Since that time, British Longhairs have been shown in Assessment classes at GCCF shows and have found favour with the judges and also taken some top awards. At the GCCF council meeting on February 15, 2017, the name ‘British Longhair’ was officially recognised. However, some enthusiasts felt the long-hairs were worth developing in their own right.Īs a consequence, a club was formed and the application made to the GCCF for recognition of the British Longhair as a new breed. Until fairly recently, these were usually sold as pets, although some breeders kept a particularly nice example to use in their breeding programme when they were referred to as British Shorthair Variants, although they were unable to be shown at GCCF shows. The British Shorthair - a new breedĪs previously mentioned, it is not unknown for long-hair kittens to appear in litters from two short-hair parents. Today, figures of British Shorthair cats registered by the GCCF outstrip any other breed, and their popularity as a show cat and family pet is assured.Ī quarter of all kittens registered with the GCCF each year are British Shorthairs. This also introduced the long-hair gene into the breed, and long-hair kittens will occasionally appear in litters, although it is possible to gene test to discover whether a cat carries long-hair or is homozygous (breeds true) for short-hair only. To try to restore type and boning, breeders found it necessary to use Persians. Other breeds used were the Russian Blue, Burmese, and Chartreux. Because numbers were depleted after the War, breeders were obliged to outcross their British cats to maintain genetic diversity. Then came WWII and, again, a few enthusiasts managed to keep the breed alive. The Great War had a devastating impact on the breed, but a handful of devoted breeders kept them going, and numbers at shows had recovered by the end of the 1930s. As well as producing the first Crystal Palace show, he founded the National Cat Club (still in existence today) in 1887.Īs the Cat Fancy developed at a rapid pace during the end of Queen Victoria’s reign and into the 20th century, British Shorthairs were among the most numerous exhibits at shows. Harrison Weir had a profound impact on the Cat Fancy in the UK. He particularly admired the humble street cat, and - by a programme of careful selective breeding - developed the British Shorthair into a cat of a distinct type. Harrison Weir, a natural history artist - sometimes referred to as the ‘Father of the Cat Fancy’ - drew up the first standards that cats were judged against at early shows. The British Shorthair traces its ancestry back to the familiar non-pedigree short-hair cat we still see in many homes today, which probably descends from European domestic cats brought into Britain by the invading Romans in the first century AD. Best in Show was awarded to a 14-year-old female blue tabby Shorthair owned by Harrison Weir. Among the 170 exhibits present were English Shorthair cats - the forerunner of the British Shorthair. On July 13, 1871, the first cat show in the UK was held at the Crystal Palace, London.
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