THE FIRST CAT SHOW
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first ever cat show.
Let’s travel back in time,
150 years to be exact, to Thursday July 13, 1871. On the platform at Ludgate Hill station in London stands a distinguished looking, bearded gentleman in a frock coat. He boards a train, entering a first class compartment, travelling to the Crystal Palace in Sydenham, in the suburbs of south London.
The distinguished gentleman is Harrison William Weir, a natural history artist, engraver, and author, who came to be known as the ‘Father of the Cat Fancy.’
His journey is a historic one, for he is travelling to the first ever cat show. Harrison Weir conceived the idea to hold a cat show, at which fancy and domestic cats could be judged by a set of standards.
FELINE STANDARDS
Weir’s idea was to group cats into different classes by length of fur, their colour, and shape. He drew up the first ‘Standards of Points,’ awarding marks for these various aspects.
He then enlisted the help of his friend, Mr Fred Wilson, of the Crystal Palace Natural History Department, who actually organised the show.
Sitting on the train, Harrison Weir must have felt some trepidation about whether the show would be a success. His vision was for everyone to see how beautiful a well-cared for cat could be, and encourage cat owners to take better care of their felines.
In mid-Victorian times, cats were kept, but primarily as utility animals in order to keep vermin down — they weren’t generally regarded as pets.
Queen Victoria was a devoted dog lover, but also had a favourite cat called White Heather (possibly a White Persian or Angora) who remained living at Buckingham Palace long after the monarch herself had died.
Arriving at the Crystal Palace, Weir was delighted to see that the cats on exhibition were quite relaxed in their individual pens (which had been borrowed from the Pigeon Society), “reclining on crimson cushions.”
The judges for the show were Harrison Weir, his brother John Jenner Weir who was a cage bird judge, and the Rev. J. Cumming Macdona, a well-respected dog judge of the day and breeder of St Bernards.
Approximately 170 exhibits were present, including the first Siamese cats to appear at a show, Manx, African, French Persian (Angora) and
150 years ago this month, the first cat show took place in London and paved the way for the modern world of cat showing. Rosemary Fisher transports us back to that first show…
long-haired cats,
English short-haired cats, Polydactyl cats, and even a Scottish Wild Cat owned by the Duke of Sutherland.
CROWDS OF PEOPLE
The entrance fee was 3s 6d and there was almost £70 in prizes.The exhibitors were, of course, mostly upper middle class and aristocratic cat fanciers of the day.
The show was held over two days, and had been well publicised, attracting over 20,000 visitors, causing some problems with crowd control on the first day and forcing the Crystal Palace Company to put on more trains to cope with the influx of spectators. So successful was this show that plans were put in place immediately to hold a second show in December of 1871.
The entry for this show was at least double that of the first show and included prizes offered by the RSPCA for “Working Men’s cats”, and also the appearance of the first ever Abyssinian cat, said to have been “captured in the late Abyssinian war.”
Between the two Crystal Palace shows, a further four public cat shows were held: two in London, one
Approximately 170 exhibits were present...
in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. All the shows attracted a good entry of cats, in particular the Edinburgh show which was billed as the ‘Scottish Metropolitan Cat Show,’ held in the Royal Gymnasium, and boasted 256 entries.
The Crystal Palace was a fabulous structure made of cast iron and plate glass, and was designed by renowned garden designer, Joseph Paxton. It was originally constructed in Hyde Park, London to house the Great Exhibition which was opened on May 1, 1851 by Queen Victoria and closed on October 11, the same year.
Following the closure of the exhibition, it was decided to relocate the structure to Sydenham in 1852. Once complete, the Crystal Palace was opened again by Queen Victoria on June 10, 1854. It went on to host concerts, exhibitions, and various entertainments for over 80 years.
Sadly, this wonderful building was destroyed by fire on November 30, 1936, on the eve of the National Cat Club Show which was due to be held there.
Cat shows became regular events at the Crystal Palace and other venues around the country, and on June 15, 1887, the National Cat Club was founded in London by a number of fanciers.
Membership was by invitation and they held their first show at Crystal Palace in July 1887 where 323 cats were present.
Harrison Weir was the club’s first President, but resigned in 1890 as he felt members were becoming elitist and competitive, rather than promoting the welfare of cats — he was succeeded by the artist and cat lover Louis Wain.
From its foundation until the formation of the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF), the National Cat
Club kept breed registers of pedigree cats, and issued the first ever cat stud book in 1893 which contained records of some 200 cats and 50 individual owners.
MODERN DAY CAT SHOWING
At a preliminary meeting on May 17, 1910, at the Inns of Court Hotel, Holborn, London, the GCCF was formed by the alliance of the National Cat Club and 16 other clubs, some of which are still in existence, to form a single registry for pedigree cats.
A Chairman, Russell
Biggs, was appointed together with officers and a committee, and a constitution and rules drafted; the first official meeting was October 11, 1910.
The GCCF is considered to be the prototype for other cat registries. So from the vision of Harrison Weir grew a hobby that is now enjoyed worldwide. Most countries have their own cat registries and governing bodies. There is even a World Cat Congress, made up of the world’s major cat fancies, to educate the participants of the global cat fancy and improve the health and welfare of all cats.