by Valerie Anne Edwards
THE EARLY CAT FANCY
Although informal
cat shows were held at county fairs as early as 1598, the formal cat fancy
began as the brainchild of Harrison F. Weir in England. The first formal
show was held July 13, 1871 at the Crystal Palace in England. Mr. Weir was
an ardent fan of the Shorthair as a breed. He also admired their working
qualities and hoped that the good health, intelligence, and hunting instinct
would be preserved as breeders endeavored to enhance and perpetuate their
physical beauty. [11]
In 1873, two shows were held
- one in Alexandria, the other in Birmingham. In 1875 one was sponsored
in Edinburgh. The National Cat Club (started in 1887) held shows at the
Crystal Palace every year until it burned down in 1936. This club also began
the first registry in 1890.[12]
During the first Championship
Cat Show, held by The National Cat Club at The Crystal Palace in 1896, a
particularly striking and massive silver classic tabby male, named Ch. Jimmy,
was valued at 2,000 pounds sterling.[13][14] Since the pound was worth five
U. S. dollars at the time, Eng. Ch. Jimmy was valued at $10,000 American
dollars. Mrs. Herring's magnificent silver tabby, sired by Mr.Sugden's famous
Eng. Ch. King of the Fancy out of Mr. Young's Tibbee [15] and registered
in the NCC as number 1131, can be found behind all 21st century registered
American Shorthairs. Eng. Ch. Jimmy was purchased as a young cat from his
breeder, the renowned Mr. Herbert Young of Harrogate by Mrs. Herring of
Lestock House. What was so special about this cat, born October 18, 1890?
Could any cat really deserve such a price (an incredible mansion could be
purchased for this sum)? The author considers Eng. Ch. Jimmy to be very
close to the ideal American - massive, muscular, dignified and flashy with
a broad head and sweet expression. Today one would fault him for ears set
a bit high on his head. His muzzle could also have been a bit broader and
more square in shape, but what a cat! He was by far the most glamorous cat
of ANY breed at that time.
Eng. Ch. Jimmy
All independent silver tabby bloodlines
were crossed with Jimmy, his sire or an offspring, so that today ALL silver
tabby American Shorthairs (and most other colors) claim him as an ancestor.
Most modern British Shorthair silver tabbies and European Shorthairs also
trace back to Eng.Ch. Jimmy. The Europeans trace to him mostly through American
Shorthair exports, but a few British Shorthair exports delivered additional
linebreeding to Eng.Ch. Jimmy's descendants.
The author loves to use Jimmy as
an example for those who think that "real" Americans had no type
prior to the 1950s and that silver tabby was a color created in the 1950's
by crossing a Shorthair with a chinchilla Persian. In the earliest English
studbooks, there were lots of silver classic tabby "Shorthairs"
and NO silver tabby longhairs, so the silver tabby gene originated in the
Shorthair breed. There is also a Hogarth painting from 1742, prior to the
beginning of the cat show fancy, depicting a family cat as a shorthaired
silver tabby with gold eyes, American Shorthair head type, eye shape, ear
set and square muzzle - so this IS the natural look for this breed.
In the United States, Mr.
James T. Hyde organized the first formal cat show, the First National Cat
Show at Madison Square Garden in 1895. Mr.& Mrs. Buchanan's seven year
old neuter, Grover B., a particolor, was listed for sale at $1,000 in this
catalog. Forty-six (American) Shorthair adults and twenty-five (American)
Shorthair kittens were entered in this show. Many of these had higher prices
than the Siamese and Persian entries.[16]
n 1896, thirty-five Shorthairs
were entered in the Second Annual show at Madison Square Garden. A three
year old brown tabby male, named Nicodemus, was listed for sale at $2,500.
In the same show, two three year old particolor neuters were listed for
sale at $1,000 each.[17]
The first (American) Shorthair
registered in the Cat Fancier's Association (CFA) was Ch. Belle of Bradford
(Imp.), an orange tabby male born June 1, 1900 in England. Belle, named
"Bell of Bradford" in the English studbook, was sired by Ch. Bradford
Perfection out of Ballochmyle No Fool.[15],[18] He was bred by Mr. R.R.
Kuhnel and owned by Miss Jane Cathcart, a major promoter of the breed in
the early twentieth century. During his nine year show career in the United
States, he was defeated only once by another orange tabby. |
.
This event was considered so momentous
that a photograph of Mrs. J. C. Mitchelson's triumphant nine month old male,
Connie, was placed on page 105 of the April 1906 Cat Journal along
with an article detailing his background and win. Connie does not appear
on modern pedigrees since he died at 10 months of age from a virus contracted
at his only show. After this tragedy, Mrs. Mitchelson purchased Connie's
half-brother, Billy, from Mrs. La Salle to augment her breeding program
The first
(American) Shorthair CFA Champion was Ch. Belle of Bradford (Imp.), the
first CFA registered American, despite later claims that Mrs. Mitchelson's
silver tabby stud, Ch. The Buzzing Silver, CFA #312 Vol-I, was first for
the breed. The author verified Belle's FIRST CHAMPION status by comparing
dates when winners ribbons were earned for all Americans on the "CFA
list of Championships awarded" for Studbook 1. Ch. The Buzzing Silver
WAS the first silver tabby Shorthair CFA champion, beating out another stud
of Mrs. Mitchelson's, Ch.Silver Boy, CFA 468 Vol-II and Jane Cathcart's
Ch. Pretty Correct, Imp., CFA #18 Vol-I. [18]
The Black Shorthaired Cattery
was started in France by Miss Jane R. Cathcart's French Poodle named "Black
or Blackie" who brought home a stray cat as his special friend. Later
Miss Cathcart secured other cats, moved to America, and named her cattery
"Black's Shorthair Cattery", later known as "The Black Shorthaired
Cattery". Located on Oradell Stock Farm in Oradell, New Jersey, she
specialized in the Shorthair breed, importing many colors (top stock only)
and carefully blending these with selected local farm-bred bloodlines.[19]
[20] Miss Cathcart's white male, Ch. Kombo, an American bred, won "Best
Shorthair" at the Hartford show in 1909.[20] According to an advertisement
in the February 1906 issue of The Cat Journal, Kombo's sire, Jumbo was undefeated
in the blue color class during his two year show career.
ACA Ch. Silver
Stripes (Imp.), one of Miss Cathcart's silver tabbies won "Best Shorthaired
Male" in London in 1909, "Best Male in Show", and "Best
Shorthaired Cat" in Lockhaven-Rochester in 1909. He also won "Best
Shorthaired Cat" several other times.[20] The award of "Best Shorthair"
was in essence "Best of Breed", while the award "Best Shorthaired
Cat" was earned by defeating all of the Siamese, Manx, Abyssinian,
Australian and Russian Blue entries in addition to any "(American)
Shorthairs".
Miss Cathcart's
best known queen, Ch. Dame Fortune II, a silver tabby, won "Best Shorthaired
Cat" in Pittsburgh in 1909, "Best Shorthaired Cat" in New
York in 1909, "Best Shorthaired Cat" in Columbus in 1910, and
"Best Shorthaired Cat" in Beresford-Chicago in 1910.[20]
In addition
to the above, Miss Cathcart imported the first blue-cream Shorthair, a beauty
named Moumouette, whose dam was the French blue-cream, Bebe Bleu who was
bred to Ballochmyle Brother Bump in England to produce Moumouette.[21] Moumouette
won prizes in many shows in the "Any Other Color" class. Blue-cream
was not then an accepted color of Shorthair for championship competition.
Moumouette was sired by Eng. Ch. Ballochmyle Brother Bump. When bred to
Ch.Belle of Bradford, Imp, Moumouette, Imp. produced CFA #19, a blue tortoiseshell
(aka blue-cream), named Missy and CFA #23, a tortoiseshell, named Mixte.
Mixte and Missy were the first American Shorthairs registered in the CFA
Kitten Register. Mixte was bred to the brown classic tabby, Ch.Tabrum, Imp.,producing
Beauty, a brown tabby queen, born 9/10/1917, bred and owned by Mrs. Rita
Don. Beauty carried this particular line forward, through her brown tabby
son, Ch.Tige, sire of swcweal winners in the nineteen-thirties. See pictures
of early blue Shorthairs, from Frances Simpson's "The Book of the Cat"
[11A] at The PawPads website
Mrs. J. See
Bain's Blue Jacket Cattery produced many fine solid color Shorthairs in
black, blue, and white that were exhibited in both ACA and CFA from 1900
through at least 1915. The author finds it very puzzling that she appears
to have only registered ACA Ch. Blue Jacket Malta and his littersister ACA
Ch. Blue Jacket Queen of Spades, whose parents were both English imports
with CCR registration and pedigrees. Malta sired solid blue CFA Ch. Thomas
Fence and a green-eyed white named Chico, but only Thomas Fence carried
the line forward in North America, while Malta was exported to England,
siring Fulmer Blue Queen, Donna Roma, Blair Athol and White Tibby. The English
appreciated solid blue Shorthairs much more than Americans did, since "Maltese"
hunting cats, the name assigned to blue Shorthairs by USA farmers, were
much more common here than in England.Whether these "Maltese"
actually originated in Malta, we do not know, but that name stuck until
the fifties outside the cat fancy, where they were always simply called
blue Shorthairs.
Additional history
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