The Shire Horse Society
It is impossible to close this slight review of the history of the breed without reference to the very important services which have been rendered by the Shire Horse Society. This Society originated in the work of a few men who desired to make an organised endeavour to improve and promote the breeding of the English cart horse by distributing sound and healthy sires throughout the country. Public attention was first drawn to the matter in the year 1877, when Mr. Frederic Street read his paper on “The Shire Horse” at the Farmers’ Club.
The Society was founded in 1878 as the “English Cart Horse Society,” it became in 1884 the “Shire Horse Society”: and under the latter name has continued to confer on tenant farmers the benefits which accrued from the date of its establishment. The work of the Society and the eagerness with which breeders have availed themselves of its labours may be seen from the nineteen volumes of its Stud Book. The first volume is a monument of painstaking research; it contains the pedigrees of upwards of 2,380 stallions, many of which were foaled in the last century. These invaluable records were supplied by members from almost every county in England; and their compilation was a task to which Mr. R. S. Reynolds devoted years. The second volume was published the year after the first, and the Stud Book has since been published annually. The nineteenth volume issued at the beginning of the present year shows the total number of animals registered to be 42,304, viz., 17,101 stallions and 25,203 mares.
The entries during the current year are, I am informed, not far behind the large total of 1897; this is the more gratifying in view of the fact that more stringent conditions of registration have been imposed. It is not desired to overload these pages with statistics; but the following few figures quoted from the Report of the Council in March last will serve to show the progress made in the last fourteen years.
| 1884 | 1898 | |
| Number of Members | 903 | 2237 |
| Entries in Stud Book for year | 1423 | 3581 |
| Value of Prizes given | £524 | £1200 |
The last eleven volumes of the Stud Book have contained in each year tabulated lists of prizes won; thus displaying fully a very important appendage to a pedigree. The illustrations, some from paintings, others from photographs of stallions and mares which have taken the Championship at the Society’s Annual Show, which are to be found in each volume, possess not only an instructive value for the breeders of the day, but as time goes on will form a series of the utmost interest and importance as the pictorial record of the progress of the breed. The essays on breeding and management which are to be found in these volumes, coming from experts who are not only masters of their respective subjects, but who possess the gift of lucidly conveying their knowledge, enhance the value of the Stud Books in no small degree.
The Show held each spring serves a double purpose in promoting the interests of the breed and keeping breeders in personal touch with one another to the advantage of all. It may be worth giving here, in condensed form, the number of entries received for the Shows of the last ten years since the first edition of this little book was published.
| 1889 | 1890 | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | |
| Stallions | 276 | 480 | 332 | 337 | 294 |
| Mares | 171 | 166 | 165 | 224 | 213 |
| Geldings | — | — | — | — | — |
| 447 | 646 | 497 | 561 | 507 | |
| 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | |
| Stallions | 268 | 241 | 263 | 319 | 300 |
| Mares | 207 | 226 | 223 | 217 | 210 |
| Geldings | — | 22 | 17 | 17 | 16 |
| 475 | 489 | 503 | 553 | 526 |
Many causes operate to produce fluctuation in the numbers of entries; but the general average is well maintained, and the quality of exhibits, as the auctioneers’ returns prove, continues steadily to advance.
The Society has numbered among its Presidents His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who takes a keen personal interest in the breed above all others associated with agriculture, and has owned a stud for many years; the Earl of Ellesmere; Earl Spencer, K.G.; the Hon. Edward Coke; the Earl of Powis; the Duke of Westminster, K.G.; Mr. William Wells of Holme Wood, Peterborough; Lord Egerton of Tatton; Mr. Anthony Hammond of Westacre, Norfolk; Lord Wantage; Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell; Lord Hothfield; Mr. R. W. Sutton Nelthorpe; Lord Belper; Mr. A. C. Duncombe; Lord Tredegar; and Mr. A. B. Freeman Mitford.
For myself I may say in all sincerity that the year 1883, when I had the honour of holding office as President of the Society, and the year 1897 when again I was paid the compliment of being asked to fill the Presidential chair will always remain in memory as among the pleasantest in a tolerably active life.
Works by SIR WALTER GILBEY, Bart.,
Published by Vinton & Co., 9 New Bridge Street, London, E.C.
Modern Carriages
Poultry-Keeping on Farms and Small Holdings
Published 1904
Early Carriages and Roads
Published 1903
Thoroughbred and Other Ponies
Published 1903
Hunter Sires
Published 1903
Horses for the Army—a suggestion
Published 1902
Octavo, paper covers, 6d.
Horse-breeding in England and India, and Army Horses Abroad
Published 1901
Riding & Driving Horses, their Breeding & Rearing
Published 1901
Small Horses in Warfare
Published 1900
Horses Past and Present
Published 1900
Animal Painters of England
Published 1900
The Great Horse or War Horse
Published 1899
Harness Horses
Published 1898
Young Race Horses—suggestions
Published 1898
Life of George Stubbs, R.A.
Published 1898
Notes
A The falconer’s term for the male Lanner—a small hawk.
B Harness Horses. By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. Published by Vinton & Co., London.