Mr. Rupert Chalmers Watson
1911 – 1977
Rupert Chalmers-Watson has been described as one of the “great pioneers of the British poultry industry” – a “visionary” and the “driving force” behind the early development of the sector.
He visited the US in the early 1950s and saw the developments that were taking place there involving large scale breeding programmes. At that time, the UK poultry industry consisted of many small breeders of pure breeds of poultry, but Rupert recognised the opportunity for expansion arising from the de-rationing of animal feed in 1953.
He had a farm at Drem in East Lothian, Scotland and bred both chicken and turkeys. To meet the need for faster-growing birds, he formed an alliance with New Hampshire breeder, Fred Nichols, to set up Chunky Chicks, headquartered at Newbridge, near Edinburgh. They developed a three way cross that delivered good egg production from parent stock and a suitably robust “broiler bird” for processing.
The next step was to build a factory, also at Newbridge, to market the birds under the Chunky Chick brand, as well as a breeding and hatchery unit in Inverurie. Contract growers were taken on to supply the factory in an early example of integration.
The breeding and hatchery side of the business was later taken over by Ross Breeders, which has since grown by mergers and takeovers to become Aviagen, the global leader in broiler breeding. It is still based in Newbridge.
Rupert was also chairman of the British Egg Marketing Board publicity committee at the time the Lion Egg marque was being developed in the mid-1950s.
But turkeys were Rupert’s main interest, having established his first flock at Fenton Barns in 1947. By the mid-1950s his company, Fenton Barns Turkeys, was the largest UK turkey operation, involved in breeding, hatching, growing and processing. It also sold poults to farmers for fattening for Christmas.
Rupert realised that, in order to make significant genetic progress, the size of the breeding population must increase. To that end, he persuaded two other large UK operations, Hockenhull Turkeys in Cheshire and J S
Lintern in Buckinghamshire, to combine with Fenton Barns to form a new company in 1962, British United Turkeys, better known by its acronym, BUT.
BUT was initially set up to sell parent stock within the UK, but then expanded into Europe, and then the world. By the mid-1970s the company employed more than 300 people, serving some 40 countries with hatching eggs and poults.
He also saw that turkey farmers needed to work together, setting up the British Turkey Federation, which now forms the British Turkey Sector Group within the British Poultry Council.
Rupert very much enjoyed the social side of the industry, too. At conferences, he was usually one of the last to bed, being of the “work hard, play hard” persuasion.
His interests were not confined to the poultry industry. He was a county commissioner in the Scouts movement, president of Dunbar Rugby Club from 1938 to 1977 and, together with his wife, Peggy, had a passion for horse racing.
Upon his death in 1977, his peers paid many tributes, describing his energy, integrity, enthusiasm and wise counsel, especially for those starting out in the industry.
One of his sayings was “There are three sorts of people in this world – those who see things happening, those who see things happening and do something about it, and those who make things happen”. Rupert was definitely in this last category.