

 other breeds. At the Royal Show in 19 14, held at Shrewsbury, 

 which was attended by the author, the total entries of sheep of 



Fig. 254. Second-prize pen of Shropshire yearling rams at the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England Show, 1904. Bred and exhibited by Sir R. P. Cooper, 

 Bart., Shenstone, England. From photograph, by courtesy of William Cooper 

 & Nephews, Berkhamsted, England 



all breeds were 886, of which the Shropshire numbered 145, the 

 second in numbers being the Romney Marsh with 84 head, and 

 the third the Southdown with T6 head. 



The introduction of the Shropshire to America was necessarily 

 comparatively recent. Shaw and Heller state that they were intro- 

 duced to Virginia as early as 1855, but the records do not state 

 by whom. In i860 Samuel Sutton of Relay House, Maryland, 

 imported a ram and twenty ewes, which the American Farmer 

 for August, 1 86 1, reports were the first of the breed to be im- 

 ported to America. According to Randall ^ two Shropshires were 

 imported by N. L. Chaffee of Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio, 

 in 1 86 1 — a ram, Lion, and a ewe, Nancy, both bred by Lord 

 Berwick of Shrewsbury. About 1861 A. B. Conger of Haver- 

 straw, New York, had a flock, and in 1 864 he sold the first of the 



1 Henry S, Randall, The Practical Shepherd (1863), p. 64. 

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