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The Bloodhound
Origin And History
by Hilary Harmar
Hounds are distinguished from other breeds by their pendulous ears and by their extraordinary olfactory
powers, which enable them to hunt entirely by scent. Bloodhounds are the oldest breed of sporting dogs,
which hunt by scent. Their history from earliest times is steeped in mystery and excitement. Strange
though it may seem, they are extraordinarily easy to trace through history, in spite of merging under many
different names and in various areas of the countries. They varied too not only in name but in size and
colour. All through the centuries, however, Bloodhounds retained their special characteristics of being able
to follow a cold scent. They can hunt a line much colder than any other hound. With this gift went
tremendous powers and perseverance and concentration, enabling them to keep to the same trail, never
changing lines-a trait which is known as 'freedom from change'. They have always been large and slow, liking
to dwell on the scent. They have retained too through the centuries their independence of character, which
to this day is often described as rank disobedience!
To go back to the beginning of the canine race, the earliest dog which has so far been discovered is one which
was found in the Belt Cave in Persia and which lived about 9500 B.C. The next earliest is one found in the
Natufian layers near Jericho, which dates from 8940 B.C. The Seckenberg dog has been dated about 9000B.C.
but some people believe that its date may be later, somewhere between 8000 and 7500 B.C. The Maglemose
dog of Denmark came in two sizes: one was slightly smaller than a wolf and the other was a little dog. The
dates for these lie between 8000 and 6000 B.C. It is interesting that this type of dog has also been found in
Oban in Scotland. The earliest Swiss dogs were small Turbary ones of the lake dwellings which date from
3500 and 2000 B.C. These were also found in Italy and Austria. Hounds were known in the Indus valley at
this period too. By the time of the Bronze Age large dogs of the sheep-dog group were found in parts of
Europe; and by the beginning of the Iron Age there were many breeds of dog, and these could be divided into
four groups:the Eskimo dog, the primitive sheep-dog, hounds and small house-dog.
Dogs, however, were probably first domesticated about 18,000 B.C. having previously been useful
scavengers. All early dogs (other than puppies), and in fact all wild animals, have erect ears. The original
coat colour in wild animals consisted of black, white and red hair, and these colours are preserved in the
Alsatian, Belgian hare and tabby cat. Piebald was a mutation, and a one-pigment colour came entirely from
domestication, as did the shortening of the skull in the facial area and the lengthening of the intestines
owing to the change in diet from meat. Domestication also reduced size, and it produced a smaller brain
and a deterioration of the sensual perception, together with a weakening of muscle ridges and poor
definition of joint facets.
The character of some domesticated dogs remains juvenile in adult age, the skin becomes flabby and folds
appear, together with dewlaps. This is because some parts of the body develop at a different rate from that
existing in the wild state. The juvenile characteristics which are retained in adult life are often seen in the
Bloodhound and are known as neoteny. This is why too much wrinkle, and heavy dewlaps, so beloved by
breeders and judges, should not be over-encouraged. They are in fact a genetic fault.
The earliest breeds of dog had erect ears, but from very early times hounds develop truly pendulous ears. An
early example may be seen in a terra-cotta plaque which came from near Babylon, and which dates back to
2000 to 1000 B.C. The height if the plaque, as seen in Figure 2, is 8.5 cm. (3.4 inches). As can be seen, the
hound very strongly resembles a Bloodhound and probably had strong Mastiff blood, as the latter came
originally from central Asia. These hounds were bred in ancient Mesopotamia and were frequently used in
wars, and they probably came originally from India. So important were these hounds that, according to
Herodotus, the kings collected the revenues from four cities to pay for the keep of the hounds. The Mogul
Emperors kept 5,000 Mastiffs for hunting lions. The hounds did not bite their quarry but simply mowed
them down. Some of the Tibetan Mastiffs were very large indeed and were described as being the size of
donkeys.
One of the earliest and most interesting depictions of hounds with pendulous ears is in the Metropolitan
Museum, New York, and is carved in ivory. It is a toy and only seven inches long, with a moveable jaw, it
comes from Egypt and it is dated 1375 B.C. Another most interesting hound is depicted in a large stone slab
five feet high carved in relief, which is found in the Palace of King Ashurbanipal at Ninevah. This dates from
the 7th century B.C. These hounds, as can be seen, were used for hunting, and again probably contained
much Mastiff blood. It is interesting to see how strong and sound these hounds were. This is not
surprising, in view of the fact that man relied on his hounds to hunt his food.
Hounds were later found in most of the Mediterranean countries and were doubtless transported there by
the seafaring Phoenicians. Gaul seems to have been particularly noted for its hounds, and these appear to
have been developed in two particular areas, the Ardennes in Belgium and in Brittany.
Jacques du Fouilloux found a most interesting treatise in Brittany which had been written by John
Manmouth. In this he related how the first Bloodhounds apparently arrived in Brittany. The story went
that, after the fall of Troy, Aeneas, after many peregrinations, eventually reached the shores of Italy with his
son Ascanius. The latter later became king of the Latins. He in turn had a son called Siluius, and a
descendant of his, named Brutus, was out with his hounds one day hunting stag, when he accidentally killed
his father with an arrow. Unfortunately for Brutus, the people did not believe that the slaying of his father
was really an accident, and as a result Brutus eventually had to flee for his life. He thereupon took ship and
sailed to Greece, where he rescued a number of Trojans, who had been in captivity since the fall of Troy (1500
B.C.). Brutus set sail again with them, and he took with him a great number of Greyhounds and other
hounds. They sailed through the straits of Gibraltar and finally landed on the Isles of Armone, which were
later to become Bretagne, in France. Very many years late Brutus occupied Cornwall, doubtless taking with
him a number of his famous hunting hounds, and these were probably the early ancestors of the Southern
Hounds.
It is known too that the Romans found that the ancient Britons had both Mastiffs and other hounds when
they arrived in 55 B.C. These hounds may well have reached Britain with the trading seafaring Phoenicians
when they came searching for tin in Cornwall.
The most famous strain of Bloodhounds of all time is a fascinating one. They were established in the 7th
and 8th centuries A.D. in the Ardennes and were known as the St Hubert strain after the monk Francois
Hubert, who was subsequently canonised and became the patron saint of hunters.
His story is worth relating. Francois Hubert was the son of Bertrand, Duc de Guienne. His greatest
pleasures were in the chase, of which he was a most ardent and keen follower, and for this sport he kept and
bred a number of excellent Bloodhounds. He lived happily with his wife Floribane; but after her death
Francois Hubert found little pleasure in living the life of a rich and powerful nobleman spending most of his
days hunting. One Good Friday, when he was engaged in his usual sport, he had a vision. To his
astonishment, he suddenly saw the miraculous appearance of a stag bearing a glittering golden cross or
crucifix between it s antlers. He was so affected by this vision that, after much contemplation and with the
advice of his friends, he eventually went into the monastery. The story of St Hubert's conversion has been
painted frequently by many famous artists. Some years later he went on a long pilgrimage in Rome. As a
result he was appointed Bishop of Tongren and later he became Bishop of Leige. Whilst there in 708 he
erected a beautiful cathedral. He died in Liege nineteen years later. Just over one hundred years after his
death, in 825, he was canonised, and his body, which had miraculously remained intact, was removed to a
Benedictine cloister in the Ardennes.
From the time of his death successive abbots and monks preserved his strain of hounds, which were at first
black. Later they developed small tan markings, and eventually they became black and tan, although there
were some white hounds amongst them, which were larger, but these were never so popular as the black and
tan hounds, because they would only hunt stags. These Bloodhounds in general were noted for their
endurance, courage and throatiness. Some of the hounds which were added t the St Hubert strains were
hounds which were brought back by pilgrims from the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries. In later
years in England some of the hounds became greyish red in colour, and were called 'Dunne Houndes', and in
the 16th century chocoloate-coloured hounds made their first appearance. The true St Hubert strain did not
eventually die out until the 19th century. St Hubert's Day is remembered on the 3rd November, and on this
day there is a traditional blessing of the hounds, which takes place at a little Chapel of St Hubert. This
chapel was built in 1610 by the Archduchess Isabelle on the site of the Saint's dwelling-place at Tervueren
near Brussels. 'Les chiens de St Hubert' are still blessed at the beginning of each hunting season in France
and Belgium, and hounds are also blessed in Ireland on the Feast of St Hubert up to this day.
It is thought that the white St Huberts were probably crossed with other white French hounds, and that from
these came the early Talbot hounds, which were introduced into England by William the Conqueror and by
the Talbot family, who came from Normandy and were later the Earls of Shrewsbury. This well-known family
have as their coat of arms two white Talbot hounds supporting the escutcheon. There are many inn signs
portraying these hounds to be found in England, especially in Somerset and Gloucestershire. The Talbot
hounds flourished in the Middle Ages but they died out in Europe in the 16th century. They were known,
however, in England for a much longer period, the last adult ones there having died out between 1776 and
1812. There were, however, two white bitches in a litter of fourteen belonging to Mr. F. C. Cousens in 1886.
He, unfortunately, thought that the dam must have had a mesalliance and the puppies were destroyed. In
reality they must have been a throwback to the old Talbot hound, and when Mr. Cousens realized this, many
years later, one can imagine his chagrin and disappointment at having destroyed them.
An early description of the Talbot hound is interesting: 'This hound has a round thick head, with a short
nose uprising. Large open nostrils. Ears exceedingly large and thin, and down hanging much lower than his
chaps. The flews if his upper lips are almost two inches lower than his nether chaps; back long and straight.
Huckle bones round and hidden. Thighs round. Hams straight. Tail long and rush grown--that is, big at the
setting on, and small downwards. Legs large and lean, foot high-knuckled, and well clawed, with dry hard
sole. Such was the ancient hound, the ancestor of our modern Bloodhound.'
From the early Talbot hounds came the Southern Hounds, which were mostly white and lightly marked. They
were bad-fronted, heavy-headed, deep-flewed and had extremely long ears and hanging dewlaps. The Northern
Hounds were large but lighter in bone and therefore faster. They were also smaller in head. The old Dunne
Hounde was a red brown, generally a solid colour, and is mentioned in Tubervile in 1576.
Other well-known names for Bloodhounds were Limier, Lyme-Ho, Lymer, because they were led on a line or
leash or lyam when nearing the quarry, Sleuth (Sleut) hound, Slot or Slough hound ('Slot' meaning to track).
Brache is another name which is of quaint origin, as it was a gentlemanly term used for the Talbot bitches,
the dogs being referred to as Rache. The latin name was Sanguinarius.
Tradition has it that William the Conqueror imported packs of St Hubert hounds into Britain in 1066 and
that William Rufus bred and hunted with Bloodhounds in the New Forest. They used to meet frequently a
the Old Cowherd's Inn at Southampton. The Normans and Plantagenets were extremely keen on hunting and
they too used the early Bloodhounds for hunting stag. It is interesting to recall that Henry III had special
instructions drawn up for keeping and training his Bloodhounds, and Henry IV also kept them. Another
famous personage, Cardinal De Guise, kept the black-and-tan St Hubert hounds.
Presents of Bloodhounds were frequently given by royalty and noblemen. For nearly seven centuries, that is
to say from 1200 onwards, three couple of St Hubert black-and-tan hounds were sent annually to the King of
France from St Hubert's Monastery. The French sovereign who sent St Hubert hounds to Queen Elizabeth I
noted that the Earl of Essex kept 800 of these hounds. James I also kept some Bloodhounds, and the Earls
of Buccleuch kept packs of them right up to the 18th century. Many others of the British nobility kept packs
of hounds too.
In Mediaeval times Sleuth hounds, or Slot hounds as they were frequently called, were much used by
nightwatchman on curfew patrol against the ever-present terror of footpads. From the 12th century onwards
bishops rode to hounds, as did many of the Church dignitaries. During this time most monasteries kept
their own packs, and the breeding of hounds was carried out carefully and selectively.
It is of interest that because the hounds were line-bred from blood stock they were given the name
Bloodhounds. Moreover, the name has nothing whatsoever to do with blood hunting, or being able to follow
the trail of blood, which is often commonly supposed by the uninitiated to have been the origin of the name.
Bloodhounds, in general, in England and Scotland, were really only kept by the aristocracy and in the
monasteries, and they were used for hunting and on Border forays down through the centuries.
It was in the 16th and 17th centuries that hounds were really first used to hunt man, particularly on the
Scottish borders against sheep stealers and poachers. Hounds could by right of law follow trails anywhere,
including even into houses, with complete impunity. Th unlucky Duke of Manmouth escaped from the
terrible battle of Sedgemoor alive. He was able to hide for many days undetected in the countryside, but he
was eventually discovered by Bloodhounds, when he was lying almost dead in a water-logged ditch, dying
from exposure and cold.
In 1795 a large number of Bloodhound-type hounds were sent to Jamaica to quell the rising of the
inhabitants. These hounds were probably the Cuban Bloodhounds with their origins in Spain, and they ere
undoubtedly extremely ferocious and savage creatures. They were also frequently used to chase runaway
slaves in the West Indies and Cuba and also in the south of the U.S.A. These hounds, however, seem to have
had very little connection with the British Bloodhounds. They had smaller ears and pointed muzzles, and
they were endowed with far more ferocity and viciousness.
Over the centuries the great deer parks had been broken up and large numbers of deer had been destroyed.
As a result foxhunting took the place of stag-hunting. In many areas private packs of hounds were kept.
Tubervile mentions fox-hunting in his Booke of Hunting, published in 1576. In consequence, Bloodhounds
were found to be too slow, and a faster hound had to be bred. This was done by crossing the Talbot hound
with the Greyhound, and in this way the Foxhound, which is perhaps the soundest of all breeds and is half as
fast again as a Bloodhound, came into being. Later came the Harriers, followed by the Beagles and then the
Otterhounds. The last-named resemble the Bloodhound in coat and they were known in the reign of Henry
II. Staghounds also had Bloodhound ancestors. The Kerry Beagles in Ireland are taller than Foxhounds and
have black-and-tan markings. These hounds are thought to have been introduced into Ireland by the officers
who served with the French armies and they clearly have strong Bloodhound blood in them. During the early
19th century Foxhounds were occasionally crossed with Bloodhounds.
Writers through the ages made special mention of the early Bloodhounds. Gratius, writing before the
Christian era, mentions the hounds from Gaul, particularly the ones in Brittany, as did Strabo writings
much later. Claudius Aelianus, a well-known Italian scholar, and author of Historia Animalium, writing in
the 3rd century A.D., made special mention of a breed of hound absolutely unrivalled in its powers of scent
and its extraordinary determination in reaching its quarry. Johannis Caius (Dr Kaye) writing in the 16th
century mentions them at great length, particularly their extraordinary cleverness at hunting and finding a
wounded animal. William Shakespeare was well acquainted with Bloodhounds, as is evident from his
immortal lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream:
My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flewed, so sanded: and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew,
Crooked-kneed, and dewlapped like Thespian bulls.
Sir Walter Scott was well aware of the part Bloodhounds played on the border forays:
By wiley turns and desperate bounds
Had baffled Percy's best Bloodhounds.
Many modern writers, such as Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles, wrote about Bloodhounds too.
Most people will remember the vicious Bloodhound in Uncle Tom's Cabin, but this hound was of Cuban
origin and had little connection with the British Bloodhound. It is probably this story which gave
Bloodhounds their bad name with the general public.
In 1805 the Thrapthon Association for the Prevention of Felons in Northamptonshire provided a trained
Bloodhound for detecting sheep stealers, which proved extremely successful as well as being
undoubtedly a great deterrent to the thieves of the district.
To prove the cleverness of the Bloodhound for this purpose a great crowd of people came to watch the
proceedings. The runner started at ten o'clock and one hour later the hound was set on the trail. Just
one and a half hours later, in spite of an indifferent scent, the hound discovered the runner hiding in a
tree, having covered a distance of fifteen miles.
One of the first recorded arrests of a man by a Bloodhound in the 19th century was in 1810. It took place
in the New Forest. A young man happened to notice some bloodstains on a lonely track and he duly
reported this to the head keeper. One of the keepers fetched his Bloodhound and set it on the trail. This
eventually led to a hole in the ground, which had been covered over with branches and faggots.
Underneath was discovered a dead sheep which had very recently been killed. The wretched thief was
captured and eventually condemned to death, since that was the punishment for sheep stealing only 150
years ago.
Another story relates how a Blood hound followed one of his master's servants to a town four miles away
and then on to a market three miles farther on. He crossed a cross-roads, taking no notice of all the
people in the market, and eventually tracked the servant to an upper room, where he found the
astonished man. The latter was resting, never believing that the hound would find him.
A remarkable tracking story is one about a young Gloucestershire school-teacher who left for her school
as usual on her bicycle at eight o'clock one morning and was not seen again alive. The following day,
after hours of fruitless searching, the police borrowed one of Mrs. Michael Sadlier's Bloodhounds. He
was taken to the place where her bicycle had been found. The Bloodhound then followed the trail to
where the girl's body was found in a lake.
One of the most celebrated Bloodhounds was Nick Carter, who was responsible for over 600 American
arrests. The trail record in the U.S.A. was for many years 105 hours cold and a 50-mile trail. Another
hound followed a trail for 138 miles. But this was beaten in October 1954, when Mr. Norman Wilson's
hounds led their handler to the body of a boy who had been missing for 322 hours. This makes the
fantastic total of thirteen days and ten hours.
By the beginning of the 19th century there seem to have been comparatively few Bloodhounds left in
England and these were mostly kept in packs. But the introduction of dog shows in 1859 certainly saved
the breed from extinction, because dog showing rapidly became fashionable.
The first dog show was held on the 28th June 1959 at the Town Hall, Newcastle. It was organized by
Messrs. Shorthose and Pape at the suggestion of Mr. R Brailsford. There were sixty entries of Pointers
and Setters. In the same year in Birmingham there was a show for sporting dogs only, and in 1860
Birmingham held a show for sporting dogs and others. This was really the first open dog show and
Bloodhounds were exhibited there.
About this time there was a most interesting pack owned by Mr. Thomas Nevill of Chillend, near
Winchester, Hampshire. All his hounds seem to have been black-and-tan--in fact so dark were they that
they resembled the colours of the black-and-tan terriers. This colour apparently particularly fascinated
Mr. Nevill, because he felt that they were so like the extinct St Huberts of the past. He always insisted
on calling all his Bloodhounds St Huberts. He is believed to have purchased his first Bloodhounds in
1840, and later Mr. Nevill bought two couple from a man by the name of Primer, who was keeper of the
Bolderwood Walk in the New Forest.
His first purchase consisted of Rufus, and extremely dark and large hound, and a bitch called Bertha; but
later he bought another bitch by the same name, nearly as dark, but flecked with white. Among the first
litter was an enormous hound named Random. Random was so large that apparently when he walked
round the dining room table he was able to help himself to anything on the table without raising his
forechest off the ground. Because of Mr. Nevills's keenness on the dark colour, his stock, which was
probably in-bred to a certain extent before he bought them, certainly seems to have become very in-bred
afterwards. An observer at the time mentioned that his St Huberts were extremely nervous and shy and
almost climbed the wall when a stranger entered the room.
There is quite an amusing anecdote concerning Mr. Nevill and his hounds. He apparently kept a tame
stag and also a tame jackal, both of which lived in the house. His St. Huberts regularly hunted either the
stag or the jackal, and at the end of the hunt the stag or jackal trotted home happily with the St. Huberts,
which was rather a enjoyable form of hunting both for the hunt and the hunted. Mr. Nevill died in 1878,
after having kept Bloodhounds for nearly forty years.
Another keeper in the New Forest named Maynard, who was the keeper of the Beaulieu Walk, used to
claim that his family had kept Bloodhounds for three hundred years. But certainly Bloodhounds were
kept in the New Forest from the time of William Rufus until 1898. It is interesting to learn that the New
Forest keepers called their hounds Talbots, but Mr. Nevill obtained some of his stock from these keepers
and always insisted on calling them St. Huberts.
In those days each New Forest keeper was still permitted by the old forest laws to keep a couple of
hounds to hunt any wounded deer. Old Primer and his son recorded that on a number of occasions they
laid a hound on a wounded buck and eventually had to return home without the hound or the buck.
During the night, however, they were awoken by the baying of the hound, who had brought the buck to the
cottage, so that the keepers could put an end to his misery and pain.
Stonhenge (J.H. Walsh of Putney), who was first editor of The Field and was one of the first dog-show
judges, wrote a famous book, The Dogs of the British Isles, published in 1886. In it he gives some
fascinating revelations regarding the temperament of Bloodhounds of those days. He says that only
occasionally were the hounds amenable to discipline. Generally, they were most unmanageable and
could only be employed usefully by being allowed to have their own way, so that they could work out
their own instinctive promptings and appetite. Only occasionally were Bloodhounds controllable under
all circumstances, although he admits that some were amiable enough when not excited; but he goes on
to say that, once their hackles were up, they were not easily turned from their objective. Stonehenge
continues that he did not think them either pleasant or safe companions. This may well have been so,
since Lord Aylesbury's celebrated Bloodhounds produced what are amusingly called 'independent
characters'. They must certainly have been a dangerous strain, as fourth Marquis had the whole pack
destroyed. Lord Aylesbury's keepers at the time said that these hounds were not pure-bred but had been
crossed with Foxhounds. This is again of great interest, because on several occasions within the last
four hundred years Foxhounds and Bloodhounds have been crossed with each other.
Lord Aylesbury's son, Lord Cardigan, had a pack of Bloodhounds, and my mother-in-law (formerly Amabel
Earle) has told me that she and her sister used to take their horses with their grooms by train from
Enham to Savernack station, where Lord Cardigan and a few of his friends used to meet with his
Bloodhounds. They seem to have been well trained and of excellent temperament. Riding to these
hounds was a most impressive, wonderful and never-to-be-forgotten experience. It must have been
about 1897 when my mother-in-law hunted with them. The pack had been restarted by Lord Aylesbury in
1895 and he kept them until the First World War.
In 1860 Lord Baggot brought a team of Bloodhounds to the Birmingham Show. These ha come from a
strain which had been developed by his family for over two hundred years. Mr. Selby Lowndes had a small
pack which hunted deer in the Whaddon Chase, whilst Lord Wolverton hunted red deer with Bloodhounds
in Dorset in the 1870's. His pack was eventually put up for sale at Tattersalls at Rugby in April 1881.
One couple sold for 70 guineas each and one hound was sold for 6 guineas. The rest were withdrawn
from the sale and were later sold in Paris. There were three Bloodhound packs in England in 1967.
In 1886 an experiment was conducted in England with the object of testing the power of scent of
bloodhounds. It was known as the Warwick experiment. Both pure-bred and cross-bred Bloodhounds had
been remarkably adept at tracking down runaway slaves, but Negroes have a much stronger scent than
white men. The Warwick experiment set out to prove that the powers of scent of the bloodhound were
sufficient to enable it to hunt and track down a white man without any special inducement--in other
words, to do what is known as 'tracking the clean boot'. But the hound was not to be permitted to track
his own master, since all dogs will follow the trail of the person they love. Unfortunately, no definite
conclusion was reached. The early trails failed, but the last two were held on a very hot day under a
burning sun and both these were successful. It was, however, unfortunate that the Press had been
excluded, as they would have been able to assist in analysing the results; and it is not known whether
aniseed or blood or any other inducement has been used. Since the first trails failed, it seems hardly
likely that any inducement had been used. However, Stonehenge certainly did not seem to approve of the
way the experiment was conducted and said so in no uncertain terms.
In 1898 the Association of Bloodhound Breeders promoted man-hunting trials. The Kennel Club was
started in 1873 at the suggestion of Mr. S. E. Shirley, who was a prominent landowner in Warwickshire
and also a Member of Parliament. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, who exhibited
Bloodhounds, Mastiffs, Deerhounds and Greyhounds, became the first patron, and successive Kings and
Queens have followed him. In 1904, universal registrations became compulsory. In 1873 there were 40
breeds and varieties recognized, in 1905 there were 51 breeds, and in 1967 the number reached 110
breeds.
The origin of the Kennel Club Stud Book is a remarkable story of perseverance. Mr. Frank C. S. Pearce
was asked by the committee of the kennel Club if he would be willing to compile a comprehensive list of
pedigrees on all breeds. The amount of work involved was simply enormous. Mr. Pearce wrote to over
3,500 people and, as can be imagined, the same results happened in those days as would happen now.
Many people did not bother to reply, others had died, whilst others had left residences and their
addresses were not known. However, after a great deal of work, the first kennel Club Stud Book was as
last compiled. Some of the pedigrees in it went back as far as 1859, and they covered the period from
then until 1874 when it was first published. The names of dogs were registered in strict alphabetical
order and in breeds. The order had nothing to do with the dates when the dog was born or registered.
As an example of how the first Stud Book was complied for Bloodhounds, I have chosen three famous
names; Abeille, Old Druid and Welcome.
'No. 1 ABEILLE--Mr. G. T. Rushtons, hale, Chesire (bitch) breeder Prince Napolean, born in 1865, colour
black and tan. Pedigree: By Jennings' Old Druid (No. 17) out of Welcome, bred ny Mr. Atwood (see
Welcome I, No. 69). Abeille once belonged to M. Leone Claverie and M. Paul Garuzaz.
"No. 17 OLD DRUID--Mr. T. A. Jennings, Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire (dog); breeder owner, born in
September 1857 (Mr. Jennings is dead). Pedigree: By Jennings Raglan out of his Fury; Raglan (bred by
Lord Faversham) was by Sir O. Wombwell's Forester (bred by the Duke of Leeds) out of Lord Faversham's
Countess; countess was by Royal out of Duke of Hamilton's bitch; Royal was by Earl Carlisle's Warr out of
a bitch of Lord Faversham's(bred by the Duke of Marlboro'); Fury was bred by baron Rothschild. Chief
performances: Brimingham 1st prize 1860, 1862, Leeds 1st prize 1861, Islington Agricultural hall, 1st
prize 1862; 1st prize championship class, 1863 (never beaten): Old Druid was the sire of Abeille, Beldam .
"No. 69 WELCOME--Owner Mr. Jennings sold to napoleon bred by Mr. Atwood of Durham, born 1858. No
record of pedigree, probably Lord Bagot's blood.'
Some of the well-known breeders from the 19th century included the duke of Portland, Lord Faversham,
Lord North, the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Carlisle, Lady Brier, Lord Churchill, the Duke of
Marborough, Sire H Hunlocke, Bart., the Earl of Fitzwilliam, Sir F. Buxton, Lord Monson, Lord Beresford,
Lord Wolverton, Lord Caledon, the Duke of Beaufort, and the Duke of Bedford.
Queen Victoria had several Bloodhounds at various times. These were procured for her by Sir Edwin
Landseer, who painted many famous Bloodhounds, and he always chose outstanding specimens.
Landseer particularly liked painting a hound named Grafton, who belonged to Jacob Bell, and he appears
in a number of his paintings. Perhaps the best known of these is the painting in the Tate Gallery, called
'Dignity and Imprudence'. Countess was another Bloodhound belonging to Bell which Landseer painted.
Queen Victoria exhibited an excellent hound at the London Show in 1869 from her Home park Kennel at
Windsor. It is worthy of note that the Bloodhounds of those days had no wrinkle or very little haw
showing. One curious result occurred after the introduction of dog shows, when many Bloodhounds
were not worked. It was found that twenty years after showing started, by about 1879, Bloodhounds had
completely lost their power of scent, and that from ten on they had to be retrained to use their nose at
an early age, if they were required for working. The Bloodhounds of the present day can all scent trails
easily, but, nevertheless, most of them require training.
The Bloodhound
Origin And History
by Hilary Harmar
Hounds are distinguished from other breeds by their pendulous ears and by their extraordinary olfactory
powers, which enable them to hunt entirely by scent. Bloodhounds are the oldest breed of sporting dogs,
which hunt by scent. Their history from earliest times is steeped in mystery and excitement. Strange
though it may seem, they are extraordinarily easy to trace through history, in spite of merging under many
different names and in various areas of the countries. They varied too not only in name but in size and
colour. All through the centuries, however, Bloodhounds retained their special characteristics of being able
to follow a cold scent. They can hunt a line much colder than any other hound. With this gift went
tremendous powers and perseverance and concentration, enabling them to keep to the same trail, never
changing lines-a trait which is known as 'freedom from change'. They have always been large and slow, liking
to dwell on the scent. They have retained too through the centuries their independence of character, which
to this day is often described as rank disobedience!
To go back to the beginning of the canine race, the earliest dog which has so far been discovered is one which
was found in the Belt Cave in Persia and which lived about 9500 B.C. The next earliest is one found in the
Natufian layers near Jericho, which dates from 8940 B.C. The Seckenberg dog has been dated about 9000B.C.
but some people believe that its date may be later, somewhere between 8000 and 7500 B.C. The Maglemose
dog of Denmark came in two sizes: one was slightly smaller than a wolf and the other was a little dog. The
dates for these lie between 8000 and 6000 B.C. It is interesting that this type of dog has also been found in
Oban in Scotland. The earliest Swiss dogs were small Turbary ones of the lake dwellings which date from
3500 and 2000 B.C. These were also found in Italy and Austria. Hounds were known in the Indus valley at
this period too. By the time of the Bronze Age large dogs of the sheep-dog group were found in parts of
Europe; and by the beginning of the Iron Age there were many breeds of dog, and these could be divided into
four groups:the Eskimo dog, the primitive sheep-dog, hounds and small house-dog.
Dogs, however, were probably first domesticated about 18,000 B.C. having previously been useful
scavengers. All early dogs (other than puppies), and in fact all wild animals, have erect ears. The original
coat colour in wild animals consisted of black, white and red hair, and these colours are preserved in the
Alsatian, Belgian hare and tabby cat. Piebald was a mutation, and a one-pigment colour came entirely from
domestication, as did the shortening of the skull in the facial area and the lengthening of the intestines
owing to the change in diet from meat. Domestication also reduced size, and it produced a smaller brain
and a deterioration of the sensual perception, together with a weakening of muscle ridges and poor
definition of joint facets.
The character of some domesticated dogs remains juvenile in adult age, the skin becomes flabby and folds
appear, together with dewlaps. This is because some parts of the body develop at a different rate from that
existing in the wild state. The juvenile characteristics which are retained in adult life are often seen in the
Bloodhound and are known as neoteny. This is why too much wrinkle, and heavy dewlaps, so beloved by
breeders and judges, should not be over-encouraged. They are in fact a genetic fault.
The earliest breeds of dog had erect ears, but from very early times hounds develop truly pendulous ears. An
early example may be seen in a terra-cotta plaque which came from near Babylon, and which dates back to
2000 to 1000 B.C. The height if the plaque, as seen in Figure 2, is 8.5 cm. (3.4 inches). As can be seen, the
hound very strongly resembles a Bloodhound and probably had strong Mastiff blood, as the latter came
originally from central Asia. These hounds were bred in ancient Mesopotamia and were frequently used in
wars, and they probably came originally from India. So important were these hounds that, according to
Herodotus, the kings collected the revenues from four cities to pay for the keep of the hounds. The Mogul
Emperors kept 5,000 Mastiffs for hunting lions. The hounds did not bite their quarry but simply mowed
them down. Some of the Tibetan Mastiffs were very large indeed and were described as being the size of
donkeys.
One of the earliest and most interesting depictions of hounds with pendulous ears is in the Metropolitan
Museum, New York, and is carved in ivory. It is a toy and only seven inches long, with a moveable jaw, it
comes from Egypt and it is dated 1375 B.C. Another most interesting hound is depicted in a large stone slab
five feet high carved in relief, which is found in the Palace of King Ashurbanipal at Ninevah. This dates from
the 7th century B.C. These hounds, as can be seen, were used for hunting, and again probably contained
much Mastiff blood. It is interesting to see how strong and sound these hounds were. This is not
surprising, in view of the fact that man relied on his hounds to hunt his food.
Hounds were later found in most of the Mediterranean countries and were doubtless transported there by
the seafaring Phoenicians. Gaul seems to have been particularly noted for its hounds, and these appear to
have been developed in two particular areas, the Ardennes in Belgium and in Brittany.
Jacques du Fouilloux found a most interesting treatise in Brittany which had been written by John
Manmouth. In this he related how the first Bloodhounds apparently arrived in Brittany. The story went
that, after the fall of Troy, Aeneas, after many peregrinations, eventually reached the shores of Italy with his
son Ascanius. The latter later became king of the Latins. He in turn had a son called Siluius, and a
descendant of his, named Brutus, was out with his hounds one day hunting stag, when he accidentally killed
his father with an arrow. Unfortunately for Brutus, the people did not believe that the slaying of his father
was really an accident, and as a result Brutus eventually had to flee for his life. He thereupon took ship and
sailed to Greece, where he rescued a number of Trojans, who had been in captivity since the fall of Troy (1500
B.C.). Brutus set sail again with them, and he took with him a great number of Greyhounds and other
hounds. They sailed through the straits of Gibraltar and finally landed on the Isles of Armone, which were
later to become Bretagne, in France. Very many years late Brutus occupied Cornwall, doubtless taking with
him a number of his famous hunting hounds, and these were probably the early ancestors of the Southern
Hounds.
It is known too that the Romans found that the ancient Britons had both Mastiffs and other hounds when
they arrived in 55 B.C. These hounds may well have reached Britain with the trading seafaring Phoenicians
when they came searching for tin in Cornwall.
The most famous strain of Bloodhounds of all time is a fascinating one. They were established in the 7th
and 8th centuries A.D. in the Ardennes and were known as the St Hubert strain after the monk Francois
Hubert, who was subsequently canonised and became the patron saint of hunters.
His story is worth relating. Francois Hubert was the son of Bertrand, Duc de Guienne. His greatest
pleasures were in the chase, of which he was a most ardent and keen follower, and for this sport he kept and
bred a number of excellent Bloodhounds. He lived happily with his wife Floribane; but after her death
Francois Hubert found little pleasure in living the life of a rich and powerful nobleman spending most of his
days hunting. One Good Friday, when he was engaged in his usual sport, he had a vision. To his
astonishment, he suddenly saw the miraculous appearance of a stag bearing a glittering golden cross or
crucifix between it s antlers. He was so affected by this vision that, after much contemplation and with the
advice of his friends, he eventually went into the monastery. The story of St Hubert's conversion has been
painted frequently by many famous artists. Some years later he went on a long pilgrimage in Rome. As a
result he was appointed Bishop of Tongren and later he became Bishop of Leige. Whilst there in 708 he
erected a beautiful cathedral. He died in Liege nineteen years later. Just over one hundred years after his
death, in 825, he was canonised, and his body, which had miraculously remained intact, was removed to a
Benedictine cloister in the Ardennes.
From the time of his death successive abbots and monks preserved his strain of hounds, which were at first
black. Later they developed small tan markings, and eventually they became black and tan, although there
were some white hounds amongst them, which were larger, but these were never so popular as the black and
tan hounds, because they would only hunt stags. These Bloodhounds in general were noted for their
endurance, courage and throatiness. Some of the hounds which were added t the St Hubert strains were
hounds which were brought back by pilgrims from the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries. In later
years in England some of the hounds became greyish red in colour, and were called 'Dunne Houndes', and in
the 16th century chocoloate-coloured hounds made their first appearance. The true St Hubert strain did not
eventually die out until the 19th century. St Hubert's Day is remembered on the 3rd November, and on this
day there is a traditional blessing of the hounds, which takes place at a little Chapel of St Hubert. This
chapel was built in 1610 by the Archduchess Isabelle on the site of the Saint's dwelling-place at Tervueren
near Brussels. 'Les chiens de St Hubert' are still blessed at the beginning of each hunting season in France
and Belgium, and hounds are also blessed in Ireland on the Feast of St Hubert up to this day.
It is thought that the white St Huberts were probably crossed with other white French hounds, and that from
these came the early Talbot hounds, which were introduced into England by William the Conqueror and by
the Talbot family, who came from Normandy and were later the Earls of Shrewsbury. This well-known family
have as their coat of arms two white Talbot hounds supporting the escutcheon. There are many inn signs
portraying these hounds to be found in England, especially in Somerset and Gloucestershire. The Talbot
hounds flourished in the Middle Ages but they died out in Europe in the 16th century. They were known,
however, in England for a much longer period, the last adult ones there having died out between 1776 and
1812. There were, however, two white bitches in a litter of fourteen belonging to Mr. F. C. Cousens in 1886.
He, unfortunately, thought that the dam must have had a mesalliance and the puppies were destroyed. In
reality they must have been a throwback to the old Talbot hound, and when Mr. Cousens realized this, many
years later, one can imagine his chagrin and disappointment at having destroyed them.
An early description of the Talbot hound is interesting: 'This hound has a round thick head, with a short
nose uprising. Large open nostrils. Ears exceedingly large and thin, and down hanging much lower than his
chaps. The flews if his upper lips are almost two inches lower than his nether chaps; back long and straight.
Huckle bones round and hidden. Thighs round. Hams straight. Tail long and rush grown--that is, big at the
setting on, and small downwards. Legs large and lean, foot high-knuckled, and well clawed, with dry hard
sole. Such was the ancient hound, the ancestor of our modern Bloodhound.'
From the early Talbot hounds came the Southern Hounds, which were mostly white and lightly marked. They
were bad-fronted, heavy-headed, deep-flewed and had extremely long ears and hanging dewlaps. The Northern
Hounds were large but lighter in bone and therefore faster. They were also smaller in head. The old Dunne
Hounde was a red brown, generally a solid colour, and is mentioned in Tubervile in 1576.
Other well-known names for Bloodhounds were Limier, Lyme-Ho, Lymer, because they were led on a line or
leash or lyam when nearing the quarry, Sleuth (Sleut) hound, Slot or Slough hound ('Slot' meaning to track).
Brache is another name which is of quaint origin, as it was a gentlemanly term used for the Talbot bitches,
the dogs being referred to as Rache. The latin name was Sanguinarius.
Tradition has it that William the Conqueror imported packs of St Hubert hounds into Britain in 1066 and
that William Rufus bred and hunted with Bloodhounds in the New Forest. They used to meet frequently a
the Old Cowherd's Inn at Southampton. The Normans and Plantagenets were extremely keen on hunting and
they too used the early Bloodhounds for hunting stag. It is interesting to recall that Henry III had special
instructions drawn up for keeping and training his Bloodhounds, and Henry IV also kept them. Another
famous personage, Cardinal De Guise, kept the black-and-tan St Hubert hounds.
Presents of Bloodhounds were frequently given by royalty and noblemen. For nearly seven centuries, that is
to say from 1200 onwards, three couple of St Hubert black-and-tan hounds were sent annually to the King of
France from St Hubert's Monastery. The French sovereign who sent St Hubert hounds to Queen Elizabeth I
noted that the Earl of Essex kept 800 of these hounds. James I also kept some Bloodhounds, and the Earls
of Buccleuch kept packs of them right up to the 18th century. Many others of the British nobility kept packs
of hounds too.
In Mediaeval times Sleuth hounds, or Slot hounds as they were frequently called, were much used by
nightwatchman on curfew patrol against the ever-present terror of footpads. From the 12th century onwards
bishops rode to hounds, as did many of the Church dignitaries. During this time most monasteries kept
their own packs, and the breeding of hounds was carried out carefully and selectively.
It is of interest that because the hounds were line-bred from blood stock they were given the name
Bloodhounds. Moreover, the name has nothing whatsoever to do with blood hunting, or being able to follow
the trail of blood, which is often commonly supposed by the uninitiated to have been the origin of the name.
Bloodhounds, in general, in England and Scotland, were really only kept by the aristocracy and in the
monasteries, and they were used for hunting and on Border forays down through the centuries.
It was in the 16th and 17th centuries that hounds were really first used to hunt man, particularly on the
Scottish borders against sheep stealers and poachers. Hounds could by right of law follow trails anywhere,
including even into houses, with complete impunity. Th unlucky Duke of Manmouth escaped from the
terrible battle of Sedgemoor alive. He was able to hide for many days undetected in the countryside, but he
was eventually discovered by Bloodhounds, when he was lying almost dead in a water-logged ditch, dying
from exposure and cold.
In 1795 a large number of Bloodhound-type hounds were sent to Jamaica to quell the rising of the
inhabitants. These hounds were probably the Cuban Bloodhounds with their origins in Spain, and they ere
undoubtedly extremely ferocious and savage creatures. They were also frequently used to chase runaway
slaves in the West Indies and Cuba and also in the south of the U.S.A. These hounds, however, seem to have
had very little connection with the British Bloodhounds. They had smaller ears and pointed muzzles, and
they were endowed with far more ferocity and viciousness.
Over the centuries the great deer parks had been broken up and large numbers of deer had been destroyed.
As a result foxhunting took the place of stag-hunting. In many areas private packs of hounds were kept.
Tubervile mentions fox-hunting in his Booke of Hunting, published in 1576. In consequence, Bloodhounds
were found to be too slow, and a faster hound had to be bred. This was done by crossing the Talbot hound
with the Greyhound, and in this way the Foxhound, which is perhaps the soundest of all breeds and is half as
fast again as a Bloodhound, came into being. Later came the Harriers, followed by the Beagles and then the
Otterhounds. The last-named resemble the Bloodhound in coat and they were known in the reign of Henry
II. Staghounds also had Bloodhound ancestors. The Kerry Beagles in Ireland are taller than Foxhounds and
have black-and-tan markings. These hounds are thought to have been introduced into Ireland by the officers
who served with the French armies and they clearly have strong Bloodhound blood in them. During the early
19th century Foxhounds were occasionally crossed with Bloodhounds.
Writers through the ages made special mention of the early Bloodhounds. Gratius, writing before the
Christian era, mentions the hounds from Gaul, particularly the ones in Brittany, as did Strabo writings
much later. Claudius Aelianus, a well-known Italian scholar, and author of Historia Animalium, writing in
the 3rd century A.D., made special mention of a breed of hound absolutely unrivalled in its powers of scent
and its extraordinary determination in reaching its quarry. Johannis Caius (Dr Kaye) writing in the 16th
century mentions them at great length, particularly their extraordinary cleverness at hunting and finding a
wounded animal. William Shakespeare was well acquainted with Bloodhounds, as is evident from his
immortal lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream:
My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flewed, so sanded: and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew,
Crooked-kneed, and dewlapped like Thespian bulls.
Sir Walter Scott was well aware of the part Bloodhounds played on the border forays:
By wiley turns and desperate bounds
Had baffled Percy's best Bloodhounds.
Many modern writers, such as Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles, wrote about Bloodhounds too.
Most people will remember the vicious Bloodhound in Uncle Tom's Cabin, but this hound was of Cuban
origin and had little connection with the British Bloodhound. It is probably this story which gave
Bloodhounds their bad name with the general public.
In 1805 the Thrapthon Association for the Prevention of Felons in Northamptonshire provided a trained
Bloodhound for detecting sheep stealers, which proved extremely successful as well as being
undoubtedly a great deterrent to the thieves of the district.
To prove the cleverness of the Bloodhound for this purpose a great crowd of people came to watch the
proceedings. The runner started at ten o'clock and one hour later the hound was set on the trail. Just
one and a half hours later, in spite of an indifferent scent, the hound discovered the runner hiding in a
tree, having covered a distance of fifteen miles.
One of the first recorded arrests of a man by a Bloodhound in the 19th century was in 1810. It took place
in the New Forest. A young man happened to notice some bloodstains on a lonely track and he duly
reported this to the head keeper. One of the keepers fetched his Bloodhound and set it on the trail. This
eventually led to a hole in the ground, which had been covered over with branches and faggots.
Underneath was discovered a dead sheep which had very recently been killed. The wretched thief was
captured and eventually condemned to death, since that was the punishment for sheep stealing only 150
years ago.
Another story relates how a Blood hound followed one of his master's servants to a town four miles away
and then on to a market three miles farther on. He crossed a cross-roads, taking no notice of all the
people in the market, and eventually tracked the servant to an upper room, where he found the
astonished man. The latter was resting, never believing that the hound would find him.
A remarkable tracking story is one about a young Gloucestershire school-teacher who left for her school
as usual on her bicycle at eight o'clock one morning and was not seen again alive. The following day,
after hours of fruitless searching, the police borrowed one of Mrs. Michael Sadlier's Bloodhounds. He
was taken to the place where her bicycle had been found. The Bloodhound then followed the trail to
where the girl's body was found in a lake.
One of the most celebrated Bloodhounds was Nick Carter, who was responsible for over 600 American
arrests. The trail record in the U.S.A. was for many years 105 hours cold and a 50-mile trail. Another
hound followed a trail for 138 miles. But this was beaten in October 1954, when Mr. Norman Wilson's
hounds led their handler to the body of a boy who had been missing for 322 hours. This makes the
fantastic total of thirteen days and ten hours.
By the beginning of the 19th century there seem to have been comparatively few Bloodhounds left in
England and these were mostly kept in packs. But the introduction of dog shows in 1859 certainly saved
the breed from extinction, because dog showing rapidly became fashionable.
The first dog show was held on the 28th June 1959 at the Town Hall, Newcastle. It was organized by
Messrs. Shorthose and Pape at the suggestion of Mr. R Brailsford. There were sixty entries of Pointers
and Setters. In the same year in Birmingham there was a show for sporting dogs only, and in 1860
Birmingham held a show for sporting dogs and others. This was really the first open dog show and
Bloodhounds were exhibited there.
About this time there was a most interesting pack owned by Mr. Thomas Nevill of Chillend, near
Winchester, Hampshire. All his hounds seem to have been black-and-tan--in fact so dark were they that
they resembled the colours of the black-and-tan terriers. This colour apparently particularly fascinated
Mr. Nevill, because he felt that they were so like the extinct St Huberts of the past. He always insisted
on calling all his Bloodhounds St Huberts. He is believed to have purchased his first Bloodhounds in
1840, and later Mr. Nevill bought two couple from a man by the name of Primer, who was keeper of the
Bolderwood Walk in the New Forest.
His first purchase consisted of Rufus, and extremely dark and large hound, and a bitch called Bertha; but
later he bought another bitch by the same name, nearly as dark, but flecked with white. Among the first
litter was an enormous hound named Random. Random was so large that apparently when he walked
round the dining room table he was able to help himself to anything on the table without raising his
forechest off the ground. Because of Mr. Nevills's keenness on the dark colour, his stock, which was
probably in-bred to a certain extent before he bought them, certainly seems to have become very in-bred
afterwards. An observer at the time mentioned that his St Huberts were extremely nervous and shy and
almost climbed the wall when a stranger entered the room.
There is quite an amusing anecdote concerning Mr. Nevill and his hounds. He apparently kept a tame
stag and also a tame jackal, both of which lived in the house. His St. Huberts regularly hunted either the
stag or the jackal, and at the end of the hunt the stag or jackal trotted home happily with the St. Huberts,
which was rather a enjoyable form of hunting both for the hunt and the hunted. Mr. Nevill died in 1878,
after having kept Bloodhounds for nearly forty years.
Another keeper in the New Forest named Maynard, who was the keeper of the Beaulieu Walk, used to
claim that his family had kept Bloodhounds for three hundred years. But certainly Bloodhounds were
kept in the New Forest from the time of William Rufus until 1898. It is interesting to learn that the New
Forest keepers called their hounds Talbots, but Mr. Nevill obtained some of his stock from these keepers
and always insisted on calling them St. Huberts.
In those days each New Forest keeper was still permitted by the old forest laws to keep a couple of
hounds to hunt any wounded deer. Old Primer and his son recorded that on a number of occasions they
laid a hound on a wounded buck and eventually had to return home without the hound or the buck.
During the night, however, they were awoken by the baying of the hound, who had brought the buck to the
cottage, so that the keepers could put an end to his misery and pain.
Stonhenge (J.H. Walsh of Putney), who was first editor of The Field and was one of the first dog-show
judges, wrote a famous book, The Dogs of the British Isles, published in 1886. In it he gives some
fascinating revelations regarding the temperament of Bloodhounds of those days. He says that only
occasionally were the hounds amenable to discipline. Generally, they were most unmanageable and
could only be employed usefully by being allowed to have their own way, so that they could work out
their own instinctive promptings and appetite. Only occasionally were Bloodhounds controllable under
all circumstances, although he admits that some were amiable enough when not excited; but he goes on
to say that, once their hackles were up, they were not easily turned from their objective. Stonehenge
continues that he did not think them either pleasant or safe companions. This may well have been so,
since Lord Aylesbury's celebrated Bloodhounds produced what are amusingly called 'independent
characters'. They must certainly have been a dangerous strain, as fourth Marquis had the whole pack
destroyed. Lord Aylesbury's keepers at the time said that these hounds were not pure-bred but had been
crossed with Foxhounds. This is again of great interest, because on several occasions within the last
four hundred years Foxhounds and Bloodhounds have been crossed with each other.
Lord Aylesbury's son, Lord Cardigan, had a pack of Bloodhounds, and my mother-in-law (formerly Amabel
Earle) has told me that she and her sister used to take their horses with their grooms by train from
Enham to Savernack station, where Lord Cardigan and a few of his friends used to meet with his
Bloodhounds. They seem to have been well trained and of excellent temperament. Riding to these
hounds was a most impressive, wonderful and never-to-be-forgotten experience. It must have been
about 1897 when my mother-in-law hunted with them. The pack had been restarted by Lord Aylesbury in
1895 and he kept them until the First World War.
In 1860 Lord Baggot brought a team of Bloodhounds to the Birmingham Show. These ha come from a
strain which had been developed by his family for over two hundred years. Mr. Selby Lowndes had a small
pack which hunted deer in the Whaddon Chase, whilst Lord Wolverton hunted red deer with Bloodhounds
in Dorset in the 1870's. His pack was eventually put up for sale at Tattersalls at Rugby in April 1881.
One couple sold for 70 guineas each and one hound was sold for 6 guineas. The rest were withdrawn
from the sale and were later sold in Paris. There were three Bloodhound packs in England in 1967.
In 1886 an experiment was conducted in England with the object of testing the power of scent of
bloodhounds. It was known as the Warwick experiment. Both pure-bred and cross-bred Bloodhounds had
been remarkably adept at tracking down runaway slaves, but Negroes have a much stronger scent than
white men. The Warwick experiment set out to prove that the powers of scent of the bloodhound were
sufficient to enable it to hunt and track down a white man without any special inducement--in other
words, to do what is known as 'tracking the clean boot'. But the hound was not to be permitted to track
his own master, since all dogs will follow the trail of the person they love. Unfortunately, no definite
conclusion was reached. The early trails failed, but the last two were held on a very hot day under a
burning sun and both these were successful. It was, however, unfortunate that the Press had been
excluded, as they would have been able to assist in analysing the results; and it is not known whether
aniseed or blood or any other inducement has been used. Since the first trails failed, it seems hardly
likely that any inducement had been used. However, Stonehenge certainly did not seem to approve of the
way the experiment was conducted and said so in no uncertain terms.
In 1898 the Association of Bloodhound Breeders promoted man-hunting trials. The Kennel Club was
started in 1873 at the suggestion of Mr. S. E. Shirley, who was a prominent landowner in Warwickshire
and also a Member of Parliament. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, who exhibited
Bloodhounds, Mastiffs, Deerhounds and Greyhounds, became the first patron, and successive Kings and
Queens have followed him. In 1904, universal registrations became compulsory. In 1873 there were 40
breeds and varieties recognized, in 1905 there were 51 breeds, and in 1967 the number reached 110
breeds.
The origin of the Kennel Club Stud Book is a remarkable story of perseverance. Mr. Frank C. S. Pearce
was asked by the committee of the kennel Club if he would be willing to compile a comprehensive list of
pedigrees on all breeds. The amount of work involved was simply enormous. Mr. Pearce wrote to over
3,500 people and, as can be imagined, the same results happened in those days as would happen now.
Many people did not bother to reply, others had died, whilst others had left residences and their
addresses were not known. However, after a great deal of work, the first kennel Club Stud Book was as
last compiled. Some of the pedigrees in it went back as far as 1859, and they covered the period from
then until 1874 when it was first published. The names of dogs were registered in strict alphabetical
order and in breeds. The order had nothing to do with the dates when the dog was born or registered.
As an example of how the first Stud Book was complied for Bloodhounds, I have chosen three famous
names; Abeille, Old Druid and Welcome.
'No. 1 ABEILLE--Mr. G. T. Rushtons, hale, Chesire (bitch) breeder Prince Napolean, born in 1865, colour
black and tan. Pedigree: By Jennings' Old Druid (No. 17) out of Welcome, bred ny Mr. Atwood (see
Welcome I, No. 69). Abeille once belonged to M. Leone Claverie and M. Paul Garuzaz.
"No. 17 OLD DRUID--Mr. T. A. Jennings, Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire (dog); breeder owner, born in
September 1857 (Mr. Jennings is dead). Pedigree: By Jennings Raglan out of his Fury; Raglan (bred by
Lord Faversham) was by Sir O. Wombwell's Forester (bred by the Duke of Leeds) out of Lord Faversham's
Countess; countess was by Royal out of Duke of Hamilton's bitch; Royal was by Earl Carlisle's Warr out of
a bitch of Lord Faversham's(bred by the Duke of Marlboro'); Fury was bred by baron Rothschild. Chief
performances: Brimingham 1st prize 1860, 1862, Leeds 1st prize 1861, Islington Agricultural hall, 1st
prize 1862; 1st prize championship class, 1863 (never beaten): Old Druid was the sire of Abeille, Beldam .
"No. 69 WELCOME--Owner Mr. Jennings sold to napoleon bred by Mr. Atwood of Durham, born 1858. No
record of pedigree, probably Lord Bagot's blood.'
Some of the well-known breeders from the 19th century included the duke of Portland, Lord Faversham,
Lord North, the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Carlisle, Lady Brier, Lord Churchill, the Duke of
Marborough, Sire H Hunlocke, Bart., the Earl of Fitzwilliam, Sir F. Buxton, Lord Monson, Lord Beresford,
Lord Wolverton, Lord Caledon, the Duke of Beaufort, and the Duke of Bedford.
Queen Victoria had several Bloodhounds at various times. These were procured for her by Sir Edwin
Landseer, who painted many famous Bloodhounds, and he always chose outstanding specimens.
Landseer particularly liked painting a hound named Grafton, who belonged to Jacob Bell, and he appears
in a number of his paintings. Perhaps the best known of these is the painting in the Tate Gallery, called
'Dignity and Imprudence'. Countess was another Bloodhound belonging to Bell which Landseer painted.
Queen Victoria exhibited an excellent hound at the London Show in 1869 from her Home park Kennel at
Windsor. It is worthy of note that the Bloodhounds of those days had no wrinkle or very little haw
showing. One curious result occurred after the introduction of dog shows, when many Bloodhounds
were not worked. It was found that twenty years after showing started, by about 1879, Bloodhounds had
completely lost their power of scent, and that from ten on they had to be retrained to use their nose at
an early age, if they were required for working. The Bloodhounds of the present day can all scent trails
easily, but, nevertheless, most of them require training.