This magisterial work builds
on Patricia Stanley’s original publication of the mid-1990s; she is also a
major contributor here. She writes of Bakewell (1725-1795) in the first
chapter: ‘He was a man of great qualities, amongst which were to be found in
abundant quality, enthusiasm, perseverance, observation, judgement and, above
all, great kindness to both men and beasts’. When he took over the management
of Dishley Grange from his father in 1760, his aim was to improve every class
of farm livestock. That his family had good pedigree in farming can be traced
in Sue Brown’s very useful chapter, which amply illustrates not only the value
of judicious research in Inventories, Wills, Leases etc., but also the skills
needed for extrapolating a coherent story from such basic source material. The
family can be traced back to 1575, when Thomas Bakewell of Normanton le Heath,
near Ashby de la Zouch, made his will. His descendants consolidated their
agricultural holdings in the area around Normanton, until Robert Bakewell [2] (c.1643-1716),
the grandfather of the more famous agriculturist moved to Dishley in 1707,
attracted by its comparatively large size, with the fields all lying together.
His son, also Robert [3] (c.1685-1773) was noted for being ‘an ingeneous [sic]
& able farmer’; but by the time his namesake son was thirty-five, the
latter is reputed to have taken over the running of the farm. An extensive
summary of Robert’s [4] character was given in the Journal of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England in 1894. It included the following: ‘From
his father Bakewell had an excellent training for practical & experimental
farming…his manners had a rustic yet polite & pleasing frankness…[he] had a
store of anecdotes & stories…[his] kindness to brute animals was proverbial,
& being in constant practice at Dishley was rewarded with extreme docility
in the farm animals’.
There follow several very detailed and often highly technical chapters on Bakewell and the New Leicester Sheep, Ram Letting and his legacy relating to Horses, Pigs and Poultry. The writers – Pat Stanley, Janet Spavold and Hilary Matthews are to be congratulated on the depth of their research and their facility in explaining it to the general reader. Their sources range from the contemporary - for example Arthur Young’s ‘A Farmer’s Tour through the East of England’ and the late 18th century Encyclopaedia Britannica - to modern publications such as K. Chivers’ ‘The Shire Horse’ (1976) and ‘The Journal of the Rutland History Society’ (1981). The 18th century was the time when beef and mutton were to be more important than ‘the power of draught and the fineness of wool’, and Robert Bakewell is probably best remembered for developing the New Leicester Sheep. That he was also a shrewd husbandman can be seen in the precautions he took to make sure that even his cull sheep could not be kept for breeding by butchers and his involvement in the formal setting up of the Dishley Society for breeders in 1789 to protect and advance their interests.
The five chapters on the Longhorn cattle not only pay due homage to Bakewell but also to other individuals such as Sir Thomas Gresley of Drakelow Hall, Burton upon Trent; Richard Astley of Odstone Hall; the Chapman Family of Nuneaton; and, of particular interest to this Reviewer, Sir George Crewe and his son, Sir John Harpur-Crewe on their Calke Abbey estate. The latter can be classed as a Longhorn Revivalist – in February 1874, the Sporting Gazette, paid an official visit to see Sir John’s herd and, in a most poetic fashion, extolled both the man and his beasts. The baronet’s favourite cow, Tulip, (whose picture adorns page 215) took first prizes at both Birmingham and London in 1868 and a butcher offered the price of 60 guineas for her. Sir John declined the offer, took her back to Calke, where she amply repaid his faith in her by founding the outstanding Tulip tribe. As the Sporting Gazette’s journalist wrote, “No prettier animal can be a denizen of a park”. However, Sir John left instructions in his Will that on his death, his beloved herd of Longhorns was to be sold as his son, Sir Vauncey, did not share his passion for agriculture.
Other chapters deal with the cautionary tale of Bakewell’s bankruptcy in the 1770s – seemingly not previously addressed; and the family’s active membership of the local Unitarian congregation.
What of the present and future? Stanley – a breeder of Longhorn cattle herself - and Spavold are relatively optimistic for the Longhorn breed’s survival. ‘On the basis of its history of coming into and going out of fashion, it may well do, providing it continues to find its own niche in our modern world.’ This Reviewer’s regular strolls around the Calke Abbey estate are enhanced by the present Longhorn herd, one of which he saw giving birth in early August. As for the New Leicester, it continues – particularly in Leicestershire. The Leicesters are a more direct parent of breeds such as the Hexham or Bluefaced Leicester and the Border Leicester. However, with fewer than 500 registered ewes, the Leicester Longwools are one of the rarest native breeds left in the UK. It can take heart that ‘there is scarcely a breed which has not felt the influence of the Leicester’ – Southdowns, Cotswolds, Lincolns, Shropshires, Hampshire Downs etc.
Brewin Books has used quality paper, with clear text and wide margins, and excellent colour and b & w photographs, prints and maps. John Boultbee’s painting of Bakewell’s Black Cart Horse Stallion and the 2025 photographs of the Blackbrook Longhorns are particularly impressive. There are twelve detailed Appendices, including Bakewell Family Trees, 19th century Sale of Stock records and Stilton Cheese: History and Recipe. Perhaps Jethro Tull, Turnip Townshend and Coke of Norfolk are more widely known, but the New Dishley Society and the authors are to be highly commended, not only on such a superb production, but also being at the forefront in keeping Robert Bakewell and his legacy alive today.
No comments:
Post a Comment