In the Beginning - early Cavaliers

Prior to 1926 the breed now know as the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was only seen in old paintings but after Mr. Roswell Eldridge, an American, visited Crufts and made his prize offer to the best “old type Toy Spaniel” in the style seen in those old paintings some interest in this style of Spaniel was revived.

The King Charles Spaniel with its shorter nose was made popular during Victorian Times and was probably a combination of the longer nosed flat skulled spaniel and shorter nosed, dome headed, stockier breeds such as Pugs. Occasionally a “throwback” (the longer nosed spaniel) would be born in a litter of Charlies and generally culled as undesirable.

Some breeders became interested in the idea of re-developing this old breed and started to look for dogs with which to work. They approached King Charles Spaniel breeders and asked and in some cases begged for their “throwout” puppies the ones with the bad “Charlie” heads. While some have denied this, there was most likely some mixing of other breeds in the early days. In fact it is said that the famous Ann’s Son, winner of the special “old type” class at Crufts 3 times and who was the living model when the breed standard was drawn up, was out of a tri King Charles Spaniel bitch but sired by a Papillon. Other breeds that have been suggested as being used in the earlier development of the breed were the Welsh Springer, Dachshund and English Cocker. One bitch who may have been a result of a mixed pedigree was “Rangers Nicky Picky” who came from a kennel that bred Clumbers, Springers and Cavaliers. By all accounts she was an odd looking Cavalier and though registered her pedigree is not given. A much used sired during the War years Cannonhill Ritchie goes back to Ranger Nicky Picky on both sides of his pedigree – his grandmother on his mother’s side and great-grandmother on his father’s side.

Prior to WW II there were 6 main sires used during this stage of the development of the breed:- Ann’s Son (Blenheim); Wizbang Timothy, Ann’s Son’s full brother (described as Black and White); Carlo of Ttiweh (Blenheim); Duce of Braemaore (Tri-coloured); Ariste of Ttiweh (Tri-coloured) and Kobba of Kuranda (Black and Tan). These dogs were extensively bred on as sires who produced the desired Cavalier type and all modern day Cavaliers would find these dogs in their pedigrees many generations back.

In the 2nd generation important noted sires were Peter of Ttiweh (Ruby), an Ann’s Son son. His litter sister was Lucy of Ttiweh who was to be the dam of the unbeaten Bridget of Ttiweh. Bridget was sired by Wizbang Timothy (Ann’s Son’s full brother).

Also another Ann’s Son’s son of note, Duke’s Son, who was sire of Belinda of Saxham, she being the winner of the 1st Cavalier Championship Specialty ever held and dam of Ch. Little Dorrit of Ttiweh (aka Lady Jane of Turnworth). Little Dorrit was a very important bitch for the Ttiweh kennels producing 2 Champions Ch. Harmony of Ttiweh and Ch. Jupiter of Ttiweh as well as Mars of Ttiweh who was the sire of 2 Champions including the Ch. Abelard of Ttiweh who then went on to sire 2 Champions for Mrs. Keswick’s Pargeter Cavaliers, Ch. Pargeter Anemone and Ch. Pargeter Bob Up.

Among the 3rd generation a sire of note was Ranger’s Bimbo (Blenheim) sired by the ruby Peter of Ttiweh. “Bimbo” was the sire of Plantation Robert. Plantation Robert was the sire of Plantation Banjo and grandsire on both sides of Cannonhill Ritchie (Ruby). Two other Peter of Ttiweh sons, Mark and John of Ttiweh were also important sires at this time.

During the War dog breeding was much curtailed, with food at a premium for human consumption many dogs had to be euthanised and gas rationing prevented breeders from travelling to more distant and different sires. It was the main reason the two dogs (Plantation Banjo and Cannonhill Ritchie) were so extensively inbred on through the war years.

Immediately after the war it was difficult to find unrelated Cavaliers to breed on as many important pre-war “Cavalier” bloodlines had been lost. In 1945 Cavaliers were given separate registration with The Kennel Club and the process of sorting those dogs that were eligible for the Cavalier registry was undertaken. For some years after this, The Kennel Club did allow a certain amount of interbreeding between the two breeds, King Charles Spaniels and Cavaliers due to the limited number of sires available. For example Celandine of Littlestream was an inter-bred, sired by a King Charles Spaniel called Flash Grenadier. She was the grand-dam of Ch. Pargeter Patron, top stud dog in 1956. In the 1950’s a Cocker, Suntop Joyful was bred to the Black and Tan Cavalier, Crest of Candlelight with The Kennel Club’s approval, with dogs of that mating in their pedigrees winning RCC in all four colours in later generations.

In 1945 Amice Pitt purchased Daywell Roger (Blenheim) a grandson and great-grandson of Ann’s Son through his dam Daywell Nell. His sire was Cannonhill Ritchie. He was to be the 1st Champion in the breed. “Roger” was the top stud dog in the breed from 1951 through 1954 and produced a total of 11 Champions. He was much linebred on and can be found many generations back in most, if not all Cavaliers’ pedigrees.

One of the few Cavaliers of that time not going back to Plantation Banjo or Cannonhill Ritchie was The Young Pretender of Grenewich. He was the foundation for Mrs. Green’s Heatherside Cavaliers producing the two champion littermates Ch. Heatherside Andrew and Ch. Heatherside Anthea. He also produced two champions for Mrs. H. Pilkington’s Hillbarn Cavaliers, Ch. Mingshang Corinna (aka Coraleen of Hillbarn) and Ch. Claudette of Hillbarn. His son Ch. Heatherside Andrew was a top stud dog in 1955 and his grandson Ch. Hillbarn Quixote (Andrew’s son) was top stud dog in 1963.

The original Cavalier gene pool was small and the War years made it smaller. In post-War Cavalier pedigrees one notes that breeders tended to opt for linebreeding rather than the inbreeding seen during the War years. There have been many important Cavaliers since the 1920s, many healthy and long-lived. Though the date of Ann’s Son’s death is unknown he sired a litter in his 12th year in which Daywell Nell was produced. Ch. Daywell Roger lived until he was 13 years. Many other top stud dogs have lived into their teens, just some examples of important stud dogs are:- Ch. Heatherside Andrew – 13 years; Ch. Pargeter Patron – 14 years; Ch. Crisdig Celebration – 13 years; Minstrel Boy of Maxholt – 14 years; Ch. Rosemullion of Ottermouth – 13 years; Ch. Homaranne Andy Capp – 13 years; Ch. Homaranne Caption – 15 years; Ch. Alberto of Kindrum - 15 years. Through linebreeding on some of these long-lived and healthy Cavaliers through the generations we should be able to hope for the same in the modern day Cavalier.

This is just a brief history of the early genetics in the breed. If you are interested in learning more about the origins and history of the breed there are many great books on the Cavalier such as “All About the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel” by Evelyn Booth and “The King Charles Spaniel” by Bruce Field. A great resource is the UK Club’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Champions which has pictures and pedigrees for all the UK Champions from the 1st into modern day. Unfortunately not readily available but one of my most cherished books about the breed’s history is the Southern Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club’s Amice Pitt Commemorative Cavalcade which has writings by Amice Pitt as well as essays on the early top stud dogs.