However the true history
of the breed was first published by Lord Ilchester in 1952 in an
article in the Country Life entitled “The Origin of the Yellow
Retriever”. This was based on over ten years of research by
Mrs Stonex and in 1959 she and Lord Ilchester put their findings
to the Kennel Club. In 1960 the Crufts catalogue carried the true origins of the breed
as approved by the Kennel Club: “Description of the Golden Retriever
‘The origin of the Golden Retriever is less obscure than most of
the Retriever varieties, as the breed was definitely started by
the first Lord Tweedmouth last century, as shown in his carefully
kept private stud book and notes, first brought to light by his
great-nephew, the Earl of Ilchester, in 1952. In 1868 Lord Tweedmouth mated a yellow Wavy-Coated retriever (Nous)
he had bought from a cobbler in Brighton (bred by Lord Chichester)
to a Tweed Water Spaniel (Belle) from Ladykirk on the Tweed.
These Tweed Water-Spaniels, rare except in the Border Country, are
described by authorities of the time as like a small Retriever,
liver-coloured and curly-coated. Lord Tweedmouth methodically line-bred
down from this mating between 1868 and 1890, using another Tweed
Water-Spaniel, and outcrosses of two black Retrievers, an Irish
Setter and a sandy coloured Bloodhound. (It is now known that one
of the most influential Kennels in the first part of the century
which lies behind all present day Golden Retrievers was founded
on stock bred by Lord Tweedmouth.)” From this description it can be seen that all Golden Retrievers
go back to the yellow retriever Nous who himself was obviously the
produce of Flat – coated Retrievers. Many canine authorities of
the day including Rawdon Lee in his Modern Dogs (1893) referred
to brown retrievers including pale chocolate coloured dogs being
bred from black parents. In the pedigree of Prim and Rose, the last two yellow retrievers
recorded in Lord Tweedsmouth’s records, one can see the influence
of both the Flat-coated Retriever and the Tweed Water Spaniel in
the development of the Golden Retriever. The Tweed Water Spaniel is now extinct but writers of the time including
Stonehenge in The Dog (1859), Vero Shaw The Book of the Dog (1890),
give detailed descriptions of the Tweed Water Spaniel as a small
type of retriever used by fishermen in the borders between Scotland
and England. The type of flatcoats used in the breeding programme
to produce Prim and Rose were very much of the old golden type in
head and conformation rather than having the construction and head
of the modern flatcoat. Zelstone, Think and Tracer were all from the breeding of S.E. Shirley
and photographs of Ch Moonstone (Brother to Tracer) published in
Nancy Laughton’s “A review of the Flat-coated Retriever”
(1968) and Thoughtful (sister of Tracer) published in Sir Henry
Smith’s, “Retrievers and how to break them” (1898) show
dogs very much of the early golden type. One other throw back to the flat coat ancestry is the presence of
a few black hairs on some of even the lightest goldens. More uniquely
one of our more experienced breeders has told me that in one of
her very early litters she had an almost totally black puppy. Unfortunately
she put this puppy down at birth. The link between Prim and Rose
to Culham Viscount Harcourt’s Cluham Brass (the dog behind most
of today’s pedigrees) is via a bitch called Lady who was thought
to be a daughter of Prim or Rose. Other Guisachan bred dogs that
can be traced through early pedigrees are Conan and Rock. To summarise the origins of the breed, I think it fitting to quote
from Mrs Stonex’s book: “The influential recorded links of Guisachan bred Lady, Conon
and Rock, prove the descent of today’s Goldens from the first Lord
Tweedmouth’s thoughtfully planned matings on a foundation of a yellow
retriever of unknown antecedents (Nous) and two Tweed water spaniels
(Belle and Tweed). The roots of the breed lie in Scotland and the
Border Country.” | 
