363 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
THE BEDLINGTON TERRIER. 
BY HAROLD WARNES. 
“T never barked when out of season ; 
I never bit without a reason ; 
I ne’er insulted weaker brother ; 
Nor wronged by force or fraud another. 
Though brutes are placed a rank below, 
Happy for man could he say so!” 
HIS gamest of all the terriers has been 
known as a distinct and thoroughly 
British breed for over a century, 
which is, I think, a fairly ancient lineage. 
There are various theories as to its original 
parentage, but the one which holds that 
he was the result of a cross between the 
Otterhound and the Dandie Dinmont sug- 
gests itself to me as the most probable one. 
His characteristics strongly resemble in 
many points both these breeds, and there 
can be but little doubt of his near relation- 
ship at some time or other to the Dandie. 
The earliest authentic record we have of 
the Bedlington was a dog named Old 
Flint, who belonged to Squire Trevelyan, 
and was whelped in 1782. The pedigree of 
Mr. William Clark’s Scamp, a dog well 
known about 1792, is traced back to Old 
Flint, and the descendants of Scamp were 
traced in direct line from 1792 to 1873. 
A mason named Joseph Aynsley has the 
credit for giving the name of ‘“‘ Bedlington ” 
to this terrier in 1825. It was previously 
known as the Rothbury Terrier, or the 
Northern Counties Fox-terrier. 
Mr. Thomas J. Pickett, of Newcastle-on- 
Tyne, was perhaps the earliest supporter of 
the breed on a large scale, and his Tynedale 
and Tyneside in especial have left their 
names in the history of the Bedlington. 
Referring to the origin of this terrier, Mr. 
Pickett wrote in The Live Stock Journal in 
1877 :— 
“Whilst a schoolboy I recollect one day 
wandering in the woods of the Brandling 
—BLACKLOCK. 
estate of Gosforth, in Northumberland, 
gathering primroses, when I met a wood- 
man named David Edgar, who was accom- 
panied by a Northern Counties Fox-terrier, 
and who gave me a whelp by his celebrated 
dog Pepper. This whelp was the first of the 
breed I ever possessed. Being an ardent 
admirer of this description of dog, I followed 
up the breed, and have seen as many of 
them as most people. I have in 
my possession a copy of Tyneside’s pedigree, 
dated 1839, signed by the late Joseph 
Aynsley, who was one of the first breeders 
of this class of dog, and who acted as judge 
at the first Bedlington Show, and I quote 
the following as a description of what a 
Northern Counties Fox-terrier should be : 
“* Colour —Liver, sandy, blue-black, or 
tan. 
‘* * Shape.—The jaw rather long and small, 
but muscular; the head high and narrow 
with a silky tuft on the top; the hair rather 
wiry on the back; the eyes small and 
rather sunk; the ears long and hanging 
close to the cheek, and slightly feathered 
at the tip; the neck long and muscular, 
rising well from the shoulder; the chest 
deep, but narrow; the body well propor- 
tioned, and the ribs flat; the legs must be 
long in proportion to the body, the thinner 
the hips are the better; the tail small and 
tapering, and slightly feathered. Altogether 
they are a lathy-made dog.’ ” 
The present day Bedlington very closely 
resembles the dogs described by Aynsley, 
excepting that, like a good many other 
