History of the English Springer Spaniel
The origins of the spaniel are buried beneath the dust of 2000 years with evidence as far back as 17 A.D., when the name first appears in writing. In that same year, the Irish laws mention ‘water spaniels' as having been given as tribute to the king. This connection is significant in so much as the ‘spaniel' was already sufficiently advanced to have several branches. There is even another reference to the spaniel in Welsh laws about the year 300 A.D.
Most agree that the term "Spaniel" comes from the Roman name for Spain (Hispania). The change probably came about in this progression - spagnell, spainell, spanyell and spaniel. However, it may have come from an anglicised spelling of the French term for spaniels = Chiens Du Espagnol, or dogs from Spain.
We cannot know with any absolute certainty, the real origin of the Breed, as, had the dog not spread into Europe from Spain, it is difficult to believe that he would be called a dog of Spain' by the people of Ireland, Wales and France. He could have been (and likely was) spread by Roman traders and conquerors, even though there is no specific written evidence of a Roman name for him. The conclusion reached by many is that the spaniel was a native of Spain and that he was spread through Europe by the Romans.
Most agree that the term "Spaniel" comes from the Roman name for Spain (Hispania). The change probably came about in this progression - spagnell, spainell, spanyell and spaniel. However, it may have come from an anglicised spelling of the French term for spaniels = Chiens Du Espagnol, or dogs from Spain.
We cannot know with any absolute certainty, the real origin of the Breed, as, had the dog not spread into Europe from Spain, it is difficult to believe that he would be called a dog of Spain' by the people of Ireland, Wales and France. He could have been (and likely was) spread by Roman traders and conquerors, even though there is no specific written evidence of a Roman name for him. The conclusion reached by many is that the spaniel was a native of Spain and that he was spread through Europe by the Romans.
It is not until the late 14th century that Gaston De Foix, a rich and powerful lord of Southern France who was a warrior famous for his hunting feats, wrote his immortal hunting classic "Livre de Chasse" (Book of the Chase) in 1387, in which he describes hunting dogs in their work as quartering in front of the master,
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flushing game and retrieving from land and water - all very like the behaviour and work of the English Springer Spaniel we know and admire today.
By the late 16th century, mention is made of a Land Spaniel, as distinct from a water Spaniel, and reference can be found in some books of ‘ a spaniel dog with floppy ears, the chest, belly and feet white, picked out with black, the rest of the body black'. By the 17th century the Land Spaniel is referred to as being divided into the Crouching Spaniel and the Springing Spaniel with a later subdivision of the Springer Spaniel into two sizes - the smaller of the two being called the Cocking Spaniel.
By the late 16th century, mention is made of a Land Spaniel, as distinct from a water Spaniel, and reference can be found in some books of ‘ a spaniel dog with floppy ears, the chest, belly and feet white, picked out with black, the rest of the body black'. By the 17th century the Land Spaniel is referred to as being divided into the Crouching Spaniel and the Springing Spaniel with a later subdivision of the Springer Spaniel into two sizes - the smaller of the two being called the Cocking Spaniel.
By the 19th century, Spaniels had begun to be divided into two groups. Dogs weighing up to 25lbs were called Cockers or Cocking Spaniels, because they were used for woodcock and the larger dogs, weighing around 45 lbs were called Field Spaniels or English Spaniels. By 1812, a pure strain of English Springer Spaniels was started. "Mop 1" bred by the Boughey family of Aqualate in Shropshire, although more like a Clumber in build and with coat inclined to be curly, was the first true Springer type. In those days, Norfolk was a great sporting county, and liver and white and black and white spaniels were much in demand. For over a century the Boughey strain was kept in successive generations of the family and in 1903 (the year after the Kennel Club first recognised the Breed), Sir Thomas Boughey bred F.T. Ch Velox Powder, later owned by Mr. Eversfield, and the winner of twenty F.T. stakes, whose pedigree goes right back through the Aqaulate Stud Book from the time Mop 1 was whelped in 1812. The Boughey family continued its interest in the Breed right into the 1930s.
The English Springer Spaniel was first exhibited in the Show Ring in 1903 when Beechgrove Will, a liver and white dog owned by F. Winton Smith and whelped on November 1st 1898 became the very first English Springer Spaniel to be awarded a Challenge Certificate. He was awarded his Championship in 1906. Harry Jones' bitch Fansome became the first of her sex to win a championship.
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In 1907, the first Springers were imported to America by Ernest Wells for Robert Dumont Foote, of Morristown, NJ. From then on, springers were brought to all parts of the United States. There was quite a bit of competition for the
American sporting mind with the |
already firmly entrenched pointers and setters. In 1910, the first Springer was registered by the American Kennel Club, a bitch called Denne Lucy. In 1922, the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association was founded by Samuel G. Allen, William Hutchenson and Walton, Henry and Alfred Ferguson. Mr. Freeman Lloyd, a noted outdoor writer, helped gain interest in the breed with the springers use as a pheasant dog. In 1927, the AKC recognized the ESSFTA as the parent club for the breed. The English Springer Spaniel breed standard which the ESSFTA wrote in 1932, is modeled on the English version. It was adopted by the AKC, with revisions over the years.