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Cattle Breeders and Breed Pioneers

Robert Barclay-Allardice, the Laird of Ury Whose Bulls Seeded Sittyton

The Aberdeenshire laird known as Captain Barclay is credited with helping set the Shorthorn on its path in Scotland.

Who was Captain Barclay of Ury?

Robert Barclay-Allardice was born in 1779 and died in 1854. He was the laird of Ury, an estate in northeast Scotland, and he is usually remembered by his army title, Captain Barclay. A genealogy of the family notes that the estate came to him when his father, Robert Barclay, died in 1797, and that he preferred to live at a rented property in England rather than at Ury.

Popular memory leans toward sport. The Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Foundation profile recalls that in 1809 he became famous as an endurance walker, covering 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours for a 1,000-guinea wager, one mile in each hour over 42 days and nights. Cattle people know him for a quieter reason.

What did Barclay do for the Shorthorn?

The same portrait profile credits him with advancing the foundation of the Shorthorn in Aberdeenshire. It adds that his grandfather and father had improved thousands of acres, which made the county a leader in farming. The Shorthorn was then a young breed: the first Shorthorn herd book had been published by George Coates in 1822.

Country Life's history of the Shorthorn goes further and credits Barclay with introducing Shorthorns to Scotland, the point at which the breed took off. It describes him as a hard-living Regency sportsman whose gambling debts forced frequent sales, and says those sales spread Shorthorns widely. That is the magazine's account, and the sources consulted do not give figures for his herd or his sales.

How did Ury cattle reach Sittyton?

The link that matters most for beef history runs through a tenant farm called Sittyton. According to the Saddle and Sirloin profile of Amos Cruikshank, Amos and his brother Anthony began breeding dual-purpose Shorthorns in 1837 using foundation bulls from Barclay-Allardice's herd.

Sittyton was a tenant farm in Aberdeenshire, and the profile says it was most productive after 1860, the year Champion of England was sired. In 1871 the Cruickshanks sent stock to America and Canada, which made Sittyton one of the most famous Scottish herds. Amos Cruikshank lived from 1808 to 1895, and the spelling of his surname varies between sources.

The Key to Barclay's Influence

Barclay left no known account of his breeding goals, so these points come only from what others record. They also include the uncomfortable side of the story, because the record ties his reach to money trouble.

Whether he meant to found a tradition is unknown. What the record supports is that his cattle reached a farmer who could build on them.

  • He kept Shorthorns early, at a time when the breed's first herd book was less than two decades old.
  • He built on estate improvement begun by his father and grandfather, who had worked thousands of acres.
  • His bulls went to the Cruickshanks in 1837, and they built the Sittyton herd over several decades.
  • Country Life reports that debts forced frequent sales, which spread Shorthorn blood across the region.
  • He wrote as well as bred: his 1842 book compared farms in the United States and Upper Canada with British practice.

Barclay's travels and his 1842 book

In 1842 he published Agricultural Tour of the United States and Upper Canada, in which he compared the farms he visited with British methods. The portrait profile gives no further detail on the trip.

The 1871 export of Sittyton stock to America and Canada came long after his death, but it sent cattle descended from the herd he had supplied to the same two countries he had toured.

Legacy and the 1903 portrait

After his death in 1854, Ury passed out of the family. The genealogy dates the sale to Alexander Baird to 1854, and says Baird demolished the Barclay house and built a new one.

In 1903 Barclay-Allardice was among those added to the Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery, a series commissioned that year by Henry F. Brown. The portrait was painted by Robert Wadsworth Grafton from an earlier portrait by James R. Stuart. Readers who want more on breed history can browse the ranching pages at farm.FM or read a farm.FM story on Shorthorn history.

Timeline

  1. 1779Robert Barclay-Allardice born
  2. 1797Inherits the Ury estate on his father's death
  3. 1809Completes the 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours walk
  4. 1822George Coates publishes the first Shorthorn herd book
  5. 1837Amos and Anthony Cruikshank begin their Shorthorn herd with bulls from his herd
  6. 1842Publishes Agricultural Tour of the United States and Upper Canada
  7. 1854Dies; Ury sold to Alexander Baird
  8. 1903Added to the Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery

Frequently asked questions

Who was Captain Barclay of Ury?

Robert Barclay-Allardice (1779 to 1854) was the laird of Ury in northeast Scotland. He was famous as an endurance walker and is credited with advancing the Shorthorn in Aberdeenshire.

What is the link between Barclay and Sittyton?

The Saddle and Sirloin profile of Amos Cruikshank says Amos and his brother Anthony started their Shorthorn breeding in 1837 using foundation bulls from Barclay-Allardice's herd.

Why is he in the Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery?

He was added in 1903 for his role in the Shorthorn's foundation in Aberdeenshire. The profile says the series was commissioned that year by Henry F. Brown.

Did he really introduce Shorthorns to Scotland?

Country Life makes that claim, though other sources describe the Shorthorn foundation in Aberdeenshire in more cautious terms. Treat it as a widely repeated credit, not a precisely dated event.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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