Robert Bakewell. 3 
of participation in the management of the farm, to take it into 
his own hands alone. 
From his father Bakewell had an excellent training for 
practical and experimental farming, besides many of those special 
mental qualities, possibly inherited either immediately from 
him or through him, which were manifested in his advance 
beyond the traditional notions and practice of the old English 
farmer. “ His father,” says the writer of the obituary notice 
in the Gentleman's Magazine , “ had always the reputation of 
being one of the most ingenious and able farmers of his neigh- 
bourhood.” According to Arthur Young, who inspected 
the operations at Dishley on two occasions, with the space of 
Dishley Grange, as it appeared in 1790. 
fifteen years between, the irrigation, which was one of the most 
prominent features of the Dishley husbandry, had been begun 
by Bakewell’s father. 
In Necrology ,‘ memoirs of eminent men who died between 
1 75Gand 1798, edited by John Lawrence, Bakewell is described as 
tall, broad in the chest and shoulders, with a benevolent counte- 
nance combining intelligence and sagacity. “ His manners had 
a rustic yet polite and pleasing frankness. He spoke neatly 
in few words, always to the purpose, and had a store of anec- 
dotes and stories.” In politics he does not appear to have 
allied himself decisively with any party, or to have classed 
himself under any name ; but the same writer tells us that “ he 
1 Necrology. London, 1805. Article on Bakewell by “Benda.” John 
Lawrence, in his General Treatise on Cattle, says : “ I formerly gave the best 
sketch in my power of the life and character of Bakewell in a volume entitled 
Necrology .” 
