The Origin of the Breed

The history of the breed, as officially by the Kennel Club in 1960, is recorded annually in Cruft's catalogues under the heading 'Description of the Golden retriever', and reads as follows:

'The origin of the Golden Retriever is less obscure than most of the Retriever varieties, as the breed was definitely started by the Lord Tweedmouth last century, as shown in his carefully kept private stud book and notes, first brought to light by his great-nephew, the Earl of Ilchester' in 1952. In 1868 Lord Tweedmouth mated a yellow Wavy-Coated retriever (Nous) he had bought from a cobbler in Brighton (bred by Lord Chichester) to a Tweed Water-Spaniel (Belle) from Ladykirk on the Tweed. These Tweed Water-Spaniels, rare except in the border Country, are described by authorities of the time as like a small Retriever, liver-colored and curly-coated. lord Tweedmouth methodically line-bred down from this mating between 1868 and 1890, using another Tweed Water-Spaniel, and outcrosses of two black Retrievers, an Irish Setter and a sandy colored Bloodhound. (It is now known that one of the most influential Kennels in the first part of the century which lies behind all present day Golden retrievers was founded on stock bred by Lord Tweedmouth.)'

The recognition of this origin as authentic must have been rewarding to the sixth lord Ilchester (lord Tweedmouth's great-nephew), but even more so to Mrs. Elma Stonex, who put in nearly ten years of research to find out all the true facts, and it was bought and taken back to Guisachan, and this dog, supposedly the only yellow puppy out of a black wavy-coated Retriever litter, was to be known as Nous.

Articles and other early books on the breed had previously maintained the Russian theory, and in 1926 the Year Book of the Golden Retriever Club contained an article reprinted from The Field on the 24th June 1922, in which the author says: 'The Golden Retriever is identified with the breed which was known for some time as the Majoribanks and Ilchester Trackers, brought to public notice by Colonel le Poer Trench of "St. Hubert's", Gerrards Cross', and goes on to give the Russian circus-dog origin, and tells that 'they breed absolutely true to their fixed type and color'.

These strong adherents to this circus-dog theory went to great lengths to prove their ideas, seeking confirmation from descendants of the early keepers at Guisachan, who, it seems, had also been told this story by Colonel le Poer Trench. An article in the 1932 Year Book of the Golden Retriever club, which sought to dispel the doubts of others, says:

'In recent years there have been those who have endeavored to prove that the story of the purchase of some performing dogs of the golden retrieve type at a Brighton Circus by Sir Dudley Majoribanks, afterwards the first Lord Tweedmouth, is a myth. We, however, prefer to accept in full the truth of the story of origin.'

This article goes on to mention letters and photos from Duncan MacLennan, a descendant of an early keeper. One of these letters states:

'My mother has got an old photograph of the first dog, and the finest, of the group of dogs bought by the first Lord Tweedmouth between 1860 and 1870, from a party of  who were performing with them at Brighton . . . The Golden Retriever in this photograph is the first dog, and the finest, called Nous.'

Mrs. Charlesworth, who did so much to help establish the breed as it stands today, and with a few others formed the Golden Retriever Club in 1913, upheld the Russian origin theory throughout her life, and it is given as the history of the breed in her Book of the Golden Retriever published in 1932, and in her later book Golden Retrievers, 1952, as well as in an article written by her in Hutchinson's Dog Encyclopedia.

As mentioned earlier, the true facts were brought to light in 1952 by Lord Ilchester in an article published in Country Life entitled 'The Origin of the yellow Retriever'. In this he revealed that his great-uncle, the first Lord Tweedmouth, had meticulously kept a stud book in which was recorded every dog in his kennel, and the mating which took place from 1835 to 1890. From these records Lord Ilchester concluded that the Russian circus-dog theory must have been quite false, for there was no reference in these records to such a dog or dogs. Thus, as Lord Tweedmouth is indisputably acknowledge as having founded Golden Retrievers as a definite breed, it follows that the forbears of our breed, which were bred at Guisachan, all stem from the original mating recorded by Lord Tweedmouth in 1868 of the yellow retriever (Nous) and the Tweed Water-Spaniel (Belle). In this Country Life article Lord Ilchester stated that neither the Kennel Club nor the Nation History Museum could tell him what these Tweed Water-Spaniels were, but whilst carrying out research for her book The Golden retriever Handbook (Nicholson & Watson) Mrs. Stonex found a reference to a Water-dog book (The Complete Farrier and British Sportsman) written in 1815 by Richard Lawrence which says:

'Along the rocky shores and dreadful declivities beyond the junction of the Tweed with the sea Berwick, Water dogs have received an addition of strength from the experimental introduction of a cross with a Newfoundland dog.

He went on to say that its descendant, the Water-Spaniel, was of different colors but 'the liver colored is the most rapid of swimmers, and the most eager in pursuit'. Another reference is made to Tweed Spaniels in Dalziel's British Dogs, in 1881, which reads:

'When I first commenced to keep Irish Water-Spaniels, many years ago, there were three strains, or rather varieties - one was known as the Tweed Spaniel, having its origin in the neighborhood of the river of that name. They were very light liver-color, so close in curl as to give me the idea that they originally been a cross from a smooth haired dog.'

A final piece of information in her search for knowledge of the Tweed Water-Spaniel  came to Mrs. Stonex from Mr. Stanley O'Neill, the flat-Coated Retriever authority, who told her that he came into contact with this breed as early as 1903. On the Northumbrian coast he saw a tawny colored "Water-dog owned by a fishermen netting salmon, and when asked about the dog they told him that it was a Tweed Water-Spaniel and came from Berwick. He said that the dog was 'Retrieverish' and not at all like a Spaniel. In the 1920's Mr. O'Neill made enquiries about these Tweed Water-Spaniels and was told by Berwick people that they were practically the same as the east coast Water-dogs, but in those bred on the Border the browns and yellows predominated. The results of Mrs. Stonex's research have filled, to a considerable extent, the gaps in the factual knowledge of the history of the breed, and the discoveries she made have been recounted in full in an article in the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland's 1964 Handbook, entitled "Ten Years Research into Golden retriever Ancestry'. In 1959 she was lent Lord Tweedmouth's stud book and records by his grand-daughter, Lady Pentland, and from these and other papers she has traced the decent of virtually all our present-day Goldens, through Lord Harcourt's Culhams'- the' influential kennel' referred to the Cruft's 'Description of the Golden Retriever'- to the early Guisachan dogs. Lord Tweedmouth's records, which I found fascinating reading, were later presented to the Kennel Club Library by Lady Pentland, where they are preserved for posterity.

In these records the first mention of Retrievers occurs in 1842, and there are several others mentioned over the next ten years, but the first yellow Retriever entered is the dog Nous, recorded as 'Lord Chichester's Breed. Pupped June,1864 Purchased at Brighton.' It is also recorded that in 1868 Nous was mated to a bitch called Belle entered as 'Ladykirk Breed. Pupped 1863' (a note in Lord Tweedmouth's handwriting on 'Guisachan' paper states that Belle was a Tweed Water-Spaniel). This mating produced four yellow puppies (Crocus, Cowslip, Ada and Primrose), and these laid the foundation of Goldens as a breed. From this litter Lord Tweedmouth retained at Guisachan the two bitches Cowslip and Primrose. The other bitch, Ada was given to the fifth Earl of Ilchester, and founded the Ilchester strain, in which black "crosses" were often used. The only dog, Crocus, was given to the second Lord Tweedmouth, then the Hon. Edward Majoribanks. From the following pages it will be seen that Lord Tweedouth consistently line-bred his strain of yellow Retrievers back to this original mating, though he occasionally resorted to an out-cross. Cowslip (whelped1868) was mated to Tweed whelped 1872 referred to also, on a separate piece of paper, as a Tweed Water-Spaniel), which also came from Ladykirk, and Topsy was retained from the resulting litter. Later, Topsy was mated to Sambo - presumed to be a black Flat - or Wavy - Coated Retriever - Zoe (1877) was kept from this mating. Subsequently, Cowslip was again mated, this time to Sampson, a Red Setter belonging to Lord Tweedmouth's son, and Jack and Gill resulted (1875). In 1884 the two Nous lines - through Cowslip - were combined by mating Jack, Cowslip's son, to Zoe, Cowslip's grand-daughter, and four yellow puppies were whelped, of which a dog, Nous II, and two bitches, Gill II and Tansey, were retained at Guisachan. Zoe also had two other litters to Sweep (referred to in the record as 'Bred by Lord Ilchester - Crocus Breed'), both of which produced yellow puppies.

In 1886 Gill II (line-bred to Cowslip) was mated to Tracer, a black Flat - or Wavy - Coated Retriever, full brother to Ch. Moonstone, also black (this line had frequently produced red puppies and Ch. Moonstone mated to his own dam produced Foxcote, who was red). The result of this mating must therefore have been most disappointing, for ten black puppies appeared. One of these black puppies (Queenie) was, however, retained and later mated back to Nous II (yellow) - this again was line - breeding, for Queenie's dam and Nous II were litter brother and sister (thus giving four lines back to the original Nous x Belle mating). This mating had the desired results, producing the last two yellow retrievers recorded in Lord Tweedmouth's records, Prim and Rose, whelped 1889. During this period from the first recorded mating in 1868 to the last in 1889 some of the puppies bred were kept, others were given to keepers on neighboring estates, and others were given to friends and relations in England and Scotland. Early in the 1890's Lord Tweedmouth used a sandy colored Bloodhound as a cross. According to lord Ilchester, this was recorded on a separate piece of paper in the records, but was subsequently lost. Lord Ilchester reported that the early descendants of this cross at Guisachan were darker colored, very big, powerful and ugly and definitely 'houndy', and some inclined to be savage. No records of dogs bred at Guisachan were kept after the death of the first Lord Tweedmouth, and Guisachan itself was sold in 1905, and this left a complete gap in the knowledge of the breed. There was thus no recorded information on the breed from 1890 to 1901, when the first pedigrees were kept. It was therefore a great day for her when Mrs. Stonex found amongst the papers lent her by Lady Pentland a letter written in 1946 by John Maclennan, one of the family of Guiaschan keepers, which said that Viscount Harcourt ( of the Culham kennel) 'got the foundation of his breed from two puppies he bought from me when I was at Kerrow House' - Kerrow was one of the neighboring estates which Lord Tweedmouth had leased - "The mother of these puppies was out of a bitch called Lady belonging to Archie Majoribanks' (Lord Tweedmouth's youngest son). In her article 'Ten Years Research into Golden Retriever Ancestory' Mrs. Stonex writes:

'Lady could have been a daughter of Prim or Rose, the last puppies recorded by Lord Tweedmouth, but we can never be certain, as all who might have known are dead. it is obvious that whoever her parents were, they were bred at Guisachan from the original Nous and Tweed Water - Spaniel blood. That letter gives the key to the whole breed's descent from Lord Tweedmouth's original matings.

To elucidate, Lady was bred at Guisachan about 1891, and from her was descended Viscount Harcourt's Culham Brass, who is at the back of all early pedigrees. In this article Mrs. Stonex also points out that although Lady is the biggest link with the past, several other Guisachan - bred dogs are behind the early pedigrees, such as Conon - the sire of Proud Ben (1900), who through his grandchildren, Stella of Fyning and Astley Storm, is a forbear of the Heydown kennel. Conon also sired several of the Culhams. Rock was another Tweedmouth dog who has left his mark on the breed through his son Wavertree Sam (1903). Sam was originally the unregistered Faithful Sam, and both these names appear at the back of early pedigrees. Wavertree Sam was sire of Ingestre Tyne, one of Mr. Macdonald's Ingestres (said to be started from a liver Flat -Coated bitch of close Guisachan blood). Tyne mated to Ingestre Scamp produced Yellow Nell, dam of Mrs. Charlesworth's early dog, Normanby sandy. All the Ingestres were closely line - bred to Tyne and Scamp, and many of the present day Goldens stem from them.

To conclude, I can do no better than to quote again Mrs. Stonex, but for whom many of these facts would remain undisclosed:
'The influential recorded links of Guisachan bred Lady, Conon and Rock, prove the descent of today's Goldens from the first Lord Tweedmouth's thoughtfully planned matings on a foundation of yellow retriever of unknown antecedents (Nous) and two Tweed Water - Spaniels (Belle and Tweed). The roots of the breed lie in Scotland and the Border Country'.