494 BRITISH DOGS 



of the original show at Bedlington in 1870, where, in a class of 

 fifty-two competitors a number seldom exceeded since, though on 

 one of the occasions the late Colonel Cowen judged this breed 

 at Birmingham he had an entry of over seventy he was awarded 

 first prize. Tyneside, a beautiful blue bitch, faultless in shape, 

 coat, and colour, was placed first in a class of twenty-five at 

 Bedlington in 1871; but in the Bedlington show of 1872 this 

 distinguished branch of the family obtained its greatest triumph 

 Tyne (own sister to Tear 'Em) being placed first, with Tear 'Em 

 second, and Tyneside third, in a class of twenty-three entries. 

 Tyneside was inbred to a most curious extent, the name of Hutchin- 

 son's Tip occurring no less than five times in the course of her 

 pedigree, while on the part of both sire and dam she is descended 

 from such grand dogs as Bagille's Piper, Thompson's Jean, Burn's 

 Twig, Jos. Shevill's Jean, Thompson's Boa Alley Tip, and Bagille's 

 Nimble, etc. The dimensions of Tyneside were as follow : From 

 lugs to tip of nose, Sin. ; length of tail, n|in. ; length of lugs, 

 5|in., breadth (tapering off in a filbert shape), 3in. ; height from 

 the claw to the shoulder blade, i4|in. ; weight, 2olb. ; size round 

 the chest, iQ^in. ; and forearm, 7gin. So much for the Bedlingtons, 

 and I may mention that most of them known to me are terribly 

 inbred, and that the usual consequences often follow ; also that many 

 of them exhale an odour which, to say the least of it, is peculiar." 



However much inbred the originals of the present strain of 

 Bedlingtons may have been, there is now no need for its con- 

 tinuance to the extent of producing a weakened vitality in the 

 produce. 



The following quotations from a letter on the subject by Mr. 

 W. J. Uonkin, at one time secretary of the Bedlington Terrier 

 Club, is in some points confirmatory of the above, and throws some 

 additional light on the history of the breed. He says : 



" During the first quarter of the nineteenth century Mr. Edward 

 Donkin, of Flotterton still dear to the old sportsmen of Coquet- 

 side by the familiar sobriquet of ' Hunting Ned ' hunted a pack 

 of Foxhounds well known in the Roth bury district. At that time 

 he possessed two very celebrated kennel Terriers, called Peachum 

 and Pincher. A colony of sporting nailers from Staffordshire then 

 flourished at Bedlington (a village situated about twelve miles north 

 from Newcastle) ; they were noted for their plucky breed of Terriers. 

 But reform was at hand, and the old favourites were obliged to 

 make way for new blood. To Joseph Ainsley, a mason by trade, 

 belongs this honour. He purchased a dog named Peachum from 

 Mr. Cowen, of Rock Law, and the result of a union of this 

 dog with Mr. Christopher Dixon's Phoebe, of Longhorsley, was 

 Piper, belonging to James Anderson, of Rothbury Forest. Piper 



