The Clumber Spaniel 223 
to be pretty straight, and for want of a better name he was christened Bate- 
man, after the man who owned him abroad at one time. Bateman was 
shown in a class at New York for large spaniels and took second, but when 
application was made for the medal to be awarded to the best Clumber in 
the class it was not forthcoming, the judge declaring or specifying that 
Bateman was not a Clumber, and the medal went to something else farther 
down the list. We then sold Bateman to Mr. Marmaduke Richardson, 
and the next thing was that the dog got quite a piece bitten out of one ear. 
It was somewhat of a disfigurement, so that Mr. Richardson had the ear 
rounded and the other one shaped to match. After this Bateman won several 
prizes in classes for Clumbers. He was not much of a Clumber, we 
will admit, but he was nothing else, and was entitled to the medal as against 
any dog he beat in that class at New York. 
The late Mr. Mercer was a great enthusiast on the subject of Clumbers, 
and as the breed had always had more supporters in Canada than in the 
States, he was more at home in Ottawa in securing his facts. Mr. Mercer 
credited Major Venables, who was stationed at Halifax as a lieutenant of 
the 97th Regiment in 1842, with being the first importer of Clumbers, he 
having got his dogs from Mr. Yeatman of Dorset, a prominent breeder 
mentioned by “Idstone.” Major Venables’s Clumbers were the foundation 
stock upon which later importations were grafted, Mr. Piers of Ottawa 
getting some of their descendants as well as Mr. Mercer. 
While Clumbers flourished in the Ottawa district under the rivalry 
of Messrs. Mercer and Hill and Messrs. Bate and Geddes, it was left to 
Mr. J. L. Little to uphold the breed in the States, but he soon relinquished 
the field and the Canadians had matters their own way. From the Mercer 
kennel came Johnny, a seventy-pound dog according to Mr. Mercer, but 
a little under sixty by others who weighed him specially. He won many 
prizes, but his only positive claim to being a Clumber was his length and his 
colour. In all else he was a very poor dog, over nineteen inches at the 
shoulder, light all over and devoid of Clumber character in head. The 
same owner’s Drake was a better Clumber, but in those days judges knew 
less—not much less—about Clumbers than they do now, and they thought 
the big dog must be the better one. Newcastle and Tyne were also winners 
sent down from Canada, not one a really good one, our opinion always being 
that Tyne was the best of the four and Drake the best of the dogs. Mr. 
Richardson bought Newcastle and Tyne. 
