John Boys of Betteshanger (1749-1824)
John Boys[1] was the only son of William Boys of Barham, and Ann, daughter of William Cooper of Ripple. He farmed at Betteshanger, and at the request of the board of Agriculture he published A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Kent (1796). He was also one of the commissioners of sewers for east Kent, and promoted the drainage of Finglesham and Eastry Brooks. In 1805 he published An Essay on Paringand Burning and also contributed to Arthur Young's An Annals of Agriculture (1784).
The full title of his book is:
A General View of the County of Kent; with Observations on the Means of its Improvement. Drawn up for The Confideration of the Board of Agriculture and internal Improvement, From the original Report trasmitted to the Board; with additional Remarks of several respectable Country Gentlemen and Farmers. By John Boys, of Betshanger, Farmer. London. Printed for G. Nicol, Pall-Mall, Bookfeller to his Majesty, and the Board of Agriculture; 1796.
He was very proud of his Southdown sheep, which became favoured by nobility and gentry in 1780s and 1790s, encouraged by the missionary zeal of Arthur Young. Boys lists Kentish cider apples:
Golden Rennet, Sharp Russet, Golden Mundy, Risemary, Kernel-permain.
He says about cattle:
This not being a dairy or grazing county for cattle, we have no particular breed that may be allowed the appellation of Kentish Cattle. The sort bought in by graziers to be fattened for sale in the marshes of East Kent, are from North and South Wales, which are brought by the Welch drovers to Canterbury...
In 1774 he married Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Richard Harvey, the former vicar of Eastry-cum-Word. They had eight sons and five daughters. One of the sons, Edward Boys, became a Naval officer.
[1] - Born in November 1749 and died at Wingham on 16th December 1824.