I. Mr Arthur Smyth believes that the founder of the Quartly herd was Mr Henry Quartly, who married Betty Blackmore. His mother often visited her uncle Quartly, and he tells us that he had heard her speak of the care and attention they received, and how fat they were. They were brought to perfection by his son, Mr James Quartly, of West Molland House, who was one of the judges at Smithfield. Mr John Quartly of Champson never exhibited. Mr James Quartly had no children, and on his retirement the herd was dispersed.

II. Son of the before-named John Quartly, and grandson of Henry Quartly, he had never exhibited, but kept up the reputation of the family as breeders.

A sister of John and James Quartly married her cousin, the Rev. Richard Blackmore, of Charles, and another sister married Captain William Dovell, to whom at one time the novelist’s brother, Mr Turberville, bequeathed his property. Captain Dovell’s mother was a Blackmore. To what branch of the family she belonged is uncertain, but it was through her that Court Barton came to the Dovells.

Mr Smyth tells an extraordinary story of this gentleman.

“Captain Dovell,” he says, “was born at Killiton. He hated farming, and at last his family gave him his desire and he went to sea. He related a story of his wreck off the coast of Ireland, and how the natives fought for the wreckage. At last, as captain of an East Indiaman (his own), he took his wife and son, a boy of eight years, with him to sea. The vessel was wrecked. He never saw the boy, but he caught his wife and swam for hours; she died in his arms from exposure. He got ashore at last, and had to read the burial service over his wife. He was never the same after that. When I knew him in the early sixties, he was a powerfully built man of the kindliest disposition. I was an invalid then, and he would sit with me for hours relating stories of his boyish scrapes or playing for hours. He married again, and settled at Barnstaple, where he died about twenty years ago. His wife survived him only about one week; both are buried in the family vault at Parracombe churchyard.”