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The Wintercott Tribes of T Edwards
Thomas Edwards started keeping Herefords before the emergence of the Herd Book of 1845. Many of his tribes do go back to his early faming days. The two of significance are the Maria and Plum tribes. He has a third of interest today, that of his Pretty Maid tribe, the dam line that produced Tarrington Broadside, one of the most important bulls produced at Tarrington after Tarrington Optimist.
Thomas Edwards came to prominence when his bull Leominster 1654 won at the Royal Show of 1860. This success had come through carefull breeding, he went on to use Adforton, a bull bred by W Tudge, and Tomboy a son of Sir Thomas bred by John Monkhouse of the Stow. After the death of Thomas Edwards, the cattle were inherited by his widow, who formed a partnership with their nephew, Allen Edwards Hughes. It was this partnership which bred Anxiety 4th, whose influence the United States of America is incalcuable. The partnership was dissolved in 1881 and Mr Hughes contiued to breed Hereford in his own right for a further thirty seven years.
The Maria tribe started with a cow called Lovely by Conningsby 2nd, and this family stayed as an 'L' family until Lilian (38/532), after which time A E Hughes changed the nominated letter to 'M' and the Maria family was underway. At A E Hughes dispersal R T Hinkes of Mansel purchased the cow Maria (50/1018), and she started the Mansel Maria family. The line at Mansel was maintained for several generations before a member was sold to the Trewarren herd of D C Llewellin. Mrs R S de Q Quincey then purchased Trewarren Maria L13 for her Blackaldern herd. Llandinabo Farms then purchased Blackaldern Magaret (QDC/F3/120) and the Maria family at Llandinabo is the present base for this family.
The Plum tribe was the outstanding tribe at Wintercott, and one of the best tribes at the Wickton herd of F J Newman. The Plum tibe at Wickton has three families, Plum, Potency and Patch. However, just to confuse matters slightly the present day Plum and Potency families come entirely from the Potency line at Wickton. The other families are in the AI bulls section, where lines from both of the other two families are present. Females from the three families were purchased by many of the best herds in the breed at the Wickton dispersal in 1942.
The Plum tribe at Wintercott were extremely successful not just in the showring but also on the farm. In their time at Wintercott this tribe produced nineteen class winners at Royal Shows, both male and female. Two Royal Show Champions are included in those nineteen, Protector and Britisher. Plum 3rd (11/152) produced two young bull class winners in President 1880, and Washington, 1884. She was also the mother of Iroquois, by Lord Wilton, a bull used extensively at Hampton Court (J H Arkwright). One of Plum 3rd (11/152) female offspring was Newton Plum (18/433) dam of Protector. The present day line of the Plum tribe ascends from Newton Plum through several generations to the dispersal of A E Hughes's herd where the Newman Bros purchased Patch 2nd (50/627) and her heifer calf Potency (52/508). It was from Patch 2nd that the Patch line at Wickton is descended, while Potency produced the Potency and then the Plum lines. Potency 7th (67/505) was sold by F J Newman to G P Pollitt of the Quisne herd. At the Quisne dispersal Potency 7th (67/505) was then sold to Captain de Q Quincey. The cow Quisne Plum 3rd (71/564) was sold to the Warwick herd of G Lewis. He sold the offspring of this cow Warwick Plum (77/472) to the Claverdon herd of I A R Stedeford, who sold her offspring Claverdon Peach (84/594) to C H Morris from the Weston herd at Pembridge. At the Weston herd dispersal in 1960 Weston Peach Jelly (93/1089) was sold to R Wylie and his Elford herd, from where Potency 2nd (94/1149) was purchased by E A Downton of Springhill. The Potency family today come from this source.
The Plum family in today's Club herd comes from Potency 7th (67/505)'s purchase by Captain de Q Quincey at the Quisne dispersal. The Plum family at the Vern produced several famous members, including Dragee Plum Vern 12th (87/681), Vern Drummer 87668, and Vern Logic 120400 who was used extensively at the Vern before being sold for £20,000 to Sir Ellerton Becker of the Aldersend herd of the 1960's; and Vern Blum 83806 whose dam was Plum Vern 2nd (77/606), mother of Dragee Plum Vern 12th (87/681). A great grandaughter of Dragee Plum Vern 12th (87/681) was purchased by F Klein for his Kleine Herd, from where F M Symonds purchased the cow Kleine Plum 5th (FAK/J2/105), to form the base of today's Plum family. There are several bulls in the AI section from different lines of this tribe, but all come from the purchase of Patch 2nd (50/627) by Newman Bros from A E Hughes. The fact that this tribe survived at all is remarkable, the fact that it is such an important and as widespread as it is, is a reflection of the quality and prepotency of this line.
The Pretty Maid tribe although no longer a living tribe today, has contributed to
the breed in general in that it is the tribe that produced the bull Tarrington Broadside
65538, considered by H R Griffiths and many others to be the best bull he ever bred.
He was out of Pershore Boundless (58/499), by Tarrington Do-
