The Essex, in its traditional form, was a smallish pig with 'pricked' ears and a black ground colour, with a broad band of white 'sheeting' across the shoulders.

[citation needed] It was originally a smallish, "coarse" black-and-white pig that was noted for being easy to keep and cheap to feed, qualities that ensured its popularity with smallholders.

In 1840 an Improved Essex boar and sow, both bred by Hobbs, each took first prize in its class at the second show of the Royal Agricultural Society at Cambridge.

[2] The Essex pig remained locally popular until as recently as the mid-1950s, and had actually increased in numbers during the Second World War and immediately afterwards, based on its reputation for hardiness and its ability to feed itself by foraging.

[3] The position of the Essex breed changed markedly after the publication of a 1955 report by the Advisory Committee on the Development of Pig Production in the United Kingdom, chaired by Sir Harold Howitt.