John Ellman (17 October 1753 – 22 November 1832) was an English

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

and stock

breeder A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed, to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist ...

who developed the Southdown breed of

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

Biography

Early life

John Ellman was born on 17 October 1753 in

Hartfield Hartfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The parish also includes the settlements of Colemans Hatch, Hammerwood and Holtye, all lying on the northern edge of Ashdown Forest. Geography The main ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. He moved with his family to Place Farm in Glynde in 1761.

Career

He inherited the

tenancy A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

to the farm with his father's death in 1780, and devoted the largest part of his time and land to rearing the local Southdown breed, changing it from a tall, lean sheep into a more squat and compact one which gave excellent mutton yield while retaining a good fleece. His work would eventually be continued by Jonas Webb of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

to produce the modern form of the breed. He was well regarded by his contemporaries, and won prizes with ease at local and national livestock shows. He was well connected, with several

peers Peers may refer to: People * Donald Peers * Edgar Allison Peers, English academician * Gavin Peers * John Peers, Australian tennis player * Kerry Peers * Mark Peers * Michael Peers * Steve Peers * Teddy Peers (1886–1935), Welsh internationa ...

regularly corresponding with him for the advice on farming which he would give freely, was introduced to

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

, and sold two of his rams to Emperor

Paul I of Russia Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the Pauline Laws, laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules ...

for 300

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

. John Ellman wrote broadly on agricultural subjects, contributing to works such as Arthur Young's ''Annals of Agriculture'' and '' Baxter's Library of Agricultural and Horticultural Knowledge''. He was a founder member of the Sussex Agricultural Society and Smithfield Society. He took great interest in local affairs as a commissioner of taxes and expenditor of Lewes and Laughton Levels, and played a role in the improvement of navigation on the River Ouse and in the redevelopment of Newhaven Harbour. He was also a progressive employer who maintained a school for workers' children in Glynde. He retired in 1829 and his flock was broken up at auction.

Death

He died in 1832 in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

. His tomb is in Glynde churchyard.

References

* Alsager Vian, Ellman, John (1753–1832), rev. G. E. Mingay,

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 200

, accessed 6 Aug 2007. * Brandon, P. and Short, B., 1990: The South-East from AD 1000. Longman. pp223–224 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellman, John 1753 births 1832 deaths People from Hartfield 18th-century English farmers People from Glynde 19th-century English farmers