French Bulldog "Lady Kathleen Pilkington"

When the History of the French Bulldog is written the name of lady Kathleen Pilkington should be printed in red letters, for more reasons than one, she must be credited with the honor of firmly establishing the French bull dog in England.
If it had not been for her unflagging energy I very much doubt whether the Toy Bull Dog Club would have ever been inaugurated, and if she andd one or two others in the club had not stood out against the raising of the weight in the toy bull dog and the making of the bat ear esential, I doubt whether the present French Bull Dog Club of England would have come into existence, which, undoubtedly owing to the prohibition of mating the French bull dog with the English blood and on account of entirely barring the rose ear has made the French bull dog a distinct breed and so steered away as much as possible from the English bull dog.
It was early as June 1896 that Lady Kathleen purchased her first toy bull dog. This was the famous champion Pere Boojum, which the bought from Mr. Richard Harrison at the tender age of two months and who had a glorious show career, winning everything before him, including about twenty one championship.
Pere Boojum was bred by Mrs. Johnson and was by Pere Boullo from Lascelle and weighed twenty one pounds
After having smothered his kennel with first prize cards he was sold to Lord Warwick for a big figure.
When Boojum was two years old, this was in 1898, Lady Kathleen together with Lady Burton, Miss Bruce and Mr. Khrell founded the Toy Bull Dog Club and it is interesting to here note that one of its first members and committeemen was the late Mr. Pelham Cliton.
This club, which allowed both the bat and rose ears in the toy bull dog, in the first instance restricted the weight of the dog to twenty two pounds or under, and afterwards this was reduced to twenty pounds and under.
I have purposely mentioned the weight and its further reduction in order to show that when the split in the club took place it was natural and the obvious policy of Lady Kathleen to stick through thick and thin for the object of the founders of the club of keeping the little breed as small as possible.
The next purchase for Chevet Kennel which was made in October, 1896, was Little Jemmima, a pretty little fawn lady with a black mask weighing about twenty pounds. She owned Boulo for her sire and Lascelle for her dam and was a winner of several prizes.
The bat-eared Caroline, a white and brindle little lady weighing nineteen and one-half pounds, was the next to do winning for the kennel. She was followed by the famous Ch. Ninon de L'Enclos by St. Accident ex Nina.
Other winners about this time were Sarah Jane de Bagatelle, Polo de Bagatelle, and Marie Antoinette, a most fascinating little creature weighing only fifteen pounds.
And now I come to the great Ch Peter Amos who born in 1900 and won for Lady Kathleen more championships and prizes than any dog that she ever possessed. His prizes numbered hundreds. He was sired by Rabot de Beaubourg bred Charles and weighed twenty pounds and lived to the ripe old age of seven. It was during his early life time, about 1902, that the split already referred to took place and then there came a great change in Chevet Kennels, the bat- eared specimens dwindled down till they were entirely superseded by miniature rose-eared bull dog.
From this time onward Lady Kathleen put her heart and soul into working up the rose-eared dogs and it is to her and Mrs. Carlo Clarke's united efforts that the miniature bull dog is a breed of its own and the quality so good. To do this, I do not think any fancier realizes the tremendous trouble and expense this pair were put to.
On every conceivable occasion they guaranteed classes and attended shows, even so far as Edinburgh, entering as many dogs as possible and it is not saying too much that if had not been for them the little breed would have ceased to exist.
To give a list of all Lady Kathleen's winning "miniatures" is quite out of the question as it would fill a book, so among the shoals of winners I pick out the following six champions: Chevet Tinker Bell, Bumps, Rip Rap, Chevet Tommy, Chevet Sarah and Chevet Punch whose portraits, together with that Ch Ninon de L'Enclos, can be seen in the well-known picture from the clever brush of Miss Lee, a reproduction of which I am, thanks to her courtesy, able to give.
Now I come to the happy mending of the rift on the lute when again at Chevet Park the bat-eared dogs romp with theirs rose-eared companions.
It is only quite recently that the lute played harmoniously, and net only is Lady Kathleen Pilkington a member of the French Bull Dog Club of England but has judged the breed. This was in Richmond Show last year when the masterly way she handled and placed the dogs clearly showed that she had followed up the bat-eared dogs specimens.
For many years I have seen her looking at her old sweethearts and many a time have I noticed her taking great interest in them being judged.
In the portrait of Lady Kathleen behind the garden seat will be seen her two new French bull dog Chevet Jill and Chevet Mingo with Ch. Tinker Bell in the centre.
Chevet Jill is by Bon Bon of Amersham and Chevet Mingo is by Halcyon Karnak so I expect this brace will breed something worthy of the kennel.
Photography is one of her many hobbies and her album of her own work is most interesting. I was especially struck with one or two views of Chevet Park, the house and garden. Chevet Park is not far from Wakefield in Yorkshire, is a lovely place and well wooded, but after the kennels and stable, the spot that fascinated me most was the rock garden which was a blaze of colour, the various stone crop and the little blue gentian and the wild strawberry peeped out of the crevises up at the taller varieties.
Now let me return for a moment to the stables which were well stocked with handsome hunters, for Lady Kathleen is a very prominent figure in the Badsworth Hunt and is a fearless rider and it is not often that she is not in "at the death"
Hunting is by no means her only other hobby. She is a splendid rifle shot, is fond of racing and is specially devoted to birds and her collection of foreign birds is one of the best in England.
From early childhood she was devoted to animals of all kinds, and from her earliest recollection was never without a live pet of some sort, which included even a tame eel.
Some people will hide their light under a bushel.
This Lady Kathleen does, for when I asked whether she hadn´t any other hobbies, she replied, "No, I do not think so, unless you call being very fond of the theatre a hobby""Ah, I know that", I laughed, for I have often admired her beautiful evening gowns and charming coiffure at the first nights of the London theatres and a certain salmon pink relieved with a green bow lingers in my memory now. the hobby which she hid is "hard work."
This takes two forms.
One is taking part in the Canine Political World. Besides being on the executive of the Miniature Bull Dog Club, in the capacity of deputy vice-chairwoman, she plays a leading role on the stage of the Ladies Kennel Association.
The other hobby is literary writing and this talent she evidently inherits from her father, the famous novelist. Her pen runs swiftly, severely and breezily.
She has written articles for the Nineteenth Century Magazine, the Tatler and the Ladies´s Field but perhaps the work that principally appeals to the fancier is the clever treatise on her toy Bull dogs, which she contributed in the New Book of the Dog, by Robert Leighton.
She has written much on the toy bull dog and also on the French bull dog and I well remember the sting of the letters she wrote many years ago charging the French bull dog controversy in the Stock Keeper. She has also written about the origin of the Fren bull dog and is emphatic in declaring that Fren bull dog originated in the miniature bull dog exported from England to France. Besides writing she is a clever speaker and puts her view concisely and cleverly.
She holds the logical view that the zenith of the fame of the French bull dog will never be reach until there is a universal standard for all nations.
Now that Lady Kathleen has again taken up French bull dogs I soon expect to see her leading a champion into the ring. She has lately been asked to judge French bull dog at the Crystal Palace show in October, and has accepted the honour. This selection will meet the hearty approval of all lovers of the breed.