Photographs of Celebrated British Shorthorns

The British are as proud of their Shorthorns as Texans are of their Longhorns. In August 1879, shortly before traveling to New Zealand, young Falconer Balston Larkworthy photographed outstanding examples of Shorthorn cattle—a breed developed in Britain over the previous hundred years. He undertook the task “with the view of exhibiting to Colonists the type [of] Shorthorns of Great Britain & affording a comparison between British & Colonial cattle of that breed.” Larkworthy’s publication included the names and full pedigrees of each specimen, but it was the photographic evidence that would prove most descriptive and persuasive.