Thomas Bates (1775–1849)

Stockbreeder. Tenant farmer in Northumberland at Wark Eals and Halton Castle before buying his own farm at Kirklevington, Stockton-on-Tees, in 1811. Experimented in crop rotation and manuring, and built up his stock of shorthorn cattle. Exhibited cattle and won many prizes (including for his most famous bull, Duke of Northumberland) at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 1838–48.