Reverend, the canonical title given to men of the cloth has had a long, substantial, beneficial and indeed blessed influence on the story of the much prized Irish Red and White Setter. How long they constituted a unique species was not known to Reverend Mahon and was questioned by him in 1779, although his family had decades of investment in breed purity even then. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Reverend Noble Huston had definitely decided those hunting qualities he most desired, were only to be found in the Red and White Setters, a native Irish breed and arriere fond of all setters. Upon his return from ‘The Great War’, he set out to prove the viability of this old adept beauty, fast shedding its party colour, at the whim and dictate of the show ring. His renaissance work is the legacy inherited, as he became the undoubted saviour of the lovely animal held so precious today, which increasingly shows its stuff on hunt field and show ring, in an ever widening world of the fancy. Reverend Noble Huston’s networking prowess, so necessary and fundamental, in growing the breed, witnessed a presbyterial coterie of reverend gentlemen to whom he entrusted his ‘Eldron’ issue. The store, story and lore he shared with Mrs. Maureen Clarke Cuddy, his protégé, lives so in her notes, that a positive tangent to renowned names of yore is felt.
Who has not heard of the Reverend O’Callaghan family of champions of the last century? A litany reads no better …. Aveline – Punchestown – Finglas. His ‘rival’ Reverend Mac Dona is in the George Earl “meeting” of 1882 with Plunkett. (cf. What Is In A Name?) Mac Dona was the first U.K. judge at Westminster. In the voluminous correspondence twixt Mrs. Cuddy and Reverend Huston her astute mentor, we learn of the prominent stud dog Champion – The Brigadier. This pre-potent boy lived at Kilmore – Drumsnath rectory with Reverend R. Robinson, parish pastor of St. Patrick’s where Westenra Rossmore attended High Church liturgy. Mrs. Cuddy at Reverend Huston’s behest sent Jeff son of Judith of Knockalla to Reverend Mc Geach at Larne for a mere five guineas (clergy price). Those were the days! Two other reverends of the Knox persuasion; proud Red and White owners who had no time for dog shows, were in constant contact with the Huston / Cuddy endeavour. Lennox and Houston deplored in no uncertain terms ‘the deleterious show ring’. Much to the chagrin of Red and White advocates, Kilbeggan’s Reverend M.J. Jennings was an associate of those using foreign setter blood not approved by the Irish Kennel Club. Through the good offices of Reverend Bishop Mulligan and John Nash of Moanruad and Way Down Sandy fame, Red Setter officials both, two legitimate, licit and limited windows using Reds (heavily loaded with Red and White blood) were permitted.
Other men of the cloth – Reverends Tuohig, Moore and Griffin have left their individual redemptive Marks. The latter Fr. Dan of Brosna is a legend of the rough shooting scene around Killarney. Who has not read of Brosna Grouse in extended or immediate pedigrees? And now for the ‘big guns’ – the Canons – no spelling error. Reverend Canon Marron’s Champions Annayalla and Latton Lass have lent superior significant ‘old’ blood to the Mulligan / Nash cooptive Irish Kennel Club permitted experiment. The august Reverend Canon Pádraic Doherty (Sheebhín) is the Red and White source most of the fancy acknowledge to be their living, loving and active inspiration. Steele and Cuddy have dubbed him ‘The Father’ of the Irish Red and White and Sheridan and O’Leary tout him the primus inter alia huntsman. True to the very nature of the beloved breed Canada has its own Reverend in the breed – Ed Lakmanis. He and spouse Linda are owned by two very handsome Red and White Setters – CH Tanner whose daughter showed at Crufts in 2007 and CH Ben – father and son. Should you be in Wiarton on the Sabbath and called to the pew ‘repair to church for both the sermon and the music there’.
N.B. I almost overlooked Reverend Dineen and Reverend O’Connor ‘different persuasion’ men of the cloth important to the breed in the 1970s. This could cause me great disadvantage when I seek to sit on the right of the Lord and desire their precursor help. Mea maxima culpa!
© Dr. Albrecht Ua Siaghail - 2011
Who has not heard of the Reverend O’Callaghan family of champions of the last century? A litany reads no better …. Aveline – Punchestown – Finglas. His ‘rival’ Reverend Mac Dona is in the George Earl “meeting” of 1882 with Plunkett. (cf. What Is In A Name?) Mac Dona was the first U.K. judge at Westminster. In the voluminous correspondence twixt Mrs. Cuddy and Reverend Huston her astute mentor, we learn of the prominent stud dog Champion – The Brigadier. This pre-potent boy lived at Kilmore – Drumsnath rectory with Reverend R. Robinson, parish pastor of St. Patrick’s where Westenra Rossmore attended High Church liturgy. Mrs. Cuddy at Reverend Huston’s behest sent Jeff son of Judith of Knockalla to Reverend Mc Geach at Larne for a mere five guineas (clergy price). Those were the days! Two other reverends of the Knox persuasion; proud Red and White owners who had no time for dog shows, were in constant contact with the Huston / Cuddy endeavour. Lennox and Houston deplored in no uncertain terms ‘the deleterious show ring’. Much to the chagrin of Red and White advocates, Kilbeggan’s Reverend M.J. Jennings was an associate of those using foreign setter blood not approved by the Irish Kennel Club. Through the good offices of Reverend Bishop Mulligan and John Nash of Moanruad and Way Down Sandy fame, Red Setter officials both, two legitimate, licit and limited windows using Reds (heavily loaded with Red and White blood) were permitted.
Other men of the cloth – Reverends Tuohig, Moore and Griffin have left their individual redemptive Marks. The latter Fr. Dan of Brosna is a legend of the rough shooting scene around Killarney. Who has not read of Brosna Grouse in extended or immediate pedigrees? And now for the ‘big guns’ – the Canons – no spelling error. Reverend Canon Marron’s Champions Annayalla and Latton Lass have lent superior significant ‘old’ blood to the Mulligan / Nash cooptive Irish Kennel Club permitted experiment. The august Reverend Canon Pádraic Doherty (Sheebhín) is the Red and White source most of the fancy acknowledge to be their living, loving and active inspiration. Steele and Cuddy have dubbed him ‘The Father’ of the Irish Red and White and Sheridan and O’Leary tout him the primus inter alia huntsman. True to the very nature of the beloved breed Canada has its own Reverend in the breed – Ed Lakmanis. He and spouse Linda are owned by two very handsome Red and White Setters – CH Tanner whose daughter showed at Crufts in 2007 and CH Ben – father and son. Should you be in Wiarton on the Sabbath and called to the pew ‘repair to church for both the sermon and the music there’.
N.B. I almost overlooked Reverend Dineen and Reverend O’Connor ‘different persuasion’ men of the cloth important to the breed in the 1970s. This could cause me great disadvantage when I seek to sit on the right of the Lord and desire their precursor help. Mea maxima culpa!
© Dr. Albrecht Ua Siaghail - 2011
Drs. Pat and Albrecht Ua Siaghail
New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada
Phone: (519) 662-4045 Email: [email protected]
New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada
Phone: (519) 662-4045 Email: [email protected]
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