The Scottish Cat Club has had mixed fortunes over the years, but no matter what the set-backs has always survived, and we hope always will. If we can survive two World Wars and the Great Depression we can survive anything! The Club played a pivotal role in the founding of the UK cat fancy as we know it today, being the second formally-constituted cat club in the UK, holding some of the very earliest cat shows.
1870s – Start of the Cat Fancy
The world’s first official cat show was staged at London’s Crystal Palace on Thursday 13th July 1871. It was the brainchild of writer, artist, and noted cat lover, Harrison Weir. His main objective in organising the first cat show was promoting their welfare rather than providing an arena for competitive cat owners. Our Club’s overall aims very much reflected Mr Weir’s desire to promote the welfare of cats. So successful was the show that other shows were held all over Great Britain, including a show in Glasgow later in 1871.
Early texts also refer in passing to a show in Scotland in 1875 which attracted 570 exhibits, and annual shows of the Scottish Rabbit, Cat and Cavy Club whose 1896 show was held in the Waterloo Rooms in Glasgow on 1-2 January.
Formation of the founder Clubs
By 1887, cat shows were regular events and the National Cat Club was founded in London. The Scottish Cat Club was the next cat club recorded, being formed in 1894. From the year it was founded the club ran many shows which were staged in Glasgow. Frances Simpson (1903) records the following information on the club:
The Scottish Cat Club, founded 1894. Hon sec J F Dewar, 2, St Patrick Square, Edinburgh. Annual subscription, 5 shillings. The Scottish Cat Club is in a flourishing condition, and has been steadily working up members since 1894. A show is annually held, and fanciers over the border are taking a much keener interest in cats.
Frances Simpson (1903)
Early breeding in Scotland
An example of an active Scottish cat breeder of the time was Mrs Mackenzie Stewart, who bred Persians, and clearly started the noble tradition of Scottish-bred cats who can more than hold their own down south:
One of the largest catteries in Scotland, where the fancy grows apace, is owned by Mrs Mackenzie Stewart, of Seagate House, Irvine. Mrs Stewart has possessed several notable cats of different breeds. Her blue stud cat “Ronald” has made himself a name in the south of England as well as in the north. Mrs Stewart … is now the owner of the celebrated black stud cat “Dick Fawe,” who has sired many winning kittens… Mrs Mackenzie Stewart is a most enthusiastic fancier, and often takes the long journey down South to bring her pets to the London shows. She has acted as judge in Scotland and England, and a contingent from the Seagate cattery is generally to be seen and admired at most of our large shows.
Early Registries
Both the National Cat Club and the Scottish Cat Club operated their own registries, with the McNish brothers, John and James, being the registrars for the Scottish Cat Club. When the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy was founded in 1910 there were 16 cat clubs represented, including the Scottish Cat Club. Both the Scottish and the National Cat Club handed over all their registration details to the GCCF. In 1911, the GCCF’s Constitution and Rules were drawn up by Mrs Slingsby (who was also the Scottish Cat Club delegate), Mr Little and Mr Russell Biggs.
1911 AGM & Show
That year, the Club’s AGM was held in the Secretary’s office, at the Scottish Zoo, Glasgow on March 2nd. 17 members were present, and Club officials of the time included:
President: Mrs Mackintosh, Hon sec: Mr John McNish, committee members: Mrs Hay, Mrs McCowatt, Miss Russell, Mr James McNish, Miss Charlotte McNish, Mrs Slingsby
Our show that year was held in Glasgow on Thursday 2 March (presumably at the same venue as the AGM), with Mrs Slingsby being one of our judges. There were 270 entries and 84 individual exhibitors of whom 61 were Scottish and the remainder English, or to quote a commentator of the time: “if we include H.E. The Countess of Aberdeen as Scottish, which to be quite correct, we must, there were 63 Scottish exhibitors and 22 English”. Cat breeding did tend to be the preserve of the upper classes! Of that total of 84, 35 were Scottish Cat Club members.
After the First World War
Following the First World War, Mrs Slingsby was responsible, with several others, for rallying the Cat Fancy. She later helped redraft the Constitution and Rules, which were not amended again until 1932.
In the 1930s Glasgow suffered severe unemployment. Shipbuilding had been the major industry on the Clyde, but was one of the industries hardest hit by the Depression, although it revived with the coming of the Second World War. The Scottish Cat Club had been hard hit during the period of distress on the Clyde and had dropped out as a member of the GCCF. It nevertheless carried on with shows and eventually rejoined the Council. Even in times of difficulty the true Scottish spirit remained indomitable: I think there is a lot to be said to the following approach to show management!
The Scottish Cat Club’s Show
This was held in Glasgow on December 15th, 1937. Mr Peter Forbes and his band of very enthusiastic helpers were determined that it should be a success and nothing was left to chance. Attention was given to the most minute detail and the management was justified in feeling pleased at the success the Show enjoyed. For my part I considered it was worth making the long journey for and have nothing but happy recollections of Scottish hospitality, etc. Incidentally, the Show Manager set a very commendable precedent by providing a supply of native distilled “fire-water”. This example could be followed with advantage by Show Managers down South – or are all our Show Managers teetotal? I ha’e ma doots. Anyway I reckon Judges and Stewards, at least, deserve a very large drink at someone’s expense after they have finished their arduous duties. But to continue with the remarks on the Show itself. There were 145 entries which were sorted out by Miss E Langston, consequently there was an entire absence of disgruntled exhibitors. The Best Exhibit in Show proved to be Mr Bolton’s Townfield Monarch, and the Best Kitten in Show was Mr Waugh’s Moormead Black Bess. The Best Short-haired Cat was a Siamese, Mrs Alexander’s Wivenhoe Titanya. Miss Wentworth-Fitzwilliam’s Siamese kitten, Fairy Fay de Listinoise was Best Short-haired Kitten. Now then Southerners, how about giving this Show a helping hand next year?
From Cats and Kittens Magazine, January 1938, Esperanza – Her Page
Early Trophies
One of our oldest surviving trophies dates back to the same era: the Matthew (Marilla) of Greengables Cup for Best Chinchilla Adult or Neuter. Matthew was a very well-known Chinchilla stud cat in the 1930s, with Cats and Kittens magazine in January 1938 reporting the following:
Congratulations to Miss Adams for having the courage to express her convictions and awarding Matthew (Marilla) of Greengables a Championship Certificate at the National, thus entitling him to the coveted prefix Champion. Previous Certificates had been awarded by Mrs Slingsby* and Miss Langston. It must be seldom that a cat of the eminence of Matthew passes his sixth birthday without becoming a Champion. This state he would undoubtedly have attained some years since had he not been severely handicapped by a blemished eye – the legacy of an injury sustained at a show at the beginning of his career
*our GCCF delegate crops up again!
Rejoining the GCCF and the 1950s
Unfortunately there are gaps in our records again at this point so we don’t know why the Club left the GCCF. We would love to hear from anyone who can help fill in some details.
On rejoining the GCCF we seem to have got back to holding shows again pretty quickly, and by 1950 we were running successful ‘open’ (i.e. sanction) shows in the Glasgow area: our 1953 show was held on 28 November in Paisley and attracted 117 cats. At our AGM on 11 February 1954 the following were elected or re-elected to our Committee:
Hon president: Mr P P Connor; President: Miss M S Paton, vice chairman: Mrs McPhail, Hon secretary: Mrs F M Richardson, Members: Mrs B I Dinwiddie, Dumfries, Mrs S P Hamilton, Renfrew, Miss G B Philp, Bearsden, Mr W S Steele.
After many years service Mr J McPhail resigned from the committee: he had been our GCCF delegate.
1954 – regaining Founder status
At the AGM of the GCCF in April 1954 the Scottish Cat Club was granted its original status as a founder member and permission to call 1954 its diamond jubilee year. The then-chairman of the GCCF, Mrs Kathleen Yorke, wrote the following about our show that year:
“This is the Diamond Jubilee year of the Scottish Cat Club and they held a wonderful show on 30 October in Glasgow (in the McLellan Galleries). It was well patronised with over 1,400 people passing through the gate. Exhibits also numbered over 100, including the household pets. Mrs Richardson, show manager and honorary secretary of the club, and the committee must have felt very proud of their efforts. Miss Paton is the president, and she was all smiles. Her mother, 92 years of age, is one who has been a member of this club almost from its inception, also Mr Peter Connor, who had his first instruction in judging from the late Mrs Slingsby, who was one of the members attached to this club from the beginning, and when affiliated to the GCCF, which was founded in 1910, became its delegate, remaining so for many years. She took a great interest in this club to the end of her life.
On this auspicious occasion I felt that if Mrs Slingsby had been alive she would have loved that I went to the show, so I travelled up on the Friday night, and returned Saturday night, after a very happy day. Mrs Cattermole judged long hairs. She had a very long-delayed journey and was most courageous in commencing judging immediately she arrived hours late, owing to disorganisation of trains. Miss Fitzwilliam judged the short hairs, Mr Connor the household pets, Mrs Speirs assisting with these. Congratulations to all responsible for such a lovely show and to exhibitors who supported it so well.”
This recognition of the Club served to reinvigorate it even further, with the Club Secretary noting in 1955 that “The sum of £75 has been set aside for the purchase of our own cages. This is a step in the right direction”.
There was a lot of concern about the number of cat shows being held, with the GCCF discussing over several meetings the possibility of limiting championship shows to 10 a year, or only allowing clubs to hold shows on alternate years. It was proposed that the Scottish Cat Club and the Edinburgh & East of Scotland Cat Club should alternate. Fortunately, delegates voted down this proposal and we were granted our Championship show licence for 1 February 1958. By this time we were firmly settled in the McLellan Galleries, with shows being held in early February.
The 1960s
By 1965 our Committee consisted of:
President: W S Steele, Vice president: Mrs M Steele, Hon treasurer: Mr J Libbald, Hon secretary: Mrs Jessie E Colquhoun, Show manager: Mrs M Bain, Members: Mrs Emslie, Mr Saunders, Miss Duff, Mrs McLeod and Mrs Lindsay
One judge at our 1968 show commented as follows:
Heartiest congratulations to the show manager, Mr A Saunders, Mrs Saunders and all the committee of the Scottish Cat Club on a really wonderful show held at Glasgow on February 3. Everything was beautifully arranged. I was very pleased with the high quality of the exhibits. The show was followed by an excellent dinner at the Grosvenor Hotel and I am sure it must have been greatly enjoyed by everyone who attended. My sincere thanks to all for this delightful hospitality…
Mrs Gwendolyn M Budd, 1968
The Club’s show was held for many years at the McLellan Galleries and a lot of us hold fond memories of those times, with abiding memories of the vetting-in queue snaking up a magnificent large curving staircase and an apparently never-ended crush of visitors in the afternoon. The highlight of the day was the best in show judging with a panel of three judges sitting up on the stage as stewards passed each nominated cat down the table.
Our Silver Jubilee in 1982
The Club enjoyed its Silver Jubilee show there in 1982, when our Committee consisted of:
President: W S Steele, Chairman: Mr A C Saunders, Vice Chairman: Mr A L Bain, Hon secretary: Mrs Jean Cousins, Hon treasurer: Mr R J Whitelaw, Show Manager: Mrs Irene McMillan, Members: Mr & Mrs Broadbent, Mr A Chalmers, Mrs C Craik, Mr George Godfrey, Mrs J Saunders and Mr & Mrs Jamieson.
Mr Steele was closely involved with the Club for many, many years, having first joined the Committee in January 1953, and serving as our President for over 20 years. We still have special W S Steel Memorial Classes at all our shows, with three magnificent trophies being awarded to the winning cats, to be held for a year. As a mark of respect we also give special rosettes to every cat entered in these classes.
1990s – Changes of Show Venues
The McLellan Galleries was a beautiful venue, in a great location but unfortunately, in the 1980s the Galleries were ravaged by fire and when they re-opened in 1990 following a multi-million refurbishment they were no longer willing to accommodate our show. We then spent a number of years at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, courtesy of the then-generous sponsorship of some major cat food companies. As the economic climate shifted again this support declined and we moved to the Braehead Arena, to the west of the city centre. As companies pulled out of sponsoring cat shows we had to make the hard decision to move the show again, and in 2004 we moved to the Clydebank Play Drome, a few miles north of Glasgow and have been delighted by the warm welcome we have received.
Enough of the history – time to look forward!
Our show in 2007 will be our 50th consecutive championship show and we are determined to make it the brightest, shiniest and best Scottish show ever, with special classes, special prizes and special competitions. Maybe now is the time to reinstate the old tradition of supplying some of our ‘native distilled “fire-water” ‘ again…. and toast those stalwarts from the Scottish Cat Club’s past. Here’s to you Mrs Slingsby, Mr Steele, and all the other people who kept our Club going through the good times and bad. Thank you for our Club.
Many thanks to:
- Sarah Hartwell, for permission to draw on her article on the history of the cat fancy, which in turn drew on Frances Simpson’s Book of the Cat (1903) (www.messybeast.com)
- John Shepherd, Rob Dean and Maureen Lacey at Our Cats magazine for all their help
- The collective memory of the Committees past and present, and others