THE IRISH SETTER : ITS HISTORY AND TRAINING
BY COLONEL J.K.MILLNER
1924
CHAPTER II - SOME OLD STRAINS
In the eighteenth century the red spaniel must have been at its best. For over a hundred years Irishmen had nothing to interfere with their sporting pursuits. From the time of King William III to the unfortunate rising of 1798 rural Ireland was the fairest field in the civilised world for manly sport, and the inhabitants, rich and poor, were as they are today – keen and the best of sportsmen. What wonder that their charming shooting companion, the red spaniel, should have prospered under such favourable conditions, and acquiring his master’s rollicking love of sport, gradually developed into one of the best of sporting dogs? I have no doubt but that the Irish setter really developed at this period.
Pedigrees of dogs were rarely kept in Ireland before the institution of shows, consequently it is difficult to trace the breeding of setters of this period except in a few well known kennels. The pedigrees of the early dog show winners often refer back to certain strains designated as celebrated. How far back these strains go is not easy to determine, but some of them can be traced into the eighteenth century before the rising.Uneducated Irish usually remember dates by reference to the principal events of the year, such as the year of the great wind, 1839; the famine year,1848; the year of the rebellion, 1798. These so called celebrated strains were simply the kennels of the well-to-do sportsmen in times when most country gentlemen kept sporting dogs and paid attention to their breeding. There were at the same time a large number of sportsmen with one or more dogs who occasionally bred a litter of good puppies.
There were no doubt many Irish setters in use at the end of the eighteenth century, and some of the noted strains of the last century began at that time. Mr Arthur French boasted about a fine brace he had in 1793. He was the father of the first Lord de Freyne, and French Park strain was no doubt prospering at that time. The Rev John French, second Lord de Freyene, Rector of Grange Silvae , County Kilkenny, was born in 1788 and was greatly interested in red setters.. He had trouble in bringing them about in the old coaching days of the last century, when he was generally accompanied by a handsome brace of broken dogs which he had brought to perfection. The following letter is from Lieutenant-Colonel O.L.F. Lloyd, who saw the last of the breed at French Park in January, 1879:
“There is no record” he writes “that can be relied on as to the origin of the breed. From letters that have been found lying about from former shooting guests at French Park it is certain that this breed was well established at the time of Parson John, afterwards second Lord de Freyne, who inherited several of the breed, and was devoted to them, and always prided himself on their wonderful steadiness and good looks. There was no white on any of them excepting on the breast. After the death of John, the second Lord, the breed was much neglected, and became so inbred that few , if any, were found worth keeping, and it was decided to destroy them. Up to this date the breed of French Park red setters was kept with the greatest care and judgement during the latter half of the eighteenth century. It was hoped to recover the breed from friends who were known to hold some that had been given away from time to time, but only one was found that was of the genuine French Park blood, and he belonged to the manager of a bank at Wicklow. Thus this beautiful strain ceased to exist”
I have no information about the looks of the French Park setters, but Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd describes them as red, though he only knew them from about 1869. I have no doubt they were like other red dogs with more or less white in their coats. The late Mr A.F.Nuttall told me that he had bred from one of these setters and that it had a shower of hail through its coat.
There was a celebrated strain of red setters in King’s County called the O’Connor Setters. They were brought to great perfection by Mr Maurice Nugent O’Connor of Mount Pleasant (now called Gort-na- Mona, its old name). In a book written by his grandson, Mr William O’Connor Maurice – “Memories and Thoughts of a Life” – the following appears:
“Maurice Nugent O’Connor settled on his Irish estate as a bachelor about the year 1779. He became one of the best sportsmen of his day, was breeder of the famous O’Connor setters – dogs whose equal I have never seen – and was one of the first Irishmen to rent a grouse moor in Scotland”
Mr O’Connor Maurice shot over the setters when a young man, and they were red with a touch of white. Mr Maurice O’Connor died in 1818. I expect the setters went to the family of La Touches of Harristown, County Kildare. The following letter from the late Mr La Touche gives a description of his father’s kennel:
“Dear Sir, - Dane has forwarded me your query as to the red setters that used to be here. I am afraid I cannot give you any useful information about them as I was only a boy when my father sold them in the early sixties. They were sold by auction in the yard, and a Sir A.Chichester, I think, bought them all, some four brace. I know he bought one dog called York for seventy guineas which was thought to be a fabulous price in those days. Sir A.Chichester was , I think, a Devonshire man, and had a moor a few miles off Port William, where my father and I saw the setters the following season. My father kept a dog called Flop and a bitch called Dido. The latter never came into season, which I hear was a not uncommon failing with the breed here, as it became extinct as far as my family was concerned. There were apparently no annals kept of the pedigrees of these setters, and the old keeper who had care of them for more than forty years has been dead for amny years. I heard that my father got the strain from my mother’s grandfather, Mr O’Connor of Gart-na-Mona, King’s County, and I remember the breed being spoken of as the O’Connor setter. They were not very big and of a rich, dark red colour with well-feathered sterns and perhaps rather light of bone. I thought a dog called Palmerston, which was a champion some fifty years since, very like the type, but I remember showing him to my father at a show in Dublin and he said he was too coarse and heavy a dog. I always heard that my father’s dogs were very good in their work and were easily broken, and I expect they were, as he shot a hundred and fifty brace of grouse in one day in the early fifties in Caithness. I’m sorry this letter conveys so little information, but perhaps the representatives of Sir Chichester might be able to tell you what became of the strain. I have n pictures of any of them.
Very truly yours, Percy la Touche”
It might be added that writing about the Irish setter, Mr Laverack said that as far as his researches and observations went, the late Mr La Touche of Harristown possessed the breed in its greatest purity. The Harristown keeper pointed out to me, when I visited his kennels, a blood red and white setter as the best dog he had. The Misses Lydwell of Beggars Bush, County Dublin, had some splendid red and white setters. This strain came from the O’Connor setters and were much the same as the La Touche breed. The O’Connor kennel , by the way, was in existence in the first half of the last century. Mr Laverack mentions Miss Lydwell’s red and white setters as being very handsome, and said he believed they were as pure as any in Ireland. He also said that Stella was the dam of Dyce’s Dan, and that Old Dan was the sire of Hutchinson’s Bob, but this is not quite correct.
Shortly before the time of show dogs Dyce’s Dan was alive in Dublin. If reports of old Dublin sportsmen are to be believed, Dan must have been a grand dog. Good Irish setters were highly valued then, as quite a big price was given for a pair sold at Dyce’s in Dublin. A fine tribute to the value of the Irish setter is contained in the following letter from Colonel Gresson, who has been a breeder of this variety for many years:--
“My father often told me of the La Touche setters, red spaniels as he always called them; the late Mr Tom Hendrick of Kerdiffstown, the owner of Squib, etc, and Mrs Falconer (Miss Warburton) the owner of Venus and Lily; Venus an ancestor of your Frisco. They also often spoke of the La Touche setters. As far as I have been able to find out these setters were red, but like the setters of old, were given to throw pups with white on face, neck and hind feet.
My grandfather bred red and white setters nearly a hundred years ago, and I remember some of this breed at home when I was a very small boy, but my father gave up on the red and whites when he got a brace of reds from my mother’s uncles, Robert and Edward Evans, of Gortmerron, two brothers who were breeding red setters as far back as between 1812 and 1820. Robert died in 1868 and Edward blew off the fingers of his right hand loading an old muzzle loader, whence the breed passed into the hands of the late cecil Moore and others. Robert Evans crossed his breed with that of Sir Thomas Staples of Tyrone, a relative of my mother; the Staples strain I believe went back further than the Evans strain, probably well into the 1700s.
Jimmy Wright, the owner of Nelly IX, often told me that he remembered the Evans setters well, and that all of the setters in the north were descended from them. Jimmy Wright was gamekeeper to the Earl of Castle stuart when Mr Robert Evans shot over these estates and remembers the Gortmerron setters, and has frequently told me that the best setters in Tyrone in the eighties of the last century were all descended from this strain.
I have often tried to find out which, the the red and whites or the reds, were the older breed, as as far as I can find out from the oldest breeders, viz. the late John King of Ballylin , the late Edward Evans of Gortmerron, and the late Mr Tom Hendrick of Kerdiffstown, the two breeds were distinct in their time, but they all agree that in their early days, the reds were inclined to throw pups with white on face, chest and feet, and that some breeds were greater offenders in this respect than others.
From the above we can deduce either that the breeds were distinct and were sometimes crossed, or that the original breed was red and white in no fixed proportion of colour, some more red than white and vice versa, and thus breeding by selection from those predominating in red, the red became fixed in time. The latter deduction I am inclined to favour, especially as we know the setter evolved from the spaniel and that white predominated in the early spaniels, and that in particoloured animals one colour predominates. However be that as it may, the red and white was a beautiful dog, and though a red setter man, I think a good specimen of the red and white was the handsomer of the two, but I have not seen one for more than thirty years, and looking at our show setters of the present day, I often think how superior was the red of the old red and white to the so-called red of many of the reds today”
Lord Rossmore’s strain of red and white setters at Rossmore Castle, County Monaghan, was in its prime all through the last century, and has a vigorous existence still, a fine litter of seventeen pups out of Norah having been produced a few years since. The best authorities consider the red and whites as pure as the reds. This celebrated kennel was in existence in the eighteenth century, being owned then by the ancestors of the present peer. There is a picture at Rossmore of a red and white bitch and a red dog with white markings, with the inscription “The Rambles of Bob and Duchess, John Sherriff 1844”. The picture was taken at Arran, N.B. the late Lord Rossmore’s father appearing coming up the drive with gillies and a pony. Lord Huntington also has a picture of red and white setters of the same strain. These dogs were sometimes erroneously called Arran setters from the Isle of Arran N.B where the Rossmore family had shootings. Captain A.M.Stewart of Donegal had a kennel of these dogs. He, Mr W.Wilson of Tyrone, and others, showed them at Strabane until 1904. There was then always a class there for red and white Irish Setters. Lord Rossmore states that they were generally more easily broken and not nearly so headstrong as the Irish red setter; they make wonderful retrievers. “I have seen one of them dive after a winged duck on a cold winter day at Little Hollywood”. There was an oil paiting at an auction in Dublin lately of Lord Rossmore about the middle of the last century, which also had the head of one of his setters. It was a red and white, the ears a little high, and the eye a little light.
The following diary was kept by Sir Francis Loftus of Mount Loftus, County Kilkenny. It contains the oldest pedigree of Irish setters that I have been able to find. The strain was a celebrated one of red and white setters.
“Mr Cooper made me a present of Quail in June 1817. She was then three months old, of his own true blood (he breeds in and in). She was red and white, the red not very deep, about the middle size, extremely handsome, and as good a bitch as ever hunted, never committed a fault in her life – but was too slow roading in the potato fields – was fast, stout, high mettled, and extremely docile. She was the best rat killer that could be, and fond of water. She was as good a brood bitch as was ever seen, often came to heat twice in one year, but never less than twice in three years. Generally had nine pups. She was an excellent nurse, but her puppies varied in size and colour, some being yellow and white, and some black and white. In general they were long and silky coated, long sterns very much feathered. She gave one that was smooth as a pointer. All those she gave, which were trained, were as good as I could have wished them to be.
“Grouse and Dash, pupped in March 1820, were got by Major Irvine’s famous old red dog Dick on Quail. They were trained by Darby Ryan in 1821. Mr Cooper made old fan ( the dam of Quail) a present to me in November 1820. I had her covered by a large red and white dog of Mr Davis’s – the dog was of Mr Wallace’s breed. She had pups on the first of January 1821. She reared them and then went mad and was killed.
“Fop and Rover were got by a dog of Mr Davis’s on old fan, and were pupped January 1st 1821, and were put under Darby Ryan’s tuition in 1822. he did them no service. They were both large. Fop strong and handsome, but neither of them good in any respect. Parted with Fop July 22nd 1826.
“Dick , Shot and two bitches were pupped in 1821. They were got by a dog of Major Irvine’s on Quail. I gave Shot to Major Irvine, and the two bitches to Mr Kennedy. I broke in Dick myself. He was a very fine dog, but a little too wild. He was killed in July 1825.
“Shot and Fan were pupped in 1822. They were got by a dog of Major Irvine’s on Quail. I broke them in myself and never had two better dogs. In 1823 I gave them a little instruction; in 1824 I was in England and they were idle. In 1825 I gave them practice and had them well broken in by September 20th. They were two as good dogs as ever hunted.
“Romp and Jilt, by Major Irvine’s dog on Quail, were pupped in 1823. Did not break in Romp until July 1826. She took to her business the very first day, and in ten days became perfectly staunch, and as good a bitch as ever I met with.
“Began to break in Jilt about the first day of August 1826. At first she would not lay her mind to hunt, nor take the least notice of game. She has improved in beating and set a tame partridge. She has an excellent nose and showed very high mettle, which I did not expect.
“September 4th. Took Jilt out with the old dogs. She hunted beautifully, but sprung the birds.
“September 5th. Jilt by herself. She sets well.
“Began to break in Floss about the 1st of August. A beautiful beater, but too wild and high mettled. She took great notice of game and and set her birds well. Hunted well but sprung the first covey, after which she took to road and set in the best manner possible. I caught a young partridge under her nose, which I hope to train the young dogs with.
“Ellen was got by a dog of Me P.Hore’s, which was got by Mr Cooper’s Flurry on a famous Castletown bitch. Ellen’s dam was bred by Mr Sutton and was got by a dog of his own. Rake was got by Buff, a dog of the Mojor’s on a famous bitch bred by Colonel G.Eyre of Galway. Sapho the dam of Ellen was out of a famous Castletown bitch. Ellen was brought to Mount Loftus by Redmond the dog teacher, about 29th of July 1826 and subsequently bought from him. Received some instruction the following spring and was again put into training in a week after she came to Mount Loftus. She made a good offer, though her feet were sore and she was much out of condition. Redmond stayed a week at Mount Loftus and hunted Ellen and Floss, and made Ellen quite perfect. She sets, roads, and hunts extremely well and has an excellent nose. She is a very good poacher, and quite handy. She died in January 1828.
“Floss has been almost constantly hunted either by Remond or myself since the 20th July. She is high mettled, a remarkably high goer, her nose not very good.
“September 19th. As yet she has not yet taken kindly to her business though hunted daily on tame partridge. Floss being too high mettled and her nose not very good, she was laid by and not hunted until 1st August 1828. I then undertook to train her myself, which was difficult as she was too wild and high mettled, very disobedient and would bear more work than three other dogs. However by taking her out every day and working her for six or seven hours, I by dint of perseverance had her broken in by 20th September 1828. I shot a great many birds over her that season. Though her nose is not very good, yet she is a good steady bitch and a fine beater.
“Bride (first called China) was bought from Stokes of Borris about 12th of September 1828. Aged two years. Not broken in. I could not trace her pedigree. Scott of Killedmind undertook to break her in. About a week after I got her back. She set well after a few days when the season commenced. Her nose is good and she beats well.
Prices paid by Sir Francis Loftus for setters:--
“1817, I gave for Fox, 6 guineas and my pointer Rap
For Rake I paid £7.
For Roan I paid 3 guineas and Rake
For Grouse I paid 15 guineas.
Got Quail a present from Mr Cooper of Birch Grove
I gave for Fop £11 and my dog Ralph.
I gave for Whack in 1816 £5 13 s. 9d and dog Juno.
I gave for rap in Dublin in 1816 £9 13s. 9d.
“Quail, the first setter bitch given to me by Mr Cooper, was out of his famous bitch Old fan in 1817. Jilt, a black and white bitch, was got by Paget, a black and white dog from Lord Anglesey’s kennel. Old Dan was got by Mr Cooper’s Flurry on a bitch of the same blood belonging to Captain Squire, while Romp was sired by a dog of Major Irvine’s on my Quail. Fan was got by a dog of Dr Lee bates from Lord Clancarty’s kennel on Romp, and Dashful was brother to Fan of the same litter, while Ranger’s breed was by Sport on Jill.
“The setters at Mount Loftus in June 1840 were Quail, Fan, Signal and Venus”
A friend of mine had three of these setters when shooting grouse with me in Donegal in 1917, and they were the last red and whites I have seen. The white predominated, and they were a little long in the stern like the puppies of their ancestor Quail. I also find in the diary the first mention of a red setter. Grouse and Dash, I read, were pupped in March 1820, and were got by Major Irvine’s famous old red dog Dick.
The following very practical advice about handling dogs for shooting is from the same diary;--
“ A young sportsman has enough to do to manage one dog; when more experienced, even two are enough, unless for a person who has had long experience and reduced dog breaking to a science. Always beat to windward. Keep to the middle of the field, and when you wish the dog or one of the dogs to beat one way turn that way yourself and give him a slow motion with the hand but no noise. The whistle is preferable to the voice. Walk slowly. Creep the ditches. Do not leap over them. Never allow one dog to take the set from the dog which first found it. But force him to back to him. All this should be taught before the shooting season. When roading, make your dog stop occasionally until you come up to him. Never let him road faster than you can walk with convenience to yourself. When you have a bird well marked, follow him instantly. Do not suppose he will wait till you have found and killed other birds, and never allow your dogs to stir after you have fired until you bid them, though you have killed and wounded birds. When you miss a good dog from you look for him but do not call or whistle, he may be set at that moment. Do not feed with greasy or strong smelling food; potatoes, meal and milk well mixed make the best food, with the exception only of bread and milk. Too much meat will not do. When your dog sets in potatoes, turnips or stubble, lift your feet very high in walking and lay them down lightly so as to make but little noise. Accustom your dogs to drop instantly at the word of command, and invariably to drop down when a shot is fired and not to come galloping up to do mischief. Likewise use the young dogs to beat the same field over several times and to come in the moment they are called to follow you into the next field, and never attempt to range again until you wish them to do so. When you suspect your dogs are on game, make them drop down at once and creep up to the proper distance. Take care you do not blink them, also see they are not on larks, but on game and nothing else. Never keep your dogs out long enough to tire them, and go home long before you can tire yourself. From the time you go out in the morning till you go home at night take every opportunity of saving yourself from unnecessary fatigue. You do not know what sport may be before you; therefore save yourself and your dogs as much as propriety will admit. Point towards the place you wish the dogs to hunt, and with the hand of that side.”
CHAPTER III - THE SETTER UP TO DOG-SHOW TIMES
In four old kennels of Irish setters, two of which were red and the others red and white, two of these families began at about the end of the eighteenth century, one red and one red and white. In the nineteenth century however, there were many red setters with a lot of white on them. The two strains were a little mixed. There is a painting in existence in which one of the above red and white strains is shown by two dogs, one red and white and the other nearly red, and Mr Laverack said that one of the finest Irish setters he saw even in Ireland was a red and white from one of the above-mentioned red setter kennels. The red setters of the present day are descended from the red and white and occasional crosses of other colours. The red and white are descended from the red and white spaniel.
The colour of the Irish setter comes from the spaniel, many of which were brilliant red, both the large and small variety. The white has been nearly all bred out of the present stock, but at the first dog shows some of the reds had a lot of white on them; in fact at some shows they gave prizes for red setters with white showing. The sportsmen of one hundred years since were evidently not very particular about the dogs as long as they did their work well, but since the days of dog shows, breeders have been breeding their dogs free from white, and many of these dogs are too dark in colour. The colour should be bright and rich red all over and free from light markings or a black tinge. The light markings no doubt are inherited from their semi-wild ancestors. Most of the dogs of today have a light streak behind the shoulders which may be seen by careful examination. The light feather on the thigh no doubt comes from the same source. The less these markings show the better.
Before the time of dog shows setters were mainly for use with the gun, and the breeders of the past selected the best field dog they knew of in their district to breed from. Colour can scarcely have been considered of any great importance, though the red and white setters were more easily seen, especially in the Irish bogs, and therefore they must have been preferred by most sportsmen.
The fascination of colour must have had some influence; climatic and local influence appear to have affected the colour of all Irish sporting dogs. The water spaniel, wolf hound and terrier all have shades of brown for their prevailing colour, and so also have some of the hounds. This is possibly accounted for by the reddish hue of the bogs over which so much of the sport of Ireland takes place. The sportsman of long ago had a much narrower field to select from than at present, and this tended to keep the breed pure. The aliens came in with the railways and the steamers, and the influences of new blood soon made their appearance. The colour of many setters became darker; black hairs were not uncommon, especially about the ears. Edward Laverack noticed this and did not object to it, records proving that one of the three most perfect setters he ever saw was John Wyndham’s blood red dog, which had a tinge of black on the tips of his ears.
The late Mr Cecil Moore told me that he had some excellent black Irish setters. The black setters in Ireland are the result of a cross with black dogs. Black and tan setters have been used. Mr Knox of County Mayo had a fine red dog called Ben, which was said to be the result of this cross. Some black retrievers in Ireland were said to be descended from red setters.
Cross breeding was more apparent in red dogs than in red and white. The points valued by some of the old Iri8sh sportsmen were a blackish mouth inside, tail carried rather low with plenty of action when working, a long lean head, dark coloured nose and wide open nostrils, good eye and not too short in the leg. Dyce’s Dan was bred from red and whites, and white was more in evidence in the early dog shows than it is now. There were then at Irish shows separate classes for red and white, red with white, and all red. In Dublin in 1875 there were sixty-six entries in Irish setters, twenty-three being red and white. At Cork in 1876 there were ninety six entries, of which thirty-six were red and white.
The fashion was for all reds in the middle of the last century, and the red and white has now disappeared as a show dog. At that time a white blaze on the face was common, and in my opinion rather handsome. It gave the dog a sporting appearance. The champion Palmerston had a slight snip of white on his nose. Dr Stone’s Dash, shown in 1873, had white on his face, neck and feet, and he was considered one of the best show dogs of his day. This strain had been in the doctor’s kennels for twenty years. Major Hutchinson showed Bob in 1864. He was the most celebrated of the early show dogs, not so much for his looks as for being a successful sire. He was father of Miss Warbuton’s Venus, Captain R.Cooper’s Ranger and Mr G.Pilkington’s Ranger and Stella – all good ones. Their pedigrees are in Volume I of the Kennel Club Stud Book. They were by Hutchinson’s Bob out of Lilly by Baker’s Shot out of Trumball’s Quail by Villekens bred by Mr Creegan out of Belle bred by Mr Trumbull. Villekens traces back to the strains of Miss Lidwell, obtained originally from the Rev Mr Stubber, who got the breed from Mr O’Connor of Mount Pleasnat, whose famous setters went to Mr J La Touche of Harristown. Venus was the best-looking red setter of her time, born in 1866, and there have been very few, if any, to equal her. She was a good size, with a nice coat. She won first prize at Dublin in 1872 and the following year; she was also the dam of Miss Warburton’s Lily, also a winner of the first prize, and of Mr A.Warburton’s Rattle, also a prize winner. The latter was sire of Frisco, whose daughter, the Rev R. O’Callaghan’s Aveline, wom second prize in the Kennel Club derby in 1885. She also won prizes at dog shows. The Derby, I may explain, is a competition for pointer and setter puppies, and is considered to be the blue ribbon of field trial competitions. My Airnie, winner of the derby in 1892, was granddaughter of Frisco. Mr C.Austin’s Sam Sullivan , the winner of the stake in 1897, was grandson of Frisco.