I remembered a name for some 70-odd years

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Our nephew messaged tonight asking if we had old photos from my mother’s side of the family. We do have some and have arranged to give him copies at some point. He also asked if we knew anything about Suffolk Punches that he thought might have been used by the family on the farm. The Suffolk Punch is one of the British breeds of heavy draught horses. It is always chestnut in colour and, because it was bred in an area where the soil is extremely heavy and goes to mud in the winter, it has very little ‘feather’ or hair on its fetlocks (immediately above its hooves). You can see the ‘clean’ legs in the photo. The Clydesdale was more popular in Australia but Mum used to talk about their Suffolk stallion called Camden Dictator and how quiet he was. He would come to the kitchen window for a handout if he got the chance. For some reason, I’ve always remembered his name. The nephew messaged later saying that, using Trove, a free Australian online research portal, he’d found where Camden Dictator had been sold in the Eastern States for over 100 guineas which would have been a high price at the time. It even had his month and year of birth – December 1906. The photo is from Wikimedia courtesy Amanda Slater from Coventry, England, via Wikimedia Commons