© Hereford Traditional Cattle Breeders Club Maintained by Local PC Care
S Griffiths’s Tribes
The Amorous tribe descends from one of the three famous tribes of Samuel Griffiths
and his nephew, William Griffiths. Started with a cow by Wellington 1113, this family
progressed with Samuel as the Prettymaids, and with William, to become the "T" line,
one of several lines descended from the Prettymaids. This line has in it the cow
True Love (35/382) which was the dam of Frome Ringer 1st at H&W A S, and 2nd RASE
1910. The cow Trusty (50/557), was sold to Mr P E Bradstock at the Aldersend sale
of 1920 for the sum of 400 ginueas. This purchase gives rise to the famous Free Town
"T" line, which has produced some outstanding cattle for the Free Town herd, including
such bull as Free Town Monarch (104698), the cows Free Town Tip-
Another branch of this tribe produced the cow Britannia (65/300), three times Royal Show champion, 1933, 34, 35, for William Griffiths's son Harry R Griffiths. H R Griffiths is extremely important to the Hereford breed. The Tarrington herd was probably one of the most important herds of the twentieth century. The influence of both male and female animals on the overall herd is enormous. The bull Tarrington Optimist is the bull that heads the bull tail of all Hereford bull lines today. A second Prettymaid family at Tarrington was the "P" line which produced bulls such as Tarrington Punch 62336, sire of Vern Robert 67228, and besides the "P" family at Tarrington the Phyllida family at the Vern.
Today there have been about one hundred and fifty cows bred at Llandinabo, in this line. Over the years they have also been distributed reasonably widely within the club herd. There are several AI bulls bred from this tribe. These include the Llandinabo Pop, directly from this line. Little Tarrington Bonanza, from the Britannia (65/300) line. Free Town Vindicator and Dunure Tarzan from the Free Town Traviata line, and Free Town Voyager from the Twilight line.
The Dowky Tribe again starts with a cow by Wellington 1113. Dowky is the first named cow in the tribe, and the name stays Dowky until Dowky 4th (13/251) and is one of the first cows bred by W Griffiths. William Griffiths at this stage starts to name the cows by letter, and the "D" family is born. There are several lines William Griffiths develops, the more famous of which is that that descends from Duchess (32/399). The other line through Downy (37/492) left us the Haven Sheila family. The Sheila line started from the Aldersend sale of W Griffiths with the cow Dainty (52/300), sold to Mr Bindley at Pamington, who sold the offspring to Mr A Cotton, who produced Munsley Sally (67/236), which was purchased by Mr G Griffiths, grandson of William Griffiths, to start the 'S' family at the Temple Herd. E L Lewis & Son purchased Sheila (85/425), to start the Haven Sheila line from which the bull Haven Jurist is bred. Haven Partner in the AI list is also from this family. Duchess (32/399) bred several lines, one of which Day Dawn (48/816) was bought by F J Newman of Lower Wickton. The family then went to Marlow and then to the Haven of E L Lewis & Son. Marlow Glamour is the bull in the AI list that comes from this line. This family also produced the famous bulls Aldersend Wilton and Quisne Chalk.
The Longhorn tribe is perhaps the most famous of all of the Griffiths tribes. It once again started with a cow by Wellington 1113, and then to another unnamed cow by Rambler 1046. The first named cow Jack by Oliver Cromwell 2658 came next, and the first cow called Longhorns (14/379)bred by S Griffiths is a granddaughter of Jack by Oliver Cromwell 2658. W Griffiths breeds this family to Longhorns 8th (26/372), at which point there are two lines within the herd. Here W Griffiths changes his naming style and produces two families, the "C" family starting with Corona (24/351) and the "L" family starting with Laughter (30/323). The "C" family was further sub divided and the "C" family was added to by the "G" line. This line was very successful both in the show ring and on the farm. It produced the bull Goodenough, Supreme Champion RASE 1919, and sold to P E Bradstock, Free Town, who subsequently sold him to South America for £7000. Others that became recognised including Ringlet, Aldersend Conquorer, Aldersend Mayking, and Tarrrington Mozart. The females became quite widespread including branches in the Free Town Herd (Free Town "G"), the Rowington Herd (Lady Lynda), the Vern (Lynda) and the Wenlock herd, as well as at Tarrington. Free Town Vanguard is the bull in the AI list from this tribe.
