Robin Longbottom looks at how an American consul used his passion for horses to help breeders back home

IN 1893, Claude Meeker – of Columbus, Ohio – was appointed American consul in Bradford.

He was particularly pleased to obtain the position because he was a Bronte enthusiast.

His posting gave him an opportunity to visit Haworth and during his period in office he wrote an article for a ‘transatlantic journal’ about the village and the history of the Bronte family. It was later reprinted in the form of a pamphlet.

However, the Brontes were not his only interest; his other was horses and he was captivated by the size and strength of the local draft horses. This led him to write a special consular report on the subject – “with the idea that it might be interesting to the breeders and workers of draft horses in the United States". He wrote: “One of the first impressions I gathered in Bradford was the size and strength of the draft horses. To see the great, shaggy-maned, shaggy-legged creatures pulling a cart or heavy van over the granite-paved streets is something certainly to attract a stranger’s attention. The effect of their size and height is increased by the tremendous shoes with which they are shod, which have protruding corks or knobs at the ends, which catch in the interstices of the stone settings and serve a useful purpose in preventing the horses from slipping in wet or frosty weather. Three or four of the giant beasts hauling a heavy load up a steep Bradford hill instantly attracts the visitor.” At this time most of the heavy draft work in America was done by mules which were required in teams of up to 18 or 20 to pull heavy loads.

For his report, Meeker interviewed Prince Smith of Keighley, a spinning machine manufacturer and shire horse owner. He devised a set of nine questions which included the best breed; their working life; the weight in tons that two, three or four horses could pull; their feed and the cost of it and the price of the horses.

Prince Smith responded to the questions in detail, considering shire horses to be the best, then Clydesdales and thirdly the shire/Clydesdale cross. He had 36 draft horses at the works at Burlington Shed and 20 on his farm in Driffield, East Yorkshire. Most of his working horses were aged between nine and 14 and when they reached the age of 16 or 17, they were sold on for farm work. He considered nine years to be the average working life of a horse.

When hauling very heavy loads he thought a waggon with double shafts was preferable, with four horses working two abreast. For lighter loads he recommended a pole waggon, with two horses at either side of the pole and two in front. All his machinery was delivered by horse-drawn waggon where practically possible, with rail used for more distant deliveries. He considered the average height of a heavy horse to be 16.3 hands, but 12 of his horses were just over 17 hands. As regards daily feed he recommended oats, chopped hay and a small portion of bran. However, he said once a week “every horse we have gets a quantity of curried barley, both solid and liquid, this is mixed with bran, linseed oil, salt and sometimes a little sulphur.” Before giving his horses their weekly ‘tonic’, he said his vets bill had been £400 a year and they since paid only an average of £15 a year.

Meeker also received less-detailed information for his report from the manager of the Midland Railway freight department and from a Bradford textile manufacturer.

The consular report on heavy horses was submitted in 1897, the year Claude Meeker returned to Columbus, and perhaps ranks amongst one of the more unusual aspects of ‘industrial espionage’.