Sir Nigel Kingscote. 
13 
point of seeing his tenants and having a chat with them at 
least twice in the year. 
He was extremely fond of his stud, herd and flock, and 
assisted in their management and breeding with his varied and 
practical knowledge. In an interesting and useful paper 
which he contributed to this Journal in 1902 1 on “The Value 
of Pedigree,” he spoke of himself as having then for thirty 
years bred “pure” Suffolk horses, “pure” Shorthorn cattle, 
“pure ” Southdown sheep, and “pure” Berkshire pigs. In all this 
he was only following in his father’s footsteps. Shortly after Mr. 
Thomas. Kingscote came into possession of the property, in 1840, 
he laid the foundation of the herd of cattle of which his son 
was so justly proud, and which, as many will hear with regret, 
is now to be dispersed under the hammer next April. 
It is unusual to find the clean-limbed Suffolk horses in the 
West Country, but they were and are bred not only at 
Kingscote but also at Buckland, the family seat of the 
Throckmortons near Faringdon. At Kingscote the Suffolks 
did all the work of the home farm and estate. Sir Nigel 
always went to East Anglia when he required a fresh sire, and 
occasionally bought a mare or two to introduce fresh blood. 
He liked best a short-legged compact animal that could move 
sharply in its walk, and objected to a horse that had too much 
top for its bone. When he lived at Kingscote he put a Suffolk 
mare to a thoroughbred stallion, and was success tul in breeding 
good hunters from this cross. He personally rode these 
animals to hounds as four-year-olds, and they made high prices 
when sold at the end of the season, two of this mare’s produce 
realising 175 and 155 guineas respectively. 
The herd of Shorthorn cattle at Kingscote dates back to 
about 1845, and was one of the earliest as well as one of the 
most famous in the West Country. In founding it Mr. Thomas 
Kingscote had the highly competent advice of his friend the 
second Earl of Ducie, the owner of the famous Tortworth herd. 
The earliest sires at Kingscote were from Tortworth (Fourth 
Duke of York, Duke of Gloucester, &c.), and others came from 
the well-known Wetherby herd in Yorkshire, A succession 
of high-class Bates “ Duchess ” sires rendered the herd full of 
the fashionable blood of the day. 
About ten years after he had succeeded to the property, Sir 
Nigel took the bold course, under the advice of the late John 
Thornton, of importing from Canada a young bull, “ Duke 
of Hillhurst,” from the Hon. M. H. Cochrane, a collector of 
high-class Bates families. The price given for “ Duke of 
Hillhurst ” was a high one : so much so that he was wittily 
called at the time the “ golden calf.” But as Sir Nigel admitted 
1 K.A.S.E. Journal, Vol. for 1902, pp. 31-48. 
