William McCombie MP (1805 – 1 February 1880), was a leading Scottish cattle breeder and

agriculturist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the U ...

; he was also known as "the grazier king" or the "king of graziers".

Life

Born at Tillyfour Farm in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, the home of his father, Charles McCombie, a farming cattle dealer with Highland roots. He was the cousin of William McCombie of Cairnballoch (1809-1870), the founder editor of the radical '' Aberdeen Free Press''. He is said to be descended from Daniel Makomby also known as Makomby-More (big Makomby) who died in July 1714. After receiving his education at a local school, he attended

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

in Aberdeen but despite his father's reservations, he sought to follow him in an agricultural career. Initially, McCombie's employment was within the extensive family farming business, part of which was transporting cattle to the borders of Scotland and into England for fattening. During the 1820s he rented the arable Tillyfour Farm from his father and began the process of building up his own herd of black polled cattle. The herd already on the farm when he leased it were quality animals and influenced by Lord Panmure, McCombie blended two types of polled cattle from the Aberdeen and Angus varieties to form the basis of the black

Aberdeen Angus The Aberdeen Angus, sometimes simply Angus, is a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. It derives from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine and Angus in north-eastern Scotland. In 2018 the breed accounted for over 17 ...

cattle. McCombie referred to the date he founded his herd as 1832, which was the year his cattle gained a first prize in exhibitions. Over five hundred prizes were won by his cattle throughout the UK and at major exhibitions in France. When

rinderpest Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wildebeests, and warthogs ...

struck northeast cattle herds in 1865, McCombie organised Aberdeenshire farmers to raise a compensation fund that made possible the rigorous slaughter policy that extirpated the disease, thus providing the model for modern disease control measures among farm stock. In 1867 his book ''Cattle and Cattlebreeders'' was published; three further editions were later printed. He became the first

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

elected to a Scottish constituency in 1868 when he represented the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

as the western division of Aberdeen Member of Parliament. He was returned with a majority in 1874 but two years later, in 1876, ill health caused him to resign his seat. He died on 1 February 1880 aged 74 and is memorialised in the churchyard at

Kirkton of Tough Kirkton of Tough, usually shortened to Tough ( ), is a settlement in the Marr area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland at . It is about southeast of Alford and from Edinburgh. Tough is where the Aberdeen Angus breed of cattle was first bred. The chu ...

in Aberdeensahire.Aberdeenshire Epitaphs and Inscriptions: Tough He never married and died a bachelor at Tillyfour on 1 February 1880. The cattle herd was sold at a disposal sale in August 1880.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCombie, William Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Scottish Liberal Party MPs 1805 births 1880 deaths UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880