Aberdeen+Angus+Cattle+Society

=The Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society=

Company Number: SC000926 Date of Incorporation: 20 November 1879 Contact Details: Pedigree House, 6 Kings Place, Perth, PH2 8AD Operating Details: Active (private company, limited by guarantee) Other names (if known): The Polled Cattle Society (1879-1907) Function of Company*: Agricultural Service Activities (0141) Headquarters/Base of Operations Location: Perth, Scotland Area of Operation: Across the UK and Ireland


 * Taken from Standard Industrial Classification 2003, as used by Companies House in 2010

Records
Held By: Private, the catalogue is held at the National Register of Archives for Scotland, NRAS 1389

Scope/type: Minute books 1879-current; General ledgers 1926-current; Various herd books 1840 onward; Export Certificate Books 1887-current; Minutes of Herd Book Editing Committee 1880-current; Scrapbooks from 1880; Photographs, prints and paintings of cattle from 19th century

Conditions governing access/use: These records are held privately, and their access is restricted. All enquiries should be addressed to The Registrar, National Register of Archives for Scotland, HM General Register House, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY

Related records: There is a BT2 file in the National Archives of Scotland, though it appears to have been opened because of the name change of the Society rather than because of its dissolution.

Company History
See [] for a history of the breeding of Aberdeen-Angus cattle. The company began as the Polled Cattle Society in 1840, under which name it was incorporated in 1879. The Aberdeen-Angus breed was first established in the early nineteenth century, principally by Hugh Watson, though his work was developed and mapped by William McCombie and Sir George Macpherson-Grant. In 1907 it changed its name to The Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society, which it has operated under ever since.

The aim of the society is to safeguard the pedigree of the Aberdeen-Angus breed of cattle through use of registration of cattle and the updating of the herd book (first conceived in 1862- presumably the other herd books held above relate to herds other breeds or non-pedigree cattle). The Society also seeks to promote the breed, and arranges sales and promotional events for pedigree cattle.

There is close association between the society and the Royal Family, going back to Queen Victoria’s fondness for Aberdeen-Angus beef. She was the first patron of the society, and was succeeded by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The current patron of the Society is Prince Charles. At present Prince Charles runs his own herd in Caithness. The Society currently has over 2600 members, and has registered over 13000 pedigree cattle.