THE IRISH RED AND WHITE SETTER

ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY

From “The Dogs of Ireland” by Anna Redlich, Dundalgan Press 1949

A veteran sportsman of the beginning of the last century informs us that “the gentlemen of Ireland are more partial to Setters then Pointers, these being better adapted to that country. Setters it is presumed cover more ground than Pointers, are not so liable to get footsore and can bear the change of weather better than the latter”

It is a phenomenon, peculiar to the world we call a doggy one, that whenever a nearly extinct breed is resuscitated by the painstaking efforts of a fancier, the public, unbiased by any specific knowledge, immediately calls the oldtimer an unwelcome newcomer (frequently imperfectly described as a mongrel), a menace to the standard of dog shows, and to the morals of exhibitors.

Fortunately, however, opposition gradually gives way to reluctant tolerance, and as benches fill with these “mongrels”, antagonists are transformed into advocates and once again all is quiet on the canine front.

Revivors of old Irish breeds can well remember the thorny path that leads to the official recognition of a breed nearly extinct, and the persistent followers of the old Red and White Irish setter may well have experienced some of this antagonism when paving the way for the champions of today.

The Red and White setter is in all probability the ancestor of the Red Setter. Whole-coloured specimens were rare at a time when Ireland could boast a number of Kennels of Red and Whites. The latter was often considered a hardier dog than its red progeny and more clearly visible against the heather and bog background of the Irish countryside. Veteran sportsmen of olden times were well aware of this fact and therefore tied a whiter handkerchief round the Red Setter’s neck when shooting over him against a background of similar colouring.

Besides the coat of arms of the Nash family which bears three red and white setters , there is a multitude of writings of last century abounding in descriptions and illustrations of the Red and White variety, and it was only when the increasing popularity of the whole-coloured dog totally absorbed the public interst that sportsmen finally wished to see “red” where they ought to have seen red and white. Maxwell in his Field Book or Sports and Pastimes of the United Kingdom (1833) mentions the Red and White setter, and fifteen years later William Youatt in The Dog asserts that “the Irish sportsmen are perhaps a little too prejudiced with regard to particular colours. Their dogs are either very red , or red and white, or lemon coloured, or white patched with deep chestnut; and it was necessary for them to have a black roof to the mouth ….. a true Irish setter will obtain a higher price than an English or Scotch one. Fifty guineas constituted no unusual price for a brace of them and even two hundred guineas have been given”.

Sir Thomas Staples of Co.Tyrone is reported to have been  “in Red and White Setters” as far back as the eighteenth century and the lineage of the kennel inmates Mr Evans of Gortmerron and Lord Rossmore of Monaghan (who never interbred with Reds) can bear the same length of tradition. At the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Rev H McMahon of Castlegar was an enthusiastic admirer of the Red and White setter which he regarded as more useful in the field than the whole coloured dog.

In 1820 Sir Francis Loftus of Mount Loftus, Co Kilkenney, was well known  for his dogs, descendants of which were still to be found in Donegal at the time of the publication of his book. Mrs Ingle-Bepler in Setters,Irish,English and Gordon, refers to Mr Quinn of Castlebar, a noted breeder of Reds, and his description of a strain of Irish setters indigenous to the north-west coast of Ireland. These dogs were called “Shower of Hail Setters” and were red, sprinkled with small white dots from half to one inch apart.

Other fanciers of last century were Sir George Gore, who kept a kennel of parti- and whole-coloured dogs, Mr Yelverton O’Keefe and Mr Baker of Lismacue, who bred “fine upstanding dogs, selected with care, with good feathering and low carriage of stern”. Then there was Miss Lidwell who, besides being the owner of the crack dog Pluto, as well as many other celebrities, was a well known character such as only dogdom is able to produce. When Mr Edward Laverack visited Ireland in order to introduce new blood into his kennels, he was so taken with Miss Lidwell’s dogs that he tried to acquire some of her stock or the service of her stud dogs. Miss Lidwell however showed no intention of selling or lending any of her Setters, and seems to have informed the famous breeder in unmistakable terms of her decision.

Besides her, the O’Connor family kept a mixed kennel of Reds and Red and Whites, the latter being outstanding dogs. Mr Moore informs us in Rawdon Lee’s book Modern Dogs of the mating of a pure-bred red bitch, the property of Mr Evans of Dungannon, to a red and white dog, and emphasises that red and white  puppies made their appearance in every subsequent litter. This constitutes one of the few printed records we have of these outcrosses, although they were doubtless the rule rather than the exception with sportsmen who bred dogs for their usefulness in the field.

There seems to have been a well-filled Red and White Setter class at the Rotunda Gardens Show in 1863, which may be regarded as the swan-song of the nineteenth century Red and White setter’s popularity.

The best known working Red and White Setters of last century were Dr Stone’s dash and Mr W.H.Cooper’s Wrestler, who was possessed of a sheer inexhaustible fund of energy and stamina. . He ran successfully at the Irish Trials of 1891, but before arriving at his point of destination, had already galloped ten miles beside his master’s carriage on his way to the competition. Rawdon Lee (who ought to have been able to judge) described his style as infinitely superior to any other dog of his time. At Strabane in 1896 a Red and White bitch , Nora II, the property of Colonel Fiddes of Glenamully, County Monaghan, won first prize. Besides her, Colonel Fiddes kept four dogs all named Beck. But in spite of the efforts of a few breeders such as Mr G.P Evatt of Mount Louise, County Monaghan, owner of Johnnie ; Mr Smith of Caledon, the breeder of Nina; and at a later date of Mr Flahive of County kerry and Mr Th. O’Donnel of Newport, Co. Mayo, the Red and White setter threatened to go the way of many an old deserving breed.

In our century, when the public had almost forgotten the appearance of these classical “setting dogges”, the Rev Noble Huston of Ballynahinch, County Down, to our unfailing gratitude, mated his half red and half red and white bitch Gyp to Johnnie, and later on to Glen of Rossmore, well aware that the principle of the end justifying the means is never as pardonable as when applied to dog breeding. Thus in due time and by judicious selection , he managed to build up a kennel of Red and White Setters, among them the well-known Unagh, Blanco, Cohan and Bobs of Derryboy, who under his new owner Mr Earley won three firsts and the All Ireland Perpetual Challenge Cup at Haslemere in 1926. To these dogs most of our present-day pedigrees can be traced back.

This is the legacy Mr Huston and his cousin Mr Elliot of Monaghan left to the breeders and owners of today, to Mr Barton, owner of the Green Star Winner Snowfire, Mr and Mrs MacIlroy, Mr A.Gillespie, the great expert and and enthusiast who has bred seven generations of Red and Whites, many of which have won at field trials, Mr T.A.Lennox, the Rev R.Houston, Mr Kidd, Mr D.Tynan, Mr E.C.Bewley, and to Mr and Mrs Cuddy, whose bitch Jennifer of Knockalla, green Star Winner herself, has in her turn produced Green Star Winners. In 1944 the Irish Red and White Society was formed. Mr Huston had already sold a dog to America, two others have lately found their way to Spain, and now that prominent English breeders such as Mrs James of “Boroughbury” have taken up the breed, it seems that the unswerving efforts of a few have secured the gratitude of many by reintroducing one of the most handsome and serviceable breeds to the public today