Introduction
Today the Aberdeen Angus is the most popular breed of beef
cattle in the world, being the principal choice of farmers in the major
beef-producing countries of the USA, Canada and Argentina. The reasons for the popularity of the breed
are hardiness, docility, natural hornlessness, early maturation, ease of
calving and large, high value muscle content.
The Aberden Angus emerged from the native polled animals of the North
East of Scotland, largely during the 19th century.
Before they were improved, and the breed characteristics
were defined by parental selection and enhanced feeding, the animals were of
only small-to-medium size and were variable in appearance and physiology. Their rise from having only local
significance to world-domination required the intervention of several skilled
and analytical herd-improvers, from both the north and the south sides of the
Grampian mountains. The most important
of these early innovators was Hugh Watson.
Like many great men, the achievements for which he is remembered today
are only a subset of his works of note.
Hugh Watson is justifiably labelled as the father of the Aberdeen Angus
breed, but he also had a major influence on the development of the railway
system between Perth and Aberdeen and he was the most important adaptor of
Southdown sheep and Leicester – Southdown crosses for medium elevations in
Scotland. Fundamentally, he was an entrepreneur
and businessman, who was open to fresh ideas and always willing to branch out
in a novel direction.
This is the story of Hugh Watson’s life.
Hugh Watson engraving
The Watson family
Hugh Watson was born in 1787 at Bannatyne, which lies near
the village of Newtyle in the county presently known as Angus. During the 19th
century it was called Forfarshire, though Angusshire was, even then, an
alternative name. Forfarshire, except
for the city of Dundee, was a largely agricultural county and the patriclinal
antecedents (father, grandfather and great grandfather) of Hugh Watson had all
been involved in raising native polled cattle.
As with the rest of rural Scotland, land ownership in Forfarshire was
dominated by a few major proprietors. In
the late 19th century the Belmont estate in Forfarshire was owned by
Lord Wharncliffe and Hugh Watson’s father, William, and paternal grandfather,
George, had both been factor (manager) on the Belmont estate. This role was important, intermediating
between the estate owner and the population of tenant farmers, ensuring that the
land was husbanded properly, and its value preserved, thus generating the
rental income on which the owner depended for maintaining an elevated
lifestyle. Hugh Watson’s
great-grandfather had also reared polled cattle on the farm of Cattie. William Watson, the father of Hugh, at some
stage became the tenant of the farm of Auchtertyre on the Kinpurnie estate
(owned by the Wharncliffes) and it may have been at this farm that Hugh Watson
was born. He thus grew up in
economically comfortable circumstances, steeped in local knowledge about
livestock and crops and, especially, the local dodded (hornless) cattle.
Keillor Farm
Hugh Watson’s family were wealthy enough to send him to
Edinburgh University for one or two sessions (academic years) but his aspirations
were clearly focussed on a career in farming and at the age of about 21,
probably in 1808, he became the tenant of another Wharncliffe farm, Keillor,
which was adjacent to his father’s farm, Auchtertyre. (Hugh
Watson is thought to have leased Keillor for “three nineteeners” and when he
retired in 1861 the last lease had 4 years still to run. Thus subtracting 53 years from 1861 gives the
year 1808 as the start of his occupancy).
Keillor farm lies at the foot of the Sidlaw Hills on the southern edge
of Strathmore (“large valley” in Gaelic),
a fertile farming area running in a north-easterly direction across
Forfarshire. Hugh Watson quickly
established himself as a farmer, raising sheep, polled cattle and a variety of
arable crops. He also fitted
effortlessly into the social life of the landowning and agricultural community
of the county, in due course fulfilling the role of chairman, croupier or
steward at frequent celebratory dinners. Hugh Watson became close to both
Captain Barclay of Ury, Kincardineshire and Lord Panmure, who lived at Brechin
castle. (Robert Barclay-Allardyce was a
remarkable character who once walked 1000 miles in 1000 hours for a £1000
wager. His family founded Barclay’s Bank. William Maule, Lord Panmure, was the second
son of Lord Dalhousie, but took the surname Maule when he inherited the Panmure
estates from a maternal great uncle.
Both Barclay and Panmure were major landowners and became cattle
breeders, Barclay of Shorthorns and Panmure of polled black cattle.) The
sporting interests of Hugh Watson included horse racing and coursing with
greyhounds.
Watson gained the respect of his landlord, Lord Warncliffe,
through his agricultural endeavours, as the following anecdote
demonstrates. Sometime in the period
1831 – 1841, following a survey of Keillor farm for the purpose of improving
it, Hugh Watson went to speak with Wharncliffe about the rental level to be
charged. Wharncliffe simply said, “I may safely leave it to yourself Watson
for after what I have seen today I think you have a better right to be here
than I have.”
Keillor and Auchtertyre farms
A revolution in
cattle farming
During the first half of the 19th century, cattle
farming in Scotland underwent a dramatic change in organisation. Before the advent of steam locomotion
(railways and steam ships) and artificial phosphate fertilisers (bone dust and
guano), cattle were raised throughout the northern parts of the country and
moved to market by droving, usually in the late summer/early autumn, often for
several hundred miles. They travelled in a lean condition to be overwintered
and fattened in milder climes, in the south of Scotland or England, before
being moved on to the ultimate markets in the large cities of both
countries. This economic model was
replaced by one where the cattle were fattened in cattle courts overwinter in
the producing counties, using feed consisting mainly of straw, cattle cake and
especially turnips grown with the aid of added phosphate fertilisers. Animals were then transported to market by
steam ships and, especially, the railways.
The wealth of the cattle-producers was greatly increased by this
change. This agricultural revolution is
discussed more extensively in William
McCombie (1805 – 1880), “creator of a peculiarly excellent sort of bullocks” on
this blogsite. William McCombie was
another important developer of the Aberdeen Angus breed whose early career
partly overlapped that of Hugh Watson.
Keillor farm steadings, now converted to housing
Native Scottish cattle
The information available on native Scottish cattle, early
in the 19th century and before, suggests that they were diverse with
regional variations in appearance. They
also differed in their physiological and behavioural characteristics. Polled cattle have existed in Scotland for
hundreds of years and they were common throughout the north east counties of
Scotland by the 18th century.
At some stage they became a breed, the hornless state becoming a marker,
rather than just a genetically determined variant scattered in a heterogeneous
bovine continuum. This breed differentiation
implied that some level of parental selection was operating. The diversity of early Scottish cattle is
discussed in William McCombie (1805 –
1880), “creator of a peculiarly excellent sort of bullocks”.
In the county of Fife, which is adjacent to Forfarshire,
there was a distinct type of polled cattle, Fife doddies, which were
recognisably different from their neighbours, the Angus doddies. It is claimed that Hugh Watson’s (Watson)
great grandfather had reared polled cattle and, although the date is not known,
it cannot have been later than the mid-18th century. Probably in 1808 (it could have been as early
as 1807 or as late as 1811 from various indicators) Hugh Watson took a lease to
Keillor Farm, began his own herd of Angus dodded cattle and initiated the
process of “improving” the characteristics of the animals by selective
breeding. It is possible, even likely,
that he was not the first such selective breeder of Angus doddies but he was
the first such herd keeper whose efforts were documented to a significant
extent, and who was generally recognised by his peers for the success of his
efforts.
The origins of Hugh
Watson’s Angus herd
Hugh Watson started cattle breeding in 1810, but from where
did Hugh he get the animals to found his herd?
It is claimed that his original cows were six black dodded Angus beasts
from his father’s herd at the adjacent farm of Auchtertyre, along with one
Angus bull. He obtained a second bull
from the Trinity Muir market, held in Brechin each June and this animal was
given the name of “Tarnity Jock” (it appears that “Trinity” was corrupted to
“Tarnity”, “Tarnty” and “Taranty”). A
further ten heifers were also bought at Trinity Muir and were believed to come
from the farms of West Scryne, Kinnaird and Fannell in East Forfarshire. This stock of largely undocumented animals
formed the starting material from which Hugh Watson’s great venture was
initiated. Another significant feature
of Hugh Watson’s herd was related by his friend, Thomas Ferguson of
Kinochtry. He said that for a period of
50 years (ie about 1808 – 1858), virtually the whole of Hugh Watson’s career as
a cattle breeder, he almost always used bulls from his own stock (“President 3rd”
appears to have been an exception). This
was in marked contrast to other significant (but later) breeders of the polled
black cattle, such as Lord Panmure of Brechin Castle, Mr Fullerton of Ardovie,
Mr Bowie of Mains of Kelly, Mr Walker of Portlethen and Mr McCombie of
Tillyfour, who regularly bought bulls and other breeding stock from high status
herds in Forfarshire, Kincardineshire and Aberdeenshire.
In the period 1810 – 1815 the Perthshire Courier reported an
increase in the popularity of black dodded cattle and the first indications of
the use of turnips for cattle feeding over winter, for example in December
1811, “Sales of black cattle greatly
improved. Feeding cattle are now all tied
up and derive much good from the turnip”.
Polled cattle were very popular with English dealers who annually came
to Forfarshire to buy grazing cattle for fattening, mainly in Norfolk and
Leicestershire. At that time, these Angus
polled cattle were lumped together with the Galloways and termed “Galloway
Scots”. In June 1815, the Perthshire
Courier wrote, “Demand for cattle was brisk and those in good condition brought
high prices, particularly dodded or hornless stots which seem daily coming more
in vogue.” Was Hugh Watson responding to
this increased popularity of the dodded Angus cattle by developing his
herd? Was he, to some extent,
responsible for the increase in demand due to his improvement of the breed by
selection?
Did Hugh Watson
hybridise Angus and Galloway polled cattle?
In August 1818,
Hugh Watson advertised his “annual sale by auction of cattle and horses reared
on the farm of Keillor, Angusshire”.
This was the first such advertisement detected in the present study, but
it raised the possibility that there had been an earlier annual sale, or sales,
of cattle at Keillor. The advertisement
remarked that the cattle were of the “improved Dodded” variety and that they
were of both “Angus” and “Galloway” types.
This entry in the Perthshire Courier also contained the intriguing
information that Hugh Watson was crossing Angus and Galloway cattle to combine
the best qualities of each breed. “The
above stock of cattle have been bred with great attention to crossing, etc and
will be found to combine the symmetry of the Galloways with the justly esteemed
fattening qualities of the Angus Ox.
Gentlemen wishing to get into a superior breed of cattle will find them
well worth their attention.” It was
certainly the case that Galloways had been used in the improvement of the beef
Shorthorns. Much later in the 19th
century there would be persistent debate about the “purity” of the Aberdeen and
Angus polled cattle, there being several claims that there had in the past been
some crossing with Galloways, Shorthorns or even Guernseys, followed by
back-crossing to Aberdeen and Angus polled types. At the Highland show at Perth in 1829 Hugh
Watson gained a prize for a “heifer whose dam had a strain of Guernsey
blood was again shown in London same year at the Smithfield show”. The judges said of her “that in their opinion
she was nearer the point of perfection than any animal ever shown at
Smithfield.
In the 1818
advertisement, Hugh Watson also mentioned two of his bulls, “Galloway Jock”,
who was presumably a Galloway and “Sir John Barleycorn”, of unknown type but
presumably dodded, who had been used to inseminate 20 queys (heifers) which
were offered for sale. A similar sale
occurred the following August (1819).
About 100 animals in total were made available, including “two bull
calves got by Galloway Jock and Sir John Barleycorn out of superior dodded
cows”. Such young bulls were clearly
intended for breeding and at least one of them seems to have been a cross
involving a dodded cow and a Galloway bull.
Much later, in
1850, a book was published by James Dickinson, a cattle dealer, entitled, “The
breeding and economy of livestock being the result of 40 years’ practical
experience in the management and disposal of cattle, horses, sheep and
pigs.” He gave the opinion that Angus
polled cattle were similar to Galloways but inferior to them in not laying down
flesh so well, being less symmetrical, lacking “compactness and substance”,
having thinner hides and being not so “mellow”. James Dickinson admitted that
there were some fine specimens of “improved” Angus cattle found in the stocks
of many eminent breeders, “such as Mr Watson”, but he thought this improvement
had come from crossing with Galloways.
There were “many careless breeders in Angusshire.” Although carelessness does not seem to have
been part of the character of Hugh Watson, did Galloway - Angus crossing
constitute part of his programme of improvement of dodded cattle? Is this what was being implied by the term “improved dodded breed”? It seems highly likely that this was so and
that the Aberdeen Angus herds of today, all of which probably link back to Hugh
Watson’s early animals, had an input of Galloway genetic material.
Hugh Watson was
not the only Forfarshire farmer who was successful in breeding and raising
polled cattle in the early years of the 19th century. At the Strathmore Agricultural Association
show held at Cupar Angus in 1820, the first prize for the best polled bull was
won by David Inches of Cardean, which lies near Meigle about seven miles north
of Keillor, with Hugh Watson’s entry being placed second. David Inches was successful in other
competitions too, with both horned and polled cattle, though mostly his
prize-winning animals were in the latter category. The expertise of Mr Inches was recognised by
his appointment as a judge of cattle, for example at the Highland Society show
held at Galloway in 1830 when he acted along with Hugh Watson.
Hugh Watson and Shorthorns
Most of Hugh
Watson’s show cattle were Angus polls but on at least three occasions, at
Dundee in 1843 and Strathmore in 1844 and 1845, he won prizes with Shorthorns. He still had an interest in Shorthorns in
1846 when he bought a Shorthorn bull at the Ury annual sale and in 1847, when
he sold a Shorthorn bull at the Highland show in Aberdeen. There is no direct evidence that Hugh Watson
crossed Angus and Shorthorn animals for breeding purposes. It is much more likely that generally he was
creating bullocks and heifers for beef production by crossing Angus cows with
Shorthorn bulls. In 1858 at the Royal
Highland show in Aberdeen, there were exhibited several “cross-bred oxen”
produced by Hugh Watson but entered by new owners. However,
in describing one of his favourite bull’s qualities, he said “Old Jock” had
“much of the Shorthorn superiority in hair and touch”, which seems to have been
a telling remark. Was this an admission
of early hybridisation between an Angus and a Shorthorn?
Cattle shows and reputation
By 1820 Hugh
Watson’s status as a producer of fine dodded Angus cattle was well
established. In the advertisement for
his sale of cattle and horses in August of that year, he felt emboldened to
write the following. “The superiority of
the above breed of cattle (polled Angus)
is now so well established that any farther description is unnecessary. This lot is confidently submitted to the
public as exceeding in point of shape and quality all the stock of their kind
hitherto shown at Keillor.” Part of the
sale offering was “20 Aberdeenshire spayed heifers rising 4 years old; will
make excellent beef for Gentlemen who kill for their own tables.” Watson clearly thought of Aberdeenshire
polled cattle as being different from Angus cattle at that time. It is unclear if those Aberdeenshire animals
had been bred by Hugh Watson, or if they had been bought in and fattened by
him. He also offered “40 stots rising 3
years old of the Improved Dodded Breed in fine condition for wintering or
feeding”, which do appear to have been produced on his farm. In 1824 Hugh Watson was certainly crossing
Aberdeen and Angus cattle. The Fife
Herald reported that an “extraordinary fat heifer” from Mr Watson which was a
cross between “the Aberdeenshire and Angus breeds” was killed by butcher David
Niven. “This very uncommon animal was
all sold in a few hours on Monday at 1s per pound.”
Similar annual
sales of 100 – 120 dodded cattle and a variety of horses were advertised by
Hugh Watson in the Perthshire Courier until 1827. After that year typical advertisements were
not found, though the British Newspaper Archive, which was consulted, has
digitised copies available of that organ for all years from 1809 to 1855. However, there was a one-off sale of Angus
polled breeding cattle at Keillor in 1848.
Hugh Watson may have advertised his sales in a different location after
1827, or he may have decided to use a different technique for disposing of his
stock. Some sales of cattle were
certainly achieved at the end of major cattle shows, for example, he sold a
white Shorthorn bull calf at the end of the Highland show at Dundee in 1843 but
it is likely that most of his sales were achieved through private bargain, such
was the status of Watson and his animals.
Other cattle breeders including his friends Lord Panmure (Angus doddies)
and Captain Barclay(Shorthorns) certainly held annual sales in the mid-1840s.
In the first half
of the 19th century agricultural shows became very important for
displaying the animal and plant products of the agricultural industry and many
new agricultural societies were formed, often with the intention of mounting
such shows on a local basis. The
Strathmore Agricultural Association was formed in 1820 and held its first show
the same year at Cupar Angus, Forfarshire.
Hugh Watson entered a polled bull in the competition but was beaten to
first place by an animal entered by David Inches of Cardean. Watson had the consolation of winning a first
prize with his stallion, Farmer’s Glory.
This was the first show where there was evidence of Hugh Watson entering
polled cattle, though there was a suggestion that he had been entering such
animals at shows since 1818. In 1821,
Hugh Watson did win first prize with his dodded bull at Coupar Angus. The following year several first places for
Keillor dodded cattle were awarded and more success was gained in 1824.
The Royal
Highland and Agricultural Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1784 and, from
1822, it was responsible for organising the Royal Highland Show, which for some
years moved around the eight electoral areas of the Society. Hugh Watson became a member of the Society in
1828 and in 1829 the Highland show was held in Perth. This was the first occasion that Hugh Watson
had entered livestock in a show of national significance. He was awarded first prize in three polled
cattle categories, together with a premium for a lot of six polled Angus
cows. A pair of oxen on show from
Keillor, “elicited such general admiration from their size and symmetry, the
black Angus one weighed 150 stones of 14lbs and the black Galloway 116
stones”. One of Hugh Watson’s cows had
been bought from Peter Watson, Kirriemuir, a dealer in Aberdeenshire
cattle and it is possible that she was an Aberdeenshire polled animal. All
polled cattle at this time were lumped together in a single category for show
purposes but Hugh Watson recognised Angus and Galloway polls as different and
both were clearly present on his farm and in his plans.
An appearance at Smithfield
Hugh Watson’s
polled Angus ox attracted such attention that he was persuaded to send the
animal to the premier English livestock show held at Smithfield, London in
December each year. The aim of the
Smithfield Club was to arrange improvement in all those breeds of animals which
were best suited “for supplying the cattle market of Smithfield and other
places with the cheapest and best meat”.
The animal was reported to have walked 60 miles by road and was then transported
400 miles by sea to reach London.
Although the port of departure is not certainly known, the distances
quoted would be consistent with the ox having walked from Keillor to Leith, the
port of Edinburgh, via the Queensferry crossing of the Forth estuary, before
embarking on a steamer for London. The
animal gained favourable attention in the English capital, “We observe there is
a beautiful black Scotch ox sent here all the way from Scotland and which
justly attracts his fair share of notice.”
It was stated that the beast was fed on “grass, hay, roots and latterly
has had some bruised grain”. Watson
apparently did not win a prize and he did not show again at Smithfield, except
for the solitary year of 1844. Unlike
William McCombie of Tillyfour who became a regular exhibitor and winner at
Smithfield and used Smithfield as a major outlet for his fat cattle, this
premier English market did not appear to feature in Hugh Watson’s sales plan,
probably because transport was too difficult until the railway link to London
was completed in 1843. Hugh Watson was
very commercial in his approach to agricultural shows and, from his own
experience, knew that premiums awarded for success did not cover his transport
and associated costs. During his career
he is said to have won about 200 prizes in the showring, far fewer than the 500
won by William McCombie of Tillyfour.
Strathmore, the Royal Highland and beyond
In the period
1829 – 1850 Hugh Watson was a regular exhibitor and winner with his cattle at
the bi-annual Strathmore shows at Coupar Angus and at the annual Royal Highland
show held at various locations around Scotland.
But from about 1849 Hugh Watson’s showyard presence diminished. In that year, a letter to the Aberdeen
Journal remarked, “As it now stands ….Mr Watson of Keillor whose name stands so
high that he rarely puts himself to the trouble to send cattle to a local
show…”. In 1853 the same newspaper,
commenting on the Angus Agricultural Association show at Forfar, said, “It was
universally regretted that Mr Watson of Keillor one of the most famous and
successful rearers of native stock in the county had no cattle on the ground
but Mr Watson no doubt had good reason for the blank without meaning the
slightest disrespect to the Angus Association of which he is a fast
friend. Perhaps he is wishful to keep
his strength for a comparison at the Aberdeen show next week with his
successful rival at Perth last year Mr McCombie of Tillyfour.” Perhaps a more significant factor in Hugh
Watson’s absence was his increasing age of 66 years. At this stage of his career he was highly
successful and did not need to exert himself to attend every possible
agricultural show.
Hugh Watson’s
status as the most successful improver of polled Angus cattle was established
early in his farming career locally in Forfarshire. Over the subsequent decades it grew, and his
fame spread throughout Great Britain. In
1834 the Scotsman reported, “We observed in passing through the Middle Flesh
Market yesterday morning an extraordinary show of veal at Messrs McEwan and
Cowan’s stands particularly a calf only a few months old, fed by that
celebrated agriculturalist Hugh Watson of Keillor, which weighs from 60lb to
70lb per quarter and of the finest quality.
This gentleman’s stock is well-known and has gained the prizes in
various competitions.”. In 1837 Watson’s
animals had become so prominent that the Farmer’s Magazine carried an engraving
of one of his bulls in its February edition.
The Mark Lane Express, a farming newspaper, in 1838 carried a letter
from a “Scotch Farmer” which said, “Mr Watson of Keillor an enterprising breeder
in Forfarshire has succeeded in bringing to great perfection some of this breed
from a judicious selection from amongst themselves which improved stock are now
generally denominated the Keillor breed.”
Hugh Watson’s own portrait appeared in the London Illustrated News in
December 1845. It was engraved on steel
by JB Hunt from a photograph taken by Mr Beard.
This appears to be the only likeness of Hugh Watson which has survived.
Hugh Watson did
occasionally display his animals outwith Scotland. In 1843 he exhibited an Angus bull at the
Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland meeting in Belfast, where he won the first
prize of 20 sovereigns. He returned to
Ireland in 1847 for the show in Londonderry, where his polled bull “Strathmore”
was placed first. Other shows where
Hugh Watson was represented were the Royal Agricultural Show at Windsor in 1851
and the Paris International Exhibition in 1856.
The Exposition
Universelle was held at Paris in 1856.
The newly self-declared Emperor, Napoleon III, wanted a French show to
rival the Crystal Palace exhibition, which had taken place in London. There was a contingent of 437 cattle
dispatched from Great Britain to compete in the various classes. In the polled bull category, the results read
like a roll of honour for the top British breeders. 1.
McCombie, Tillyfour. 2. Walker, Portlethen. 3.
Watson, Keillor. 4. Beattie, Galloway. 5.
Earl of Southesk. 6. James Stewart, Aberdeen. Napoleon III was a Doddie fancier and bought
two cows from William McCombie and Hugh Watson’s 3rd-placed
bull. The cows were later recorded in
volume 1 of the polled herd book (see below).
Members of the Irish delegation at the Paris exhibition were entertained
by some French friends to dinner during the show and they in turn asked the
English and Scottish delegations to send a representative to be included in the
Irish party. The Scots unanimously chose
Hugh Watson “as being best known and appreciated on the Continent, his name
being identified for many years with the improved polled Angus or hornless
breed of cattle which attracted such admiration in the showyard.” Hugh Watson was also in a group of exhibitors
which was presented to Napoleon III.
Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Hugh
Watson’s prize ox
An ox belonging to
Hugh Watson, which was also exhibited in Belfast in 1843, caught the eye of
Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort.
He was subsequently bought by, or given to, Prince Albert and in May of
1844 he was sent down to London from Keillor.
The animal travelled from the recently-opened Newtyle terminus station,
close to Keillor, to Dundee, where he was shipped by the steamer “London” to
the English capital and then travelled on to the Flemish Farm at Windsor. The Prince’s plan was to fatten the animal
and then show him at the Smithfield show in the coming December. Keeping polled Angus cattle became
fashionable with the upper classes, more for prestige than for profit. At Smithfield the ox attracted great
attention due to his enormous size, at this time weighing over 210 stones. He was sold to a butcher and as Prince Albert
went to give him a farewell pat the beast turned to lick his hand. Queen Victoria was so moved by this gesture
from the gentle bovine that she commanded that he should be bought back. Thus, saved from the poleaxe, he was returned
to Windsor. This animal was of such
perfect form that the Royals had his portrait painted. An image was engraved, and copies dispersed
widely, one even being found some years later in a Hindu temple in India, where
cattle are revered. This Angus ox lived
on for many years at Windsor and was used for ploughing. He finally died there at the age of 18.
Hugh Watson as judge
A good indicator
of the standing of Hugh Watson in the agricultural community in Scotland was
his attendance at agricultural events in a judicial capacity. He was in great demand as a judge of cattle
from 1830, when he served in this capacity at the Highland Society’s show at
Dumfries. However, his services were
also sought frequently for horses and sheep and, occasionally, for ploughing
matches. The greatest accolade to his
experience and evaluation skills with cattle came in 1855 when he was selected
as a judge for the international cattle show held at the Champ de Mars, Paris.
Towards the end
of his career, Hugh Watson’s status as a polled cattle breeder was well
summarised by the Aberdeen Journal. “Within a period of 40 years the polled
cattle in the north have been much improved, principally by selection and
feeding. The size has been increased,
the form more rounded and symmetrical and the tendency to early maturity and
quickness in fattening more fully developed.
Foremost as an improver of this breed has been Hugh Watson of Keillor. The polled cattle in the north eastern
counties of Scotland owe mainly to him their present character as an improved
breed."
Edward James Ravenscroft (1816 – 1890) and
the Polled Herd Book
This gentleman
became the first editor of the Polled Herd Book, a compilation of the leading
polled animals from the north and south sides of the Grampian mountains and
from south-west Scotland. To understand
the process by which this publication came into existence and the attitude of
Hugh Watson to it, it is first necessary to give Edward Ravenscroft’s potted
biography.
Edward
Ravenscroft was born in London in 1816, the son of a peruke-maker (man’s
powdered wig, such as those worn by members of the legal profession). The year after the birth of Edward, his
father Humphry was declared bankrupt.
Ravenscroft junior married Hannah Northcroft at St Pancras, London in
1836 and the couple’s first child was born the same year. Edward Ravenscroft became a printer, engraver,
publisher, dealer and chapman (pedlar or travelling salesman). Commercial success quickly eluded him, and he
too was declared bankrupt in 1837.
Ironically, one of his then recent publications had been of a
one-shilling leaflet on the new Act for abolishing imprisonment for
debt!
During 1840 -
1841, Edward Ravenscroft moved to Aberdeen and at the 1841 Census he described
himself as a printer. He did not stay
for long in the Granite City, appearing in Wick, Caithness, in the far north of
the Scottish mainland by October 1842.
In 1844 he returned to Aberdeen with his growing family, perhaps to
branch out in a different career direction.
He became the agent for the Agricultural Cattle Insurance
Company, which had just published its prospectus, and he also became the editor
of a farming magazine of his own creation, “The Scottish Farmer”, and of the
newspaper, “The Constitutional”. Other
commercial initiatives surfaced, including acting as interim secretary of the
proposed Wick and Thurso Railway and becoming publisher of the “Town and County
Directory” for Aberdeen. Another
publishing initiative was the launch of the “Family Journal for the North of
Scotland” in 1846. It appears to have
had a slow start in attracting subscribers as the following year he tried to
boost circulation by running a £100 sweepstake based on subscriber
identifier. The Agricultural Cattle
Insurance Company, the Scottish Farmer and the Family Journal for the North of
Scotland continued for several years. In
1847 Edward’s various enterprises were being run from the “Scottish Farmer”
office at 43 Union Street.
This constant striving for commercial success continued with
further ventures. Agent for Waghorn and
Co’s Overland Route to India and publisher of “Ravenscroft’s Aberdeen Kalendar”
were both initiated in 1847. However,
not all initiatives were running smoothly.
Cattle diseases were causing problems for the cattle insurance company
and the two partners in “The Scottish Farmer”, Mr Avery and Edward Ravenscroft,
parted company. His publishing ventures
continued with a plan for the development of the city, a 9 am, daily publication
for Royalists on Queen Victoria’s visit to Scotland in 1848, and other leaflets.
In October 1848
an unusual advertisement was placed in the Inverness Courier by Edward
Ravenscroft. “A graduate of high
standing of extensive experience in tuition and who can show the most
satisfactory testimonials is induced to offer his services as tutor to a young
gentleman attending Marischal College or Kings College. Board and lodgings can also be furnished and
in this case the superintendence would be general. The great desirableness of such
superintendence with respect to health, morals and comfort, as well as progress
in learning, will be appreciated by every parent who has occasion to send his
son to the University at a young age; and it is seldom that this important
desideratum can be supplied to such advantage on terms so very moderate. Address: AM, care of E Ravenscroft, Esq,
Publisher, Aberdeen. Was this another
money-making idea, thinly disguised? The
student of Edward Ravenscroft’s career progress is left with the impression of
a busy and imaginative man, desperately trying to find a well-remunerated
position in life, but never quite succeeding.
About 1847, Edward Ravenscroft became secretary of the
Aberdeenshire Horticultural Society.
Presumably his interests in both animal and plant crops led to his
admission to the Highland Society of Scotland in the same year and he soon
became a functionary of the Society when he was appointed as the assistant conservator
of the organisation’s agricultural museum in Edinburgh, which occurred between
1849 and 1851. The conservator of the
museum was Charles Lawson, a prominent Edinburgh seedsman and nurseryman, who
had started the museum on his own initiative and transferred to the Highland
Society in 1844. On Edward taking up his
position, the Ravenscoft family moved from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. At the 1851 Census, which was conducted on the
night of 30 – 31 March, the Ravenscrofts were living at Peffer Mill, Liberton.
The Polled Herd Book
It is entirely unclear who initiated the project to create a
herd book for polled cattle. It seems
most likely to have been either the cattle interest within the Highland
Society, where the lack of pedigree information on this important breed would
have been recognised as a major deficiency, or Edward Ravenscroft himself, who
might have gained a similar understanding from his employment in cattle
insurance and his experience as a publisher.
Also, (see below) Edward claimed ownership of the copyright in the work. Whatever the stimulus, a project to collect
data on the individual polled cattle of the main breeders began about the time
of Edward Ravenscroft’s appointment to the Highland Society museum.
Charles Lawson, the seedsman and the Highland and
Agricultural Society shared premises in a large and handsome building on George
IV Bridge in Edinburgh, with Lawson residing on the lower floors and the
Society on the upper stories. In late
November 1851, a fire started in Charles Lawson’s part of the building and
quickly spread up the property. The
intervention of the fire brigade limited the damage to the rear of the
building, but the Highland Society suffered significant losses, especially to
its library. An interesting collection
of books and paintings was completely destroyed. Also consumed by the fire was the initial
collection of data for the polled cattle herd book project. Edward Ravenscroft then seemed to give up
data collection activities on polled cattle for some years.
In the meantime, Edward continued, butterfly-like, flitting
from one venture to another in his portfolio career. In 1853 he was responsible for the floral
decoration of the Edinburgh Corn Market during the Highland Society show of
poultry and dairy produce. His
affiliation at the time was described as being with Messrs Lawson and
Sons. In 1854 Edward’s publishing
activities were reignited when he edited and substantially rewrote the 5th
edition of “The Fruit Flower and Kitchen Garden” by the late Patrick Neil. He also became involved with other societies
such as the Gifford Society and the Scottish Arboricultural Society. The Ravenscoft family also suffered a
domestic conflagration in 1856, when Gilmerton Old Farmhouse, which they were
occupying at the time, was burned to the ground in about one hour. Fortunately, there were no injuries or
deaths.
The polled cattle herd book project was revived in 1857,
apparently under the stimulus of the Highland Society, which was described as
the patron of the project. In early
1858, the Edinburgh Evening Courant wrote the following. “We are glad to learn that what has long been
a desideratum in Scotland, a polled herd book, will now be established under
the patronage of the Highland Society.
In it there will be annually registered cattle of the Aberdeen, Angus
and Galloway breeds and we doubt not that the same benefits will follow to this
class of cattle from a herd book as has been the case with Shorthorns. The work
is under the charge of Mr Ravenscroft of the Highland Society’s museum in
Edinburgh.” Edward Ravenscroft re-commenced
the collection of data from breeders and herd owners. However, his activities were not confined to
the cattle project. Edward published
“Index Juridicus; The Scottish Law List and Legal Directory for 1857, to which
is added the Scottish Insurance Directory” and he did further work on botanical
decoration for the Bi-Centenary celebrations of Heriot’s Hospital and the
annual dinner of the Merchants’ Company.
Edward Ravenscroft also began to earn money as a landlord of domestic
property in Edinburgh. Throughout his
whole period in Edinburgh, probably 1851 to about 1870, Edward Ravenscroft
continued in the post as assistant conservator at the Highland Society museum.
By 1859 a considerable quantity of data on polled cattle had
been collected by Edward Ravenscroft.
This is clear from an advertisement he placed in the Aberdeen Journal in
March of that year. “Breeders of polled
cattle are informed that the first volume of the Polled Herd Book is now
prepared for press.” It went on to give
a list of 17 breeders whose herds would be included and invited others to
obtain blank entry forms from himself.
The list was an august one, containing most of the prominent polled
cattle breeders of the time, but with one glaring omission - Hugh Watson.
It is inconceivable, given Hugh Watson’s status as the most
significant improver of polled cattle at the time, that he would not have been
approached to provide pedigree data from his herd. His son, William, was later to claim that he was
not approached but, according to Barclay and Keith, authors of the seminal work
“The Aberdeen-Angus Breed: a History”, Edward Ravenscroft twice visited Keillor
but was turned away. The reason for Hugh
Watson’s obstruction is not known. Did
he feel that he was being asked to divulge commercial secrets? Was he offended at being approached by a minor
functionary of the Highland Society? Was there a clash of personalities between
the busy, but ephemeral, Ravenscroft and the focussed, commercial Watson? The answer is not known.
Proof sheets for the polled herd book had been produced by
September 1860 and the first edition was published in April 1862. The price was 1 guinea if ordered before
publication and 1 ½ guineas afterwards.
Without naming Hugh Watson, or any other breeder, Edward Ravenscroft
alluded to data collection obstacles in the Preface to the first edition. “In the preparation of the volume
considerable difficulties have been encountered; and in some cases where
assistance was naturally looked for, obstacles were thrown in the way of procuring
information. Now that the work is fairly
launched, and its general scope and objects are apparent, it is trusted that
assistance will be freely and cheerfully given in the preparation of future
volumes.…. While regretting the apathy of some Breeders and the opposition of
others during the progress of the work,…”.
“Valuable assistance” was received from the Earl of Southesk, Sir John
Stuart Forbes, Hon Charles Carnegie, Alexander Bowie, Mains of Kelly,
Fullerton, Ardestie Mains, Robert Walker Portlethen and Mr Threshie, Dumfries. In addition to Hugh Watson, William McCombie
of Tillyfour seems to be a notable absentee from the list of those providing help. In 1859, at about the time that Edward
Ravenscroft may have approached Hugh Watson to ask for his cooperation, Watson
was 72 and in the process of retiring from farming (see below). He also suffered from serious problems with
his lungs towards the end of his life.
These were pronounced by 1861, when he was under “medical treatment and forbidden to expose
himself to night air” and in the last three years of his life (1863 –
1865) he was confined to his room.
Illness may have contributed to his mood of non-co-operation.
It is known that Hugh Watson kept detailed records of his
herd and could have provided the information being sought by Edward Ravenscroft,
but Watson’s antagonism prevented him acceding to the request. His wife shared his sense of injustice and
she took drastic, unilateral action, which permanently excluded co-operation. She assembled all the herd records for
Keillor and burned them! Tragically for
her husband’s reputation as the greatest breeder of polled Angus cattle in the
early period of breed definition, posterity has been left with an inadequate
account of his methods and achievements.
This outcome put Edward Ravenscroft in a difficult position. Hugh Watson’s animals had to be included in
the polled herd book and so Ravenscroft cobbled together what information he
could from other sources. The outcome
was that information on Keillor stock in volume 1 is both sparse and inaccurate. At least the first registered bull was the
Keillor beast “Old Jock” (date of calving not recorded) and the first cow was
“Old Grannie” (date of calving 1824), another famous Hugh Watson-bred
animal. The next four bulls were also
Hugh Watson’s, 2. “Grey-breasted Jock” (1840), 3. “Black Jock” (1848), 4. “Young Jock” (not recorded), 5. “Strathmore” (1851). Similarly, the first five cows were all Hugh
Watson beasts, 2. “Favourite” (date not
recorded), “Hope” (date not recorded), “Lady Clara” (date not recorded),
5. “Beauty of Buchan” (date not
recorded). Hugh Watson’s son, William,
was able to provide some of the missing information for the subsequent editions
of the polled herd book, but the glaring gaps were still obvious. Hugh Watson started improving the polled
Angus cattle in the “teen” years of the 19th century, yet the first
recorded Keillor calving in the herd book is in 1824. He is known to have had bulls “Tarnity Jock”
and “Prince Charlie” (calved 1821) in this period, whose details were not
formally recorded. There must have been
other significant animals too whose vital statistics have been cast into
oblivion.
“Old Grannie” was
Hugh Watson’s most famous cow. She died
in 1859, possibly after being struck by lightning. Hugh Watson had kept her because he was
curious to know at what age a dodded cow of excellent constitution would die. “Old Grannie” bore 25 calves, the last in
her 29th year. In 1858 Old
Grannie was exhibited at the Highland Show in Aberdeen in a class of her
own. At the request of Prince Albert her
photograph was placed in the Royal collection at Balmoral. Hugh Watson said that his favourite four
bulls were “Old Jock”, “Angus”, “Strathmore” and “Pat”.
Information on 23 bulls and 22 cows of the Keillor herd were
contained in the first edition of the polled herd book, none of the information
coming from Hugh Watson himself. In
comparison Robert Walker of Portlethen, a willing collaborator, provided
information on 26 bulls and 85 cows.
William McCombie of Tillyfour’s data were also sparse, 20 bulls and 32
cows. There were 47 individual subscribers
to volume 1, some aristocrats taking multiple copies. Despite his non-cooperation with the
production process, Hugh Watson, who in 1862 had retired and was living at The
Den, Kinnoull, near Perth, was a subscriber.
It is to be wondered if, on leafing through volume 1, he had any
feelings of regret that his record had been diminished though his own agency
and that of his wife.
"Old Grannie"
The Polled Cattle
Society
It is a
remarkable fact that the much-fancied breed of polled cattle prevalent in the
north-east counties of Scotland throughout the earlier years of the 19th
century and known by a variety of names, did not achieve a single, unifying
title until 1879, 14 years after the death of Hugh Watson and just a few months
before the demise of William McCombie of Tillyfour. The name chosen was Aberdeen Angus, which was
a compromise recognising the two main areas from which the breed originated.
A meeting was
called in July 1879, under the chairmanship of Charles Gordon, 11th
Marquis of Huntly, who kept a herd of polled cattle (he called them doddies) at
Aboyne Castle. The aim of the meeting
was to establish a society, to be called The Polled Cattle Society. Its aim was, “To maintain unimpaired the
purity of the breed of cattle hitherto known as Polled Aberdeen or Angus cattle
and to promote the breeding of these cattle.
To collect, verify, preserve and publish the pedigrees of the said
cattle and other useful information relating to them. To further the above objects by continuing
the issue of the publication called “The Polled Herd Book”.
Charles Gordon
was elected the first president of the Polled Cattle Society and two
vice-presidents were also appointed, the ageing William McCombie of Tillyfour
and Sir George McPherson Grant of Ballindalloch on Speyside, the second and
third great improvers, respectively, of the breed after Hugh Watson. This was to be the last public appearance of
the Laird of Tillyfour. The first
meeting of the council of the society was in mid-December 1879, when William
McCombie of Easter Skene, McCombie of Tillyfour’s cousin, was called to the
chair. William McCombie of Tillyfour had
by this time been prostrated by a stroke, a crisis from which he would not
recover.
Sir George Macpherson
Grant recalled that in 1871 when the Highland show was last held in Perth they
were in an unfortunate position with regard to the Polled Herd Book. Mr Ravenscroft had published the first volume
in 1862 and had collected some data for the second volume but no progress had
been made towards its publication. It
seems that Ravenscroft had lost interest in the project. Alexander Ramsay, editor of the Banffshire
Journal met with Ravenscroft and he agreed to sell the copyright to
Ramsay. Alexander Ramsay then worked
with Mr Adamson on the production of the second volume, which appeared in 1884,
12 years after the first volume. Adamson
subsequently retired and Ramsay continued the work alone, completing four
volumes of the Polled Herd Book. At some
stage the Polled Cattle Society bought the copyright from Ramsay for £350. Ramsay was appointed editor of the Aberdeen
Angus Herd Book and he remained in this position until he died in 1909.
After disposing
of the copyright to the Polled Herd Book, Edward Ravenscroft continued with his
diverse activities as previously, publishing several works from Edinburgh. By 1876 he had moved back to London, continuing
as a publisher, as well as becoming a director of a company, the London
and Westminster Supply Association. He
died in 1890 and his personal estate was valued at just over £1073 (about
£132,000 in 2018 money).
Hugh Watson as
agricultural innovator
On his retirement from active farming in 1861, Hugh Watson
said, “In the early period of my
occupancy of Keillor Farm, farming had not attained the high point it has now
reached. I tried to keep pace with all
improvements so far as I could and when I could no longer do so I thought the
best thing for me to do was to retire.”
The following examples show just how entrepreneurial Hugh Watson
was.
Bone Dust. Hugh Watson is known to have been the
first farmer to introduce bone dust to Forfarshire in 1827, principally for
fertilising turnips for winter feeding of cattle. In January 1828 he was elected to the
Highland Society of Scotland (later the Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland) and he immediately published a paper in the journal of that society
on bones and manures. In the paper he
revealed that he annually grew 70 – 100 acres of turnips using bone meal
fertilisation. The following year
machinery for crushing bones was installed at Keillor Farm, the first farm
installation of such a device in Scotland.
“It is on a large scale and
by supplying the neighbourhood (ie
Strathmore) with that invaluable manure has conferred a benefit on the
district which we trust will be as lasting as it is great.”
Lime. Hugh Watson was also involved in an early
commercial venture for supplying lime for both farming and building
purposes. From as early as 1767 the Earl
of Elgin owned a productive limeworks, ie lime kilns and a supply of coal and
limestone, at Charlestown on the north bank of the Forth estuary. From about 1811 advertisements for lime
products from this source were placed in the local newspapers with a list of
prominent individuals, probably the lessees of the works, to whom orders could
be made. In the period 1815 – 1822 both
Hugh Watson and his father William appeared in the list of presumed
lessees. Products such as “lime shells, slacked lime and limestone”
were supplied and could be delivered by ship from the Forth estuary to Bridge
of Earn on the upper Tay estuary, near to Perth. This would have been a convenient point from
which to supply Perthshire and Forfarshire.
Bell’s Reaping
Machine. Another agricultural
innovation which Hugh Watson sought to promote, though not apparently from a personal
commercial motive, was a reaping machine invented in 1828 by Rev Patrick Bell,
who had been born in 1799 at Auchterhouse, Angus. This device consisted of a set of rotating
vanes which led the cereal stalks into reciprocating scythe blades and the cut
stalks then fell onto a moving apron which deposited the product laterally onto
the ground neatly arrayed for the binders.
The Machine was conveyed by two large wheels and pushed by a pair of
horses. It was used by the inventor’s
brother George on his farm and was progressively modified over a period of 20
years. In 1852, Hugh Watson
advertised a sweepstake (50 sovereigns entry) to trial various reaping machines
against each other, the test to take place at Keillor. The Bell machine was operated under the
supervision of Hugh Watson, who owned and successfully employed such a
model. Two other, different machines
were entered in the trial but were outperformed by the Bell reaper, which won
the trial. Ominously, Mr McCormack from
America observed the trial but did not enter his own reaper design. Rev Bell misguidedly thought he would bring
most benefit to mankind by not seeking a patent for his machine. McCormack then obtained a patent in America
for a machine working on similar principles and that led eventually to the
formation of the International Harvester Company!
Other examples. Hugh Watson was constantly alert to new
possibilities for his agricultural business.
On one occasion he tried growing flax as a new crop. On another occasion, in 1846, a field of
barley started to germinate before it could be harvested. Instead of condemning the crop he allowed the
malting process to continue and then fed the barley to his cattle “with more profit than he had ever done
before”. Hugh Watson was also a regular
attender at the Agricultural Chemistry Association meetings in Edinburgh.
Hugh Watson and sheep
breeding
Hugh Watson is remembered as an improver of polled Angus
cattle but his innovations in sheep breeding were also significant. Unlike his activities with cattle, his
methods and experiments with sheep were well-documented. It is unlikely that his ideas for improving
sheep differed much from his cattle methodology. In 1838, Watson published an article entitled
“On South-down Sheep” in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. He had kept a flock of Southdowns since 1813
on the upper parts of the farm at Keillor, on the northern slopes of the Sidlaw
Hills and the animals were well adapted to the conditions found there. Comparisons had been made with both the
Blackface and the Cheviot but Hugh Watson found the Southdowns to be ideal for
land between 500ft and 1200ft above sea level “with moderate green sword and the rest whin and heather”. The characteristics of the breed, which
suited them to these conditions, were that they could travel over more ground
to get food and they could survive severe weather better than other
breeds. Their wool was closely matted on
the back and around the head. After a
storm they appear dry and did not have the droukit (drenched) appearance of long-wooled sheep. They enjoyed good health, they were easily
managed at lambing time and they were affectionate mothers. Watson found that
his Southdowns were “superior in wool and carcase to any other breed with
constitution and endurance of climate not surpassed by the hardiest mountain
sheep”. Even at the time of his displenishment
sale in 1850, Hugh Watson appeared to have still been experimenting with other
breeds, since he disposed of a single Oxford Down ram. But Hugh
Watson’s fatstock production system had another element, he crossed his Southdown
ewes with Leicester tups and the resulting hybrid lambs had an excellent
combination of meat and wool qualities and could be fed over winter on turnips
for about 2d per week.
At the end of his
article, Hugh Watson made a very interesting statement about the duties of
breeders to communicate their results. “I have at present some experiments going on
(crossing Blackface and Southdown sheep)
which I trust will go far to determine these points. When finished I shall be glad to communicate
the results to my brother breeders considering it a duty every British farmer
owes to his country to make known whatever he conceives may be for the general
good or that may in the smallest degree tend to keep up the proud position we
now stand in as a body feeling it can only be by combined efforts this position
can be maintained, laying aside all selfish and narrow-minded jealousies.” Such noble thoughts seem to have deserted
Hugh Watson when asked to reveal his data on polled cattle breeding about 1859! This stance also suggests that Hugh Watson’s
objection to revealing pedigree data on his polled cattle was not related to
revealing his commercial methods but perhaps more likely to have been due to a
personal antagonism between him and Edward Ravenscroft.
As with his production of polled and hybrid cattle, Hugh
Watson sold sheep at his annual sales at Keillor in the period 1818 – 1826. A special sale of Leicester, Southdown and
cross sheep was held at Keillor in 1837.
Hugh Watson described his flocks as follows, “Pedigrees of the pure-bred stock will be found to include the blood of
the most successful breeders of the last century”. This suggests that he had chosen his starting
animals with care and that he practised selection with his breeding animals. Hugh Watson also regularly showed his sheep
at agricultural exhibitions and was a frequent prize-winner. At the Highland Society show held in 1836,
when demand for Leicester tups was weak, Hugh Watson refused an offer of £100
for his prize animal. At the same show
the judges who were debating the merits of three sheep in one category, differed
in their opinions as to which deserved first prize. They then discovered that all three belonged
to Hugh Watson!
Hugh Watson also occasionally exported sheep to other
countries. In 1836 twenty fine Leicester rams were put on
board the ss Forfarshire for Hull, there to be re-shipped for the Emperor of
Russia. This vessel was the same ss
Forfarshire, a paddle steamer, which foundered on the Farne Islands on 7 Sept
1838, the survivors being rescued by William Darling, lighthouse keeper of the
Longstone Light and his 23-year-old daughter Grace.
Reporting on the
Perth Farming Association autumn show, held in August 1840, the Perthshire
Courier wrote, “It was remarked that amongst the very great increase of
superior Leicester sheep produced the premiums were generally awarded to those
of the blood of the Keillor stock belonging to Mr Watson”. Hugh Watson was the leading proponent of
Southdown sheep in Scotland and continued with his flocks until the
displenishing sale held at Belmont Home Farm in 1850.
Perthshire Wool
Market
About 1834 Inverness instituted a wool and sheep market and
Hugh Watson attended its inauguration.
However, Inverness was somewhat distant from Strathmore and Watson
clearly felt that Perth would be a better location for such a market for sheep farmers
in Perthshire and Forfarshire. He
immediately proposed such a venture to the civil authorities in Perth and a
sheep and wool fair was held for the first time in July 1835. The fair was successful and at the
celebratory dinner after the 1838 market, one speaker referred to Hugh Watson
as “an independent and intelligent man and a most successful
agriculturalist”. The following year he
received further praise for his role in initiating the market when Sir John
Richardson spoke about the founding of the market. “With respect to the establishment of the
Wool Fair to which Provost Greig has referred I would say ferat qui meruit palmam (Let whoever earns the palm wear it). The Wool Fair was first suggested by my
excellent and intelligent friend Mr Hugh Watson of Keillor. I deserve very little credit in the matter
although I did what in me lay to get it established; but to the intelligence
assiduity and perseverance of Mr Watson are the City and County mainly indebted
for possessing it.”
Hugh Watson and horse breeding
Hugh Watson bred horses at Keillor and his sales of cattle
and sheep were often accompanied by the disposal of horses. His equine production, however, was not
specialised and his breeding efforts seemed mostly to serve the transport and
traction needs of his farms, the excess being sold, though on occasion he did
show his horses and win prizes. The
horses fell into several categories, including hunters, hacknies, Highland
ponies and cart horses. About 1823 he
also appears to have raced horses and on one occasion he is known to have
attended the St Leger racecourse at Doncaster.
Transport investment
- the Defiance coach
Before the completion of the railway link from Edinburgh to
Aberdeen in 1850, the journey between the two cities was tedious and took about
two days by stage coach. In early 1828
Hugh Watson and Captain Robert Barclay discussed the lack of a rapid coach link
down the east coast of Scotland and considered the commercial prospects of
introducing a “Gentleman’s” service which could cover the journey from one city
to the other within a day. On 1 July
1829 the “Defiance” service was initiated with a coach leaving Aberdeen at 5am,
driven by Captain Barclay. The promoters
and owners of the coach were Robert Barclay and Hugh Watson. Coupar Angus in Strathmore was reached at
1.45pm, having stopped for 25 minutes to allow the passengers to take
breakfast. Along the route people came
out to view the splendid coach. It was
renowned for its light weight (allowing higher speeds) and relative
comfort. There was the inevitable
celebratory dinner held in Coupar Angus the same afternoon at the Defiance
hotel, with William Maule MP presiding and Hugh Watson acting as croupier. Local gentlemen were so delighted with the
service that they later presented Barclay and Watson each with a piece of
plate, the three guards on the coach were each gifted a handsome Kent bugle and
the coachmen received whips. However,
this was a service which met the needs only of the wealthy and by 1850 it had
been terminated, killed off by a new and disruptive technology, the steam train
running on steel rails.
Sadly, in 1854 Robert Barclay died as the result of injuries
inflicted by a horse kick. Hugh Watson
acted as agent for the sale of the Ury estate near Stonehaven, which had
belonged to his friend and former business partner.
Transport investment
- Hugh Watson and the railways
The lack of an appropriate means of transport effectively
limited the access that Strathmore farmers had to the most important markets
for their cattle and sheep. Hugh Watson
was familiar with this drawback and, due to his status in the agricultural
community he was asked to give evidence, in 1845, to the Railway Committee
investigating the proposal to build a line linking Aberdeen to the network
leading to Edinburgh and onwards into England. He spoke on the agricultural
transport needs of Strathmore. The early
familiarity that he gained of the plans of the railway promoters clearly led
him to view railways as an investment prospect.
In 1845 the Scottish Midland Junction Railway Company (SMJR)
was authorised to construct a line linking Perth with Forfar. It held its first meeting of shareholders in
September of that year. Hugh Watson was
an investor in, and a director of, the company from the start. At the second meeting in March 1846, Hugh
Watson was elevated to the chair. He was
clearly valued by his fellow directors for his business acumen and not just his
financial contribution to the project. In
1848 he was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the company. This was a time of frenetic railway building
across Great Britain and other schemes were quickly promoted which would
collectively formed a rail network linking Aberdeen with the rest of Scotland
and beyond. In September 1847 the
foundation stone of the General Railway Terminus at Perth was laid by Fox
Maule, MP, with all the pomp of full Masonic honours. Hugh Watson was present representing the SMJR.
The Perth to Forfar link was opened in August 1848. Two proposals were then made to extend the
railway from Forfar to Aberdeen, one by the SMJR and one by the Aberdeen
Railway Company (AR). The SMJR did not
gain approval and later, in 1856, the SMJR merged with the AR to form the
Scottish North Eastern Railway (SNER).
Hugh Watson was involved with other railway proposals too,
such as the Dundee and Newtyle Railway, where he was both a shareholder and a
director. This railway, conveniently,
terminated close to Keillor farm. In
1846 Watson was reported as having invested almost £29,000 (about £3.346
million in 2018 money) in rail ventures.
The expanding rail network was quickly utilised by the Royal
Family for their annual pilgrimage to Balmoral.
In September 1850, the Queen, Prince Albert and their children performed
the laying of the foundation stone of the National Gallery in Edinburgh before
travelling on by train through Stirling to Perth. There they were met by directors of the SMJR,
including Hugh Watson, before travelling on to Coupar Angus, a journey time of
30 minutes. The directors also travelled
on the Royal train and at Coupar Angus there was another welcoming party. Mrs Watson and her children, no doubt decked
out in their finery, were present at the station. The Royal party then travelled on by coach
through Glenshee to Balmoral. The
following year, 1851, the railway had progressed as far as Aberdeen and
Stonehaven was the terminus for the Royal journey. This time their coach route was over the Slug
road to mid-Deeside, not much shorter than the journey via Glenshee, but
perhaps the Royal party wanted to see a different part of the country. Hugh Watson was, as usual, on duty to greet the
Royal visitors at Perth. In 1852, the
Queen and her party again took the route through Glenshee. By 1857 the Royal travellers were able to continue
on from Perth to Blairgowrie by train, before proceeding to Braemar and then on
to Balmoral by horse-power.
Hugh Watson’s involvement with railway developments was
becoming more substantial, not just as an investor but also as an active board
member. By 1855 he was regularly
chairing meetings of the board and of the proprietors of the SMJR. In that year he was awarded 100gns by the
shareholders of the SMJR for his efforts in relation to the development of the
Blairgowrie and Kirriemuir branch lines.
After the amalgamation of the SMJR and the AR in 1856, to form the SNER,
Hugh Watson was appointed a director of the new company, at an annual fee of
£600. Even after retirement Hugh Watson
continued with his railway involvement.
In 1861, after he had moved to his retirement home near Perth, he became
a member of the provisional committee promoting the formation of the Scottish
Northern Junction Railway Company which aimed to link the two rail termini at
Aberdeen, one coming in from the north and one from the south, a particularly
tricky venture given the built-up nature of the city. Interestingly, Robert Walker of Portlethen
and William McCombie of Easter Skene, both famous breeders of polled cattle, were
also members of that committee. Hugh
Watson’s last-known involvement with the railways was in 1862 when he attended
a social meeting for the employees of the SNER, when about 1200 persons were
present. Shortly afterwards serious
ill-health confined him to his room at Keillor.
Politics and
protection
Politically, Hugh Watson was a supporter of the Conservative
party and he frequently attended meetings addressed by prospective
Parliamentary candidates. In 1851 it was
rumoured that he intended to seek the nomination for the constituency of
Forfarshire, standing on a platform of tariff-based protection for British
farmers, but nothing came of this rumour.
However, on the general matter of protection, particularly
the retention of the Corn Laws, he was a vociferous and persistent
advocate. The Corn Laws had been
introduced in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars to shield British land
owners and farmers from competition with Continental grain producers and
exporters. These laws remained in place
until 1846 when they were abolished under the premiership of Sir Robert Peel (a
Conservative) with the support of the Whigs.
Hugh Watson made an economic calculation of the impact of free trade on
the profitability of his farm and published the data in Blackwood’s Magazine in
January 1850. He was widely ridiculed
for his pessimistic analysis, which claimed that he made a loss by farming
under conditions of free trade. Watson
stood his ground. He became a member of
the council of the Scottish Protective Association and was a member of a
delegation which went to London to see Prime Minister, Lord John Russell. Russell, a Whig, gave the delegation no
encouragement. At a meeting held by
supporters of protection in the Crown and Anchor tavern, Watson gave an
emotional speech in support of another attendee. He had been incensed by the claim of their
opponents that tenant farmers “had
neither the moral nor the physical courage to stand up and insist upon their
rights” and quoted from Shakespear’s Macbeth in rousing his audience. “Come on, Macduff, and damned be he who first
cries – Hold, enough.”
Back in the north east of Scotland the rural opposition to
free trade did not die down for some time.
The local minister at Bendochy, near Coupar Angus, Rev James Barty,
wrote letters to the press from a mythical countryman, “Peter Plough” defending
farmers from what he saw as unfair claims made against them. A delegation of farmers, including Hugh
Watson, waited on him and made a presentation to show their appreciation for his
support. But the farmers got no encouragement
from the towns, where free trade was popular, as it reduced the cost on food. The agricultural industry had to adapt to the
new reality.
Social attitudes and
interests
Hugh Watson’s life was dominated by farming and
business. That is what he was good at
and that is where he largely spent his time.
But other matters did occasionally command his attention. He felt that there was a common interest in
the landlords, tenants and farm servants working together to their mutual
benefit and this theme surfaced from time to time in his after-dinner
speeches.
In 1854 an “Association for improving the dwellings and
domestic conditions of agricultural labourers” was formed and Hugh Watson gave
evidence at the inaugural meeting in Edinburgh. His statement showed that he had worked out an
effective servant strategy, which he applied to his own farm. “Witness
does not approve of the bothy system where it can be avoided. Upon his own farm he encourages the cottage
system; two thirds of his farm servants are married, they are much steadier
than men living in bothies and he besides gets the labour of their families;
most of them are employed all the year round at moderate wages which is an
advantage to them and they are absolutely necessary to him. Men who live in bothies never form the same
attachment in their places, or to their employers, as those who live in
cottages. The former are constantly
moving about from place to place, being all unmarried. Amongst the latter he has servants who have
been 25 years with him.” One
particularly loyal servant was James Thompson who looked after “Old Grannie”
all her life. He served Hugh Watson for
42 years. There were also loyal female
servants inside the Keillor farmhouse. William McCombie of Easter Skene was
also a supporter of the Association and William McCombie of Tillyfour was
equally enlightened on the matter of the conditions of farm servants - see William McCombie (1805 – 1880), “creator of
a peculiarly excellent sort of bullocks” on this blogsite. In 1856 Hugh Watson reported that for the last two years he had been
improving the cottages on his farm at his own expense and he believed he had
been rewarded by increased rent or reduced wages from satisfied farm workers.
In 1847 when the spread of potato blight to the Highlands
caused a starvation crisis, Hugh Watson made a proposal to employ poor
Highlanders throughout Scotland and relieve their conditions through
remunerated work. His paper appeared in
the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.
Each parish in the non-Highland areas of Scotland was to take at least
20 impoverished Highland families to work on the land, thus removing the want
of labour caused by farm servants leaving for manufacturing and railway
employment. Drawing on his own railway
experience he suggested that 2000 men could immediately find work in railway
construction on the line from Stirling to Perth and onwards to Forfar. Putting his money where his mouth was, he
declared, “I am ready to accommodate
six to ten families on my own farms.” It
is not known if anything came of this proposal.
Hugh Watson was
also a supporter of the Mechanics’ Institutes and other self-help organisations
for the working classes to try to wean them away from destructive social practices,
such as drinking alcohol and gambling. He
frequently chaired meetings held in the Mechanics’ Institute in Coupar Angus.
However, he did not seem to involve himself with charitable giving, the only
such gift detected from him being the donation of six large sacks of oat chaff
to the Matron of Dundee Royal Infirmary for the patients’ beds. This was a rather modest gift for such a
wealthy man!
Hugh Watson regularly appealed to, or cajoled, the landlords
to support their tenants. For example,
in 1843 at the dinner following the Highland show at Dundee he replied to a
toast given to the tenantry of Scotland.
He asked the landlords to
help the tenants in improving their estates and asked them to cherish the
tenants, as an act of self-interest.
The Church of Scotland enjoyed the fervent support of Hugh
Watson throughout his life. He was an
elder of the church in Newtyle, where he and his wife were married and would be
buried and, on several occasions, he was elected as a delegate to the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Prayer books still exist at Newtyle which were presented by Hugh Watson
and endorsed by his own hand.
Hugh Watson served as a JP for some years and in 1860, in
this capacity, he witnessed the taking of the oath of allegiance by Rifle
Volunteers at Newtyle. He was a
supporter of the Volunteer movement, as were Lord and Lady Wharncliffe, and
Watson attended the dinner held at Belmont Castle following a Volunteers’ rifle
competition the same year. As usual, he
was called to reply to a toast on behalf of the tenantry of Strathmore.
The assured farmer from Keillor was not afraid to lock horns
with officialdom. In 1846 he sued Charles Donaldson, Tacksman of Customs,
West Port Dundee for £1 14s 8d overcharged for barley sent into the burgh for
export, but stored for a few days before being shipped, rather than taken
directly to a vessel. It would have
attracted the higher rate of tax if it had been used in the burgh. Watson won his case and the overcharge, plus
expenses, was commanded to be returned.
Retirement
Hugh Watson had
taken on two other farms in addition to Keillor, Auchtertyre in 1830 after the
death of his father, William, and the Home farm at Belmont Castle. In 1850, when he would have been 63, Hugh
Watson began an apparently phased retirement from the farming business, when
the whole stock of sheep and horses at Belmont Home Farm were disposed of by
public roup. A further major sale of
cattle occurred at the farm of Auchtertyre in 1853. Watson finally retired in 1861, aged 74, when
his remaining stock at Keillor farm was sold.
His cattle were in great demand and commanded high prices. William McCombie of Tillyfour, who by this
date was recognised as Hugh Watson’s successor to the title of the most noted
improver of dodded black cattle, was a major buyer of Keillor animals at the
roup.
When he retired,
Hugh Watson still had four years to run on his then current lease of Keillor farm. Lord Wharncliffe, long an admirer of Hugh
Watson, let the farm to Mr George Patullo, Merchant, Forebank Dundee at a rent
of £1400 p.a. Hugh Watson was paying
£780 p.a. Hugh Watson received the
balance of the increased rent. Keillor farm
was described in the following terms. “Eight
hundred and seventeen imperial acres, of which 530 – 540 are arable and the
rest hill and other pasture, fences and roads.
Arable land is sub-divided and enclosed.
Hill pasture is fenced. Farm
steading is complete and in good order.
Dwelling house good and commodious with garden and pleasant grounds.”
On his retirement
in 1861, a complimentary dinner was given to Hugh Watson at Coupar Angus. William Watson of Bimms, his oldest son, was
one of those present. Hugh Watson was
very emotional on this occasion, his voice being tremulous during his response
to a speech in his honour, which reflected on his career. At the request of the Chairman, Hugh Watson
sang, with much spirit and expression “The ewie wi’ the crookit horn” and, at his
own request, Captain Thomas sang “Gae fetch to me a pint o’ wine”! It must have been a remarkable occasion.
Hugh Watson’s family
Hugh Watson married Margaret Rose in 1824, when he was 37
and his wife was 19. She was the
daughter of an estate factor from Nairnshire, though at the time of her
marriage she was living in the parish of St Vigeans, Forfarshire. The couple went on to have a family of 13
children, including seven girls. This
brood included two sets of same-sex twins.
At least two sons became farmers, William and George and at least four
sons emigrated, William to Oregon and George, Adam and Patrick to Australia. In 1840 Hugh Watson attended a meeting of
gentlemen interested in the colony of New South Wales. It was addressed by Thomas Barker of
Sydney. Was this the stimulus which led
three of his sons to leave for the Antipodes?
Of the girls, Margaret married Richard Jackson Jones who hailed from a
wealthy English family. He seemed to
live the life of a gentleman of leisure and died at an early age. Janet married Samuel Fergusson, who became the
manager of an insurance company and was also a landowner. Mary married William Newall, who was a captain
in the Gordon Highlanders and Elizabeth married James McGregor, a Dundee rope
and sail manufacturer. Some of the girls
appeared to remain unmarried and several of them died in young adulthood.
Due to his ill-health, Hugh Watson and his wife Margaret did
not long enjoy their retirement at The Den, Kinnoull, near Perth. Hugh died in November 1865 and his wife
followed him almost exactly a year later.
Both were buried at Newtyle, the church where Hugh had been baptised and
where the couple was married. It was the
church he had served all his life. As
was typical of the man, he had thought out his succession plans and appointed
executors to look after his affairs. His
wife received liferent on his assets and she and any unmarried daughters were
to live together at The Den.
Interestingly, and in marked contrast to most wills of the time, the
bulk of his assets were subsequently to be passed to his daughters or, if
deceased, their surviving children. He
gave his reasoning quite briefly. “Inasmuch as I have already furnished each
of my sons with an outfit and established them in life, it is not necessary to
make any large provision for them… .”
His personal estate was valued at £5,266 (about £632,000 in 2018
money). William, his senior son, who
took up the profession of cattle farmer, was to receive Hugh Watson’s awards
from the showring.
The legacy of Hugh
Watson
A project such as the present one generates a plethora of
detail on an individual’s life and a part of the biographer’s task is to winnow
the grain from the chaff. But, having
done that, it is then usually straightforward to distil the essence of the
person and to identify the fundamental properties of personality which
propelled the subject along the route to success.
In the case of Hugh Watson, he was clearly an intelligent
and analytical man who could solve problems by performing his own agricultural
experiments and acting on the results.
This showed most clearly in his work on sheep breeding in relation to
the conditions on his farms in Strathmore, where his Southdowns and
Southdown/Leicester crosses combined hardiness and weight gain with wool and
meat quality to optimise his financial returns.
Although the direct evidence has been lost, due to the antagonism
generated in the production of the first volume of the polled cattle herd book,
it is likely that his improvement of the polled Angus cattle was similarly innovative
and seems probably to have involved hybridisation with Galloways (and possibly
also Shorthorns and, even Guernseys), followed by back-crossing to Angus
animals. His approach to agriculture was
always highly commercial and it is not surprising that he should have become
wealthy through his farming activities.
Hugh Watson also showed that he could innovate in
agricultural areas not directly related to the production of cattle and
sheep. The employment of Bell’s
mechanical reaper, the promotion of the Perth sheep and wool market, the use of
bone dust and the installation of a bone crusher at Keillor to supply the
district, all fell into this category.
Nor was agriculture the only arena in which his commercial
talents were on display. His investments
in transport, particularly in the railways in North East Scotland and his
directorial involvement with railway companies showed that his talents could
transfer to areas outside farming. His
analysis of the problems associated with restless farm servants, his proven
solutions to these personnel problems and his willingness to back his ideas
with his own money, also spoke eloquently to the qualities of the man.
Hugh Watson built a reputation as a producer of fine cattle
and sheep which was so well-known that “Keillor”, in effect, became a brand,
which was recognised as a mark of quality throughout Britain, Ireland and
beyond. With time and long after his
death he is currently and justifiably recognised as the most important early
breeder of polled Aberdeen Angus cattle, a breed which rose to world domination
in the market for quality beef. Most
Aberdeen Angus herds at present extant can trace their origins, at least in
part, to beasts emerging from Keillor farm in the first half of the 19th
century. That is a remarkable legacy,
but it is to be hoped that his other achievements will not be lost in the glare
of admiration surrounding that signal achievement.
Don Fox
20180622
donaldpfox@gmail.com
donaldpfox@gmail.com
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ReplyDeletehello, we are trying to reach you because we would like to interview you on Hugh Watson for a documentary we are making right now. Please let us know where and how to contact you. Thank you very much. Verane Frediani
ReplyDeletemy email address is : vfamarone@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI’m the last Watson, under my Farther and Uncle, in Far North Qld Australia, my 3rd Great Grandfather was Hugh’s youngest son Patrick Watson, who came to Far North Qld Australia
ReplyDeleteThis article was great thank you
Warwick Watson
trekandtravel2016@gmail.com