Chillingham Wild White Cattle. 5 
his instigation that the late Earl of Tankerville carried out an 
interesting series of experiments by crossing specimens of his 
famous herd of wild white cattle with pure-bred Shorthorns, 
the object being to see what result would be produced by 
blending the blood of the wild cattle with that of the 
Shorthorn. 
Eventually two heifers, named respectively Wild Rose I. 
and Wild Blossom I., were produced, and these formed the 
foundations of two lines of families which have continued 
productive to the present day, the heifers of each succeeding 
generation having been mated with white Shorthorn bulls 
carefully selected from the Warlaby and other high-class herds. 
Some of the animals are now eligible for the Shorthorn Herd 
Book and are shapely and typical specimens of the breed. 
Several of them have won prizes in Shorthorn classes at local 
shows. One feature, however, which is worthy of notice is the 
fact that, although it has been proved quite possible to alter the 
general form and appearance of the wild animal, it is a much 
more difficult matter to breed out the wild temperament, and 
even now great care has to be exercised in the management of 
these cattle. The bull calves, as a rule, were steered and 
fattened, and showed great adaptability for laying on tiesh. 
One was exhibited at the Smithfield Fat Stock Show in 1888 
and gained R.N. & H.C., while another the following year 
won third prize in a large class. Both attracted great attention 
and were keenly competed for by butchers, who afterwards' 
bore testimony to the excellence of the beef produced. 1 
To turn once more to his connection with the Royal 
Agricultural Society, it was in 1875, on the retirement of 
Mr. (afterwards Sir) Brandreth Gibbs, that Mr. Wilson was 
elected to succeed him as Steward of General Arrangements, 
and he was subsequently appointed Honorary Director. Mr. 
Wilson was eminently qualified to fill this post, his powers 
of organisation and administration being unsurpassed, his tact 
and courtesy unbounded, while his strong personality and 
force of character gave him the art of inspiring his assistants 
with a measure of his own zeal, and so enabled him to bring 
to a successful issue many a task that would have seemed well 
nigh impossible to one of less sanguine temperament. He 
filled the office of Honorary Director with conspicuous ability 
for eighteen years. During that period several memorable 
Shows were held, notably the great International Show at 
Kilburn in 1879, when the ill-luck which seems to have dogged 
1 An interesting and exhaustive article on the Chillingham wild white cattle 
was written by Sir Jacob Wilson for The Land Magazine , published in January, 
1899, in which he made particular allusion to these experiments in cross- 
breeding. 
