THE LINCOLN 637 



Mr. Charles Chaplin, a Lincoln breeder, who referred in uncom- 

 plimentary terms to his Leicesters, to a public contest : 



If you are still desirous of a public exhibition, please to say if you 

 would choose to send on the fifth of July next, to Lincoln or Leicester 

 (as there is a fair at both places on that day), two rams of the " true 

 Lincolnshire long staple," to each place, to be shown against the same 

 number of the Dishley sort (Leicester), weighed alive, killed, and an exact 

 amount given of the carcasses and offals, for the information of the public. 



Fig. 300. Dowsby 350 Guineas, champion Lincoln ram at the 1897 show of the 



Royal Agricultural Society of England. Bred by Henry Dudding; owned and 



exhibited by S. E. Dean & Sons, Dowsby Hall, Folkingham, England. From 



photograph by the author 



Mr. Chaplin refused to make the exhibition. During the past 

 century the Lincoln has undergone a steady improvement among 

 the breeders of Lincolnshire. In 1858 Robert Smith wrote ^ that 

 the leading ram breeders of the day were the Messrs. Clarkes, 

 Kirkham, Casswell, Richardson, Chaplin, Gilliott, Torr, Abraham, 

 Lynn, and others. The Dudding family of Riby Grove, Great 

 Grimsby, Lincolnshire, was especially famous and bred these sheep 

 for about one hundred and seventy-five years, the last member 

 of the family — Henry Dudding, the greatest of modern Lincoln 

 breeders- — -dispersing his flock in 191 3. 



The introduction of Lincoln sheep to America dates back over a 

 century. Prior to 1796 it is stated that some of the old Lincoins 



'^ Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Vol. XIX, p. 383. 

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