1875, Ubayyah Sharrakiyah of Ibn ‘Aliyan mare. According to Al Khamsa, Queen of Sheba was bred by “Erheyen” Ibn ‘Aliyan of the Qumusah section of the Saba’ah tribe, purchased from Butayyin Ibn Mirshid of the Qumusah through Mr. James H. Skene, H.M. Consul at Aleppo, for Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt and imported in 1879 to England by the Blunts. By a Ma’naqi Hudruji of Ibn Jufayfi [Qufayfah] of the Qumusah Saba’ah out of an ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah.
general stud book
Queen of Sheba is listed in the GSB, Volume 14: “A Brown Mare, foaled in 1875, an Abeyeh Sherrak, bred by Erheyen Ibn Alian, of the Gomussa (Seba Anazeh) – her sire a Menaghy Hedruj, of Ibn Gufeyfi (Gomussa), purchased of Beteyen Ibn Mirshid Sheykh of the Gomussa, who owned her on shares with her breeder. A celebrated mare. Imported by Mr. Blunt in 1879.”*
crabbet stud books
“Foaled in 1875 an Abeyh Sherrakieh, of the Gomussa tribe of Sebaa Anazeh; 15 hands, girth 69 1/2 inches, below the knee 7 1/4 inches. A brown mare with four white feet, very small star and snip, and good head remarkably fine nostril and fine ears, muzzle not particularly small, splendid shoulder, strong back and quarter, very free action trotting, great stride galloping and tail carried high. This mare is perhaps, taken altogether, the finest in the stud. She is celebrated in the Syrian desert. Sire a Managhi Hedruj of Ibn Gufeyfi of the Gomussa. Purchased in the autumn of 1878 of Beteyen Ibn Mirshid, who owned her on half shares with her breeder. Queen of Sheba’s dam was a bay Abeyeh Sherrakieh of the Gomussa belonging to Erheyen Ibn Alian who bred Queen of Sheba and sold her on shares to Beteyen Ibn Mirshid. This mare took us longer to buy than any of the others. We first saw her in 1878 when we were on a visit to Beteyen. He had just brought her to his tent, he holding the bridle share, and at first sight we saw that she was superior to all the mares we had been looking at. Beteyen did not at once refuse to part with her, on the contrary much conversation took place about her between him and Mr Skene who was also at the camp and who undertook to negotiate for us. Mr Skene however unfortunately quarreled with the Sheykh in a manner which put and end to all hopes of dealing – at least for the time. Our imperfect knowledge of Arabic at that time prevented our being able to counteract the unpleasant impression made on Beteyen by Mr Skene’s remarks, and although we knew just enough to make out who was in fault we were helpless to make ourselves understood or to continue bargaining unassisted, and were obliged not only to renounce our hopes but to leave the tribe with this disagreeable incident unexplained. Mr Skene assured us that he could easily send a trustworthy person to buy the mare as soon as the Sheykh’s anger should have cooled; we then believed that, though in fault for the quarrel, he would do his best to make the purchase for us, and we placed in his charge the sum of money supposed to be sufficient to complete the transaction. But after our return to England the year passed and still the purchase had not been made. Beteyen, it was said, had been seriously offended and continued to object to whatever was proposed. At last, however, late in the autumn a telegram announced that the mare was to be ours, and soon afterwards, finding that she could not be safely at Aleppo we had her sent (with Pharaoh, Francolin and Basilisk) to Egypt for the winter. Thus more than one year passed from our first seeing Queen of Sheba to her arrival at Crabbet. We in fact did not see her until August 1879 on our return from Nejd and India. Destroyed 1901.”†
lady anne blunt journals
Lady Anne Blunt’s observations from her visit to the Gomussa camp in the spring of 1881 give some detail on the provenance of Queen of Sheba: “Mares seen at Gomussa camp April 3rd. Abeyeh Sherrak mother of Queen of Sheba bay just going to foal – 4 white feet and blaze magnificent style of going, just like Queen of Sheba. But this mare seen close is quite small and narrow quarter. Abeyeh Sherrak sister of Q. of Sheba by the mother – a very fine mare, fine shoulder – bay with a lovely colt running beside her it must be almost a quite a yearling – 3 white feet 2 fore and 1 hind white, large blaze with pink on nose.” ‡
PEdigree
Click on the image below for the Al Khamsa pedigree for Queen of Sheba.
- *Margaret Greely, Arabian Exodus, (London: JA Allen, 1990), 56-57.
- †Rosemary Archer et al, The Crabbet Arabian Stud Its History & Influence, (Gloucestershire: Alexander Heriot, 1994), 103-104.
- ‡Rosemary Archer ed, Lady Anne Blunt Journals and Correspondence 1878-1917, (Gloucestershire: Alexander Heriot, 1986), 128.
