The History of the Patterdale Terrier

The development of the working  terrier as we know them seems like so much else in rural  Britain started with the  enclosure acts of 1773 and subsequent acts from 1845 to 1882,When researching Patterdale terriers I found the general opinion was the terriers of the 1700-1800 centuries   were all described as non-descript black and tan and for some areas this is true, certainly true in Wales the midlands of England, but not so in northern England and the Scottish border country, where terriers ranging from blue-black all the way to the other end of the colour spectrum of very light yellow where often favoured , there is scant reference to the English black and tan other than it was out there, but in Wales were the type had been known since the 1750’s much better descriptions are available, terriers mainly kept by fox hound packs along the north west coast of Wales seemed to of changed very little and also didn’t just come in black and tan but also in chocolate and tan
Rawdon  Lee writing in the 1880’s  goes on to say in his chapter “other terriers”  gives much better descriptions of the terriers worked across the fells and dales of northern England  describing the terriers ranging from a fawn to brown fawn and dogs of a fawn\tan with just enough black  on their backs to be called black and tan.
One very interesting description in Rawdon Lees book is of  Tommy Dobson terrier  it’s his dog Tinker which is of the greatest interest to the Patterdale owner and is described as a dog of a different stamp, “Tinker was smooth coated and dark brown or liver in colour, his head, ears, and feet were so good that if white and hound-marked , figure at a fox terrier club show would of attracted attention” , Tinker was quarrelsome underground, where he reportedly fought and killed a strange dog” he goes on to say how this is a great fault and could result in the death of a terrier in the hands of a hound, but to me just on a working level where we now work only one dog at a time in the ground it wouldn’t be such a fault , so this the earliest reference to a terrier that would fit the description of a modern Patterdale terrier a description some 140 -150years ago
Now to debunk a couple myths, although Tommy Dobson  and Joe Bowman where certainly known for their working terriers neither where border terrier breeders and neither where the original breeders of what would be Called the Patterdale , that honour is held by two Lords , Lord Lonsdale and Lord Dacies two Lords with tremendous wealth who could afford to keep vast kennels of all types of dogs and it was these two Gentlemen who can be credited with the development  of the Patterdale terrier,  Huw Lowther  of  lowther castle the 5th Earl of Lonsdale  was a great friend of Joe Bowman and this where Joe Bowman strain came from mainly although he also got terriers from Lord Dacies, Tommy Dobsons  terriers coming from Lord Dacies and probably from Lord Lonsdale, the  name Patterdale was also used by both Lords , Lord Dacies writing articles about Patterdale terriers  for the field magazine over one hundred years ago only called his terriers Patterdales , Lord Dacies who had his kennels at Bolum Hall in Northumberland as it happens the area the border terriers was being developed,   the name Patterdale  fell out of fashion in some areas when the Lakeland terrier became KC register , three names where put forward for the “new” terrier breed The Fell Terrier The Lakeland Terrier and the Patterdale Terrier and the Lakeland got the most votes, as such depending on which area you lived would also depend on what you called them and weather Black and Tan, the many shades of red to chocolate and Black  where once known as Patterdales at one point  Lord Lonsdale  is quoted as saying in 1920’s  “the strain have been in my family at Lowther  for a considerable period”  probably for a type used firstly with the Patterdale foxhound before merging with the Matterdale pack to become the Ullswater  and contrary to  the many claims the name had not come in to play in the latter half of the 20 century, some have said Brian Nuttall was first to call his line the Patterdale and that is how the name became more widely used, I asked Brian about this and he said “the harsh coated smooth or broken coated terrier in my area of  Lancaster where I grew up have  always been known as Patterdales or fells depending  on who you talk to”
Unfortunately there are no records of the early breeding of these terriers    well not within the public domain but there is a excellent article written by Lord Dacies in a reply to a query about the Patterdale Terrier in the field  Magazine  this was first published  on the 18/4/1903   and although dealing with the Ullswater and the huntsman Joe bowman it probably could apply to all the hunts of the lake district for few hunts could afford to turn down the patronage of a rich benefactor  

The Patterdale Terriers by Lord Decies

Sir, -I was much interested in the remarks in your last week’s edition of the Field on the Westmoreland and Cumberland working terriers, and, having kept a book for twenty years of particulars respecting the terrier I have had running with hounds in that district, I can give a good deal of information on the subject.

I do not think there is a terrier running with the Ullswater Foxhounds at the present moment which has not got the blood of my terriers in its veins. The terrier required in the mountain district is a very active, lathy one, rather leggy (to get up cliffs and to be able to jump the high sheep walls), with plenty of good weather-resisting coat, narrow in the chest, about 15lb, or 16lb. in weight, and must be able to creep into any wet drain and stay there without feeling the cold. I found fox terriers a perfect failure-they never stood the wet and cold. The punishment of the hill foxes is terrible, as in the cairns they are often above the terrier on a ledge, and cut them to pieces when trying to climb up and tackle them.
The story of little Corby, mentioned as having killed three foxes in one hole is quite correct; the foxes weighted afterwards, and took 62lb. down on the scales. She was by my Sweep out of a Patterdale bitch full of my old terrier Blondin’s breed. The later was a dwarf pedigree Bedlington, and was much used as a stud dog to improve hill terriers; he had a grand nose, and could run a line as well as a foxhound. The principle terrier I have lent Bowman during the last sixteen years were Prince, a grizzled colored real hill terrier, the best I ever owned, and would face any drain nearly full of water; he was killed underground in Wales by two badgers after running with different packs in Cumberland; Red Tinker, the tap root of many of the present day Patterdale Terriers, the longest-headed terrier I ever saw running with hounds, and very savage; he went bind from punishment at fox and badger, and had to be destroyed; Blondin, a dwarf blue Bedlington, and sire of some grand stock in the Ullswater district, was worried by the hounds in December 1887; Merry, blue and tan bitch, the best pluck, ran well with Ullswater Foxhounds, and was killed by a badger afterwards.

Tinker II, by Old Red Tinker out of the dam of Prince was a beautiful stamp, and ran with hounds before he was one year old; supposed to have got wedged into some cairn, where he died; he was last seen running with hounds and never turned up again. Glitter and Midge were hardy little specimens; the latter died out hunting. Old Spot, a perfect champion underground, dropped down dead when standing among the pack; was well known from his top lip being missing, having been torn off by a badger. Banter II, a little blue, black and tan, was an excellent stamp for fell hunting, and did well with hounds; unfortunately, a runaway horse killed him before he had sired any puppies. Jenny, a little cream-coloured bitch with a flesh coloured nose, weighting about 14lb. was, perhaps, the hardest terrier that ever went to ground, and was killed in a pipe with otter hounds. When the drain was opened she was found dead and locked to the otter, her windpipe being severed.

Bowman thought her a perfect little wonder. Weasel, a beautiful little dark blue bitch, one of the handsomeness of them all, was drowned in Long Sleddale Beck when trying to swim over in a flood after the foxhounds and her body was recovered the next day, April 1, 1896. Scamp, another terrier which got much good stock in the Fell district, was a black and tan with a coat as hard as iron, and was a wonder to climb up the ledges in the cairns; he killed the first fox he went to ground at-a 19lb. dog fox; he was not unlike a Welsh terrier in appearance.

Sweep, perhaps one of the hardest of all these terriers, and was the sire of much stock in the mountain district. A black-blue dog, he was the sire of the celebrated Corby and her equally hard sister Brandy, both coming to untimely ends; all his stock were lathe, active and dead game. Nancy, a light linty bitch, was the damn of the grand puppies. and herself was absolutely fearless; a mask of a 20lb. Fox she killed in an earth hangs near me as I write these lines, Joe Bowman, the huntsman, always said she was about the best he ever had; she was lost out otter hunting and never seen again. A sire much used in the mountain country was a little blue dog I had called Piper, one of the very hardest. He had a peculiarity of standing perfectly quietly outside an earth until let loose and told to go; instead of straining and tearing all the time, he waited for his turn, be when he did do there was no chance of a fox living unless it bolted at once. He was much disfigured by the loss of a lip, and his fault was he settled all his foxes underground. Having kept a complete list of all the terriers I sent to Bowman for about 16 years, with their weights, colour, and breed, I can give any of your readers a good deal of information about Patterdale terriers and their breeding if they wish to go in for them. All the terriers I have mentioned belonged to me, and so I write with some knowledge as to the breed and their powers. I have had scores more, which I have not written about; but have given the names of the principal ones which were mostly bred from. The last I sent to Bowman went by rail to him yesterday, and I hope will be as good as the former ones. I believe Bowman has hunted the Ullswater Foxhounds well over twenty years on foot and killed an immense number of foxes, and I do not suppose he has ever ridden a horse with them in his life, or bothered to take off a wet coat and dry it. I never owned a terrier which killed a wild badger. I read of its being done, and how badgers are dawn from their earth by terrier. When I see it done, I will believe in it being possible.    
The End
I believe this to be William Marcus de la Poer Horsley-Beresford the 4th baron Decies (1865-1910) who had his kennels at Bolum Hall in Northumberland, he had great interest in hunting and  all outdoor sports,  it seems his love of outdoor sports,  his love of horse racing played a part in his sudden death at age 45 on the 30 of July 1910, its reported that after attending the races at Alexandra park he was ‘’overcome by the oppressive heat’’  and later died at the cottage hospital in Hornsey London
The Patterdales describe in Lord Dacies article where certainly game terriers and where the original blood stock the reader my find no mention of the black terrier and for some reason it was not at this point a popular colour but this is and was purely fashion    
By the end of the first world war when humanity had been depleted by industrial murder, the Terriers and their breeding and up keep for work , now pasted into the working man hands , all of these northern Terriers would of been line bred to the Lords dogs what a exceptional place to start a bloodline form, and by 1922 a new statesman for the  breed would take up the reigns a  Mr Cyril Breay