North Yorkshire's 89-year-old drover whose herd them all

As Thomas Tot Collier approaches his 90th birthday, he is still a drover at Malton market.  Pictures: James HardistyAs Thomas Tot Collier approaches his 90th birthday, he is still a drover at Malton market.  Pictures: James Hardisty
As Thomas Tot Collier approaches his 90th birthday, he is still a drover at Malton market. Pictures: James Hardisty
It was the year that saw Huddersfield Town win what today is called the Premier League for the third year in succession, when George V was on the throne, the General Strike took place, Agatha Christie disappeared and after four successive county championship wins for Yorkshire, we finally relinquished cricket's greatest prize to the other side of the hill.

In the North York Moors at South House Farm, Bransdale the man known to everybody as drover ‘Tot’ Collier at Malton Livestock Market made his appearance that same year on 10 February 1926. His real name is Thomas Leslie Collier but his nickname that’s stuck throughout his life was conferred on him even before any baptism could take place.

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“I was told that my granddad looked at me when I was born and is supposed to have said ‘by, he’s a little tot’ as I was a small ‘un and that was it. I’ve been known as ‘Tot’ ever since.”

Tot’s father, also a Thomas, had farmed at South House Farm after leaving the army. He’d served in the trenches during the First World War had been wounded twice.

Picture: James HardistyPicture: James Hardisty
Picture: James Hardisty

“He carried a piece of shrapnel in his shoulder for the rest of his life and had been told that if he’d had it taken out he would have lost the use of his shoulder completely. It never bothered him. I had a brother and four sisters and was the fifth of the six of us. I have two surviving sisters, my eldest sister Florence who is 96 and my youngest sister Hannah.

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“When I left school my dad said he wanted me to stop at home and help him on the farm as there was enough work to be done. That was fine by me as I was always going to farm.

“I remember if I went out on a Saturday night when I was about 14-15 years old he would give me a shilling. With that I’d get in at the front row of the pictures at the Memorial Hall in Kirkbymoorside, get a fish and a penn’th of chips for fourpence and five Woodbine for tuppence ha’penny. I remember watching Tarzan films.”

It’s 10 miles from Bransdale to Kirkbymoorside and Tot went by pushbike.

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Picture: James HardistyPicture: James Hardisty
Picture: James Hardisty

“How long it took to get there and back all depended on which way the wind was going. If it was behind me on the way there I could do it in three-quarters of an hour, but then it would take two hours to get back home. I grew up during the Second World War and saw the German bombers coming over and dropping bombs in Bilsdale. There was one time when Lord Haw-Haw broadcast that the Germans had set the whole of Middlesbrough on fire and had blasted it to bits. They hadn’t. I’d seen them and all they had done was set the Moors on fire.”

Tot took over the farm when he married Dorothy, whose father farmed in Fadmoor, in 1952 and they left in 1984.

“It was tenanted from the National Trust and we started with 56 acres but had 105 acres by the time we finished. We had cattle, pigs and sheep but the sheep were our main enterprise. We had 300 Swaledale breeding ewes and a flock of 50 Teeswaters but I got Farmer’s Lung disease and could no longer work with hay and straw. I’d been short of puff for about five years and had been on an inhaler and had to wear a mask. I’d always farmed and loved it.

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“Dorothy and I always worked it together but in the end we had to pack up because of my health. We bought a bungalow in Kirkbymoorside and we’ve lived there ever since.”

Tot had sold sheep and cattle at Malton, as well as attending the annual Fadmoor Sheep Sale. Although he could no longer run a farm he had an approach from Cundalls auctioneers at Malton Livestock Market that he took up in 1985.

Thirty-one years on and he’s still there and will celebrate his 90th birthday next month.

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“When Martin Watts first asked me to come here as a drover I didn’t really fancy it, but I said I’d come here until I reached pension age and I’ve enjoyed it and been here ever since. I just do the sheep as the cattle are too fast for me. I pen them up in a team of four or five of us. I’m here for 7am on a Tuesday and 8am every Friday.”

Could he be the first drover to still be working aged 100?

“I’ve maybe more chance of reaching that than beating my top score with the bat for Bransdale.”

LIFE IN REMOTE OUTPOST

Bransdale is one of the North York Moor’s most remote dales. It’s eight miles to Fadmoor and 10 miles to Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside.

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When Tot first took over the farm Bransdale wasn’t served by electricity or telephone. He became a council member on Kirkbymoorside Rural District Council and was responsible for both services coming in to the dale. He was also a regular for the dale’s cricket team.

“My other interests today are gardening. I like to play about a bit growing flowers and we have a vegetable garden where we grow potatoes, peas, carrots, leeks and parsnips.”