In order to give some idea of the extraordinary way in which the
Fox-terrier took the public taste, it will be necessary to hark back
and give a _resume_ of the principal kennels and exhibitors to whom
this was due. In the year in which the Fox-terrier Club was formed,
Mr. Fred Burbidge, at one time captain of the Surrey Eleven, had the
principal kennels. He was the pluckiest buyer of his day, and once
he fancied a dog nothing stopped him till it was in his kennels. He
bought Nimrod, Dorcas, Tweezers, and Nettle, and with them and other
discriminating purchases he was very hard to beat on the show-bench.
Strange to say, at this time he seemed unable to breed a good dog,
and determined to have a clear out and start afresh. A few brood
bitches only were retained, and the kennels moved from Champion Hill
to Hunton Bridge, in Hertfordshire. From thence in a few years came
Bloom, Blossom, Tweezers II., Hunton Baron, Hunton Bridegroom, and
a host of others, which spread the fame of the great Hunton strain.
When the kennel was dispersed at Mr. Burbidge's untimely death in
1892, the dogs, 130 lots in all, were sold by auction and realised
P1,800; Hunton Tartar fetched P135, Justice P84, Bliss P70, and
Scramble P65.
Messrs. A. H. and C. Clarke were at this time quietly founding a
kennel, which perhaps has left its mark more indelibly on the breed
than any before or since. Brockenhurst Rally was a most fortunate
purchase from his breeder, Mr. Herbert Peel, and was by Brockenhurst
Joe from a Bitters bitch, as from this dog came Roysterer and Ruler,
their dam being Jess, an old Turk bitch; and from Rollick by Buff
was bred Ruse and Ransome. Roysterer was the sire of Result, by many
considered the best Fox-terrier dog of all time; and Result's own
daughter Rachel was certainly the best bitch of her day. All these
terriers had intense quality and style, due for the most part to
inbreeding. Very little new blood was introduced, with an inevitable
result; and by degrees the kennel died out.
No history of the Fox-terrier could be complete without mention of
Mr. Francis Redmond and his kennel, going back, as it does, to the
Murchison and Luke Turner period, and being still to-day the most
prominent one in existence. We can date his earlier efforts from his
purchase of Deacon Nettle, the dam of Deacon Ruby; Dusty was the dam
of Ch. Diamond Dust; Dickon he had from Luke Turner, and in this dog
we have one of the foundation-stones of the Fox-terrier stud-book,
as he was the sire of Splinter, who in his turn was the sire of
Vesuvian.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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