Haste Ye Back
All the way from Isle of Skye...
Scotland has long been a stronghold of small plucky terriers, and the Skye Terrier is among the oldest of them. They developed along the west coastal area, where they hunted fox and otter from among the rocky cairns.
The purest of these dogs were found on the Isle of Skye, and the dogs were then named Skye Terriers. Skye Terriers were first described in the sixteenth century, when it was already noteworthy for its long coat. Some confusion exists in tracing its history because, for a certain time, several different breeds had the same name "Skye Terrier". The loyal dog, present under the petticoat of Mary, Queen of Scots at her execution, has been ascribed as a Skye Terrier. In 1840, Queen Victoria made the breed fancy, keeping both drop-(floppy) and prick-(upwards) eared dogs.
For a period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, It was a breed that was quite fashionable to have, especially in the burgher classes in Scotland.
There are concerns that the breed is under threat of extinction with only 30 born in the UK in 2005. It is today the most endangered of the Vulnerable Native Breeds of that country, and within 40 years the breed may disappear completely.
Queen Victoria, Prince Albert & Princess Royal (1840-43)
The 1st Baron Tweedmouth, Dudley Marjoribanks, and his family, who started the strain of yellow wavy- coated retrievers that are the basis for the golden retriever, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they were actually better known for the Skye terriers than their retrievers.
Yet, now their retriever has taken the world by storm, and their terrier is a breed on the verge of extinction.
It was the daughter of the 1st Baron Tweedmouth who introduced the golden retriever to North America. Ishbel Marjoribanks married John Hamilton-Gordon, the Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair. He would eventually become Governor-General of Canada from
1893 to 1898, and he and his wife purchased an estate in the Okanagan Valley. This estate was called Guisachan after her father’s estate in the Highlands near the small village of Tomich.
if Ishbel’s name had been mentioned in 1900, most of the intelligentsia would say something about her push for various reforms in Canada and probably would say something about her Skye terriers.
In Charles Henry Lane’s Dog Shows and Doggy People (1902), the section on “The Countess of Aberdeen” discusses her patronage of Skye terriers and also mentions how much her father loved the breed:
''There is no need to tell any of my readers who have seen this lady at a show with her pets that she is a lover of animals, and I am very pleased that her chosen favourites are Drop-eared Skyes, as they will be all the better for her ladyship’s patronage and influence, and are not so much kept as they deserve.
I believe Lady Aberdeen’s love for Skyes, which was inherited from her father, Lord Tweedmouth, dates from the time of her childhood; but it is only during the last few years that any of them have been exhibited.
The accompanying portrait of the Countess in company with a number of her pets will give a better idea of what a typical lot they are than any words of mine. Some of their names are: Monarch of Haddo, Feuriach (meaning Little Squirrel), Coulaig (Little Darling), Chluarain (Thistle), Bheown (Mountain), Darkie, Fraoch (Heather), and Angus Grey, evidently for the most part names of Gaelic origin well suited to the holders of them.
The Countess is well known as a lady of culture and ability, which she has shown in the valuable help she has given her distinguished husband in carrying out the receptions and social functions connected with the high Colonial appointments he has held, and has accompanied him also in some of his sporting expeditions.
The Ladies’ Kennel Association has the advantage of Lady Aberdeen’s active patronage and support as one of their Grand Council, and she is also one of the Committee of the Ladies’ County House Club, and a representative of the National Poultry Organisation Society.
Matters intended to benefit women in all ranks of life find in the Countess no lukewarm advocate – one who can both act and speak in their favour, frequently presiding over meetings held for such purposes, both in England and Scotland, and occasionally, as at the last show in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent’s Park, distributing the prizes to the successful exhibitors of the Ladies’ Kennel Association.''
Ishbel Maria Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, was the daughter of the 1st Baron Tweedmouth.
By the 1860’s, it was obvious that Skye terriers were meant to be pets. Many of these Scottish landowners were newcomers to the Highlands. The Marjoribankses certainly were. Dudley had made his fortune as chairman of the Meux Brewery, and although a native of Scotland, he was not a Highlander. His roots were in the Borders near Berwick. The Skye terriers were thought as part and parcel of life in the Scottish Highlands. Sir Walter Scott had romanticized Scotland’s history, and many wealthy people in Britain were searching for Scottish land to call their own. Scott also kept Skye terriers (or dogs very similar to them).
It would have made sense that a family like the Marjoribankses who had come to the Highlands in search of that Scotland immortalized in Scott’s prose. In that part of Scotland, no country noble could be without a pack of Skye terriers.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Cuillin
Cuillen was Robert Louis Stevenson’s pet Skye Terrier when he was a boy. A great explorer of Edinburgh and its surrounds, Cuillen was Stevenson’s constant companion on many of their first rambles.
You can visit a statue depicting Stevenson and Cuillen in the village of Colinton. It was made to celebrate his childhood visits there.
Robert Louis Stevenson visited the Colinton Parish Church often as a boy when his grandfather was a minister there, and the statue recalls a happy time in the famous author’s childhood with his dog by his side. It forms part of a wider public art and poetry celebration within historic Colinton, organised by the Colinton Community Conservation Trust.
Islay
A 60 centimetre bronze statue of a Queen Victoria's favourite pet, a royal Skye terrier named Islay. The statue is propped up on a sandstone wishing well outside the Queen Victoria Building, George St, Sydney.
Islay was Queen Victoria’s much loved companion for only 5 years because he became involved in a dispute with a cat and it was Islay that died. Queen Victoria recorded: `My faithful little companion of more than five years, always with me’
Till death do us part...
In 1850 a gardener called John Gray, together with his wife Jess and son John, arrived in Edinburgh. Unable to find work as a gardener he avoided the workhouse by joining the Edinburgh Police Force as a night watchman.
To keep him company through the long winter nights John took on a partner, a diminutive Skye Terrier, his ‘watchdog’ called Bobby. Together John and Bobby became a familiar sight trudging through the old cobbled streets of Edinburgh. Through thick and thin, winter and summer, they were faithful friends.
The years on the streets appear to have taken their toll on John, as he was treated by the Police Surgeon for tuberculosis.
John eventually died of the disease on the 15th February 1858 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Bobby soon touched the hearts of the local residents when he refused to leave his master’s grave, even in the worst weather conditions.
The gardener and keeper of Greyfriars tried on many occasions to evict Bobby from the Kirkyard. In the end he gave up and provided a shelter for Bobby by placing sacking beneath two table-stones at the side of John Gray’s grave.
Bobby’s fame spread throughout Edinburgh. It is reported that almost on a daily basis the crowds would gather at the entrance of the Kirkyard waiting for the one o’clock gun that would signal the appearance of Bobby leaving the grave for his midday meal.
Bobby would follow William Dow, a local joiner and cabinetmaker to the same Coffee House that he had frequented with his now dead master, where he was given a meal.
In 1867 a new bye-law was passed that required all dogs to be licensed in the city or they would be destroyed. Sir William Chambers (The Lord Provost of Edinburgh) decided to pay Bobby’s license and presented him with a collar with a brass inscription “Greyfriars Bobby from the Lord Provost 1867 licensed”. This can be seen at the Museum of Edinburgh.
The kind folk of Edinburgh took good care of Bobby, but still he remained loyal to his master. For fourteen years the dead man’s faithful dog kept constant watch and guard over the grave until his own death in 1872.
Baroness Angelia Georgina Burdett-Coutts, President of the Ladies Committee of the RSPCA, was so deeply moved by his story that she asked the City Council for permission to erect a granite fountain with a statue of Bobby placed on top.
William Brody sculptured the statue from life, and it was unveiled without ceremony in November 1873, opposite Greyfriars Kirkyard. And it is with that, that Scotland’s Capital city will always remember its most famous and faithful dog
Bobby’s headstone reads, “Greyfriars Bobby – died 14th January 1872 – aged 16 years – Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all”
Saving the Skye
In 2013, Skye Terrier registrations in the United Kingdom fell to just 17 puppies. According to the UK Kennel Club, any breed with fewer than 300 registrations per year is considered vulnerable and probably unsustainable. In the United States, the registration numbers were only slightly better, with 63 individual Skye Terriers registered in 2013. (Because there were only six litters registered in the US during 2013, many of those 63 came from the 12 litters in 2012.) The worry about the loss of a breed is real. In fact, the Paisley and the Clydesdale Terrier, relatives of the Skye, both vanished in the last century.
The Skye Terrier Club in the United Kingdom has decided to address this problem head-on with a campaign to increase awareness of the breed. They welcome press coverage wherever they go. In the spring of 2013, a group of Skyes and their people walked the Isle of Skye. It was called "The Great Skye Terrier Relay Walk” and spanned a full 55-mile trek
over four days. Skye fanciers often gather at the iconic statue of Greyfriars Bobby for photo opportunities and at the nearby Greyfriars Kirk church for services that bless the animals. In October 2013, they gathered when a wonderful statue of Robert Louis Stevenson as a boy with his Skye ‘Cuillin’ by Alan Herriot was unveiled in Colinton Parish Church in an Edinburgh suburb. Another destination for Skye devotees is Horatio McCulloch’s grave in Warriston Cemetery in northern Edinburgh to see the lovely Skye carved on the back of the monument. However, "The Homecoming” is the culmination of the UK Skye Terrier Club’s ventures.
On July 24, 2014, canines and humans explored the Clan Donald Skye estate’s beautiful gardens and gathered by mid-morning on the lawn sweeping down from the castle to the sea. There, looking out over the water, would soon stand two old friends of the island — a pair of life-sized bronze Skye Terriers, one drop-ear and one prick-ear.
The location of the statue demonstrates the harmonious collaboration between the Clan Donald, the Skye Terrier Club and the sculptor, Georgie Welch. Ms. Welch is a renowned animalier based in Wiltshire. A glance at her portfolio shows her keen understanding and obvious appreciation of animals. Ms. Welch said that she wanted to portray the dogs moving to show off their flowing coats, but found it difficult. Just like a dog show judge, a sculptor needs to comprehend what is actually going on under all that hair. One day, when it was pouring, she called a friend with a Skye and said she needed
to observe the dog walking in the rain. Watching the wet coat cling to the body as he moved, she got the insight she needed to sculpt the front carriage.
The statue's unveiling from left to right: Princess Anne; Jenny Kendrick, Chairperson of the Skye Terrier Club; and Georgie Welch, sculptor.
Photo by Jo Hansford.
Princess Anne was met by representatives of the Skye Terrier Club, including Amanda Anderson from Belfast, who is credited with the original idea of a statue on Skye; Chair of the Skye Terrier Club Jenny Kendrick; VisitScotland Regional Director Scott Armstrong; General Manager of Clan Donald Skye Stephen McKeown; and club patron Christian Landolt. Mr. Landolt.
The princess then made her way across the lawn, shaking hands and chatting about dogs with almost every attendee. Before unveiling the statue, she spoke briefly about Skyes being called the "heavenly breed” and congratulated the club on promoting the "greater knowledge and understanding of these intelligent, loving and loyal dogs.” Mr. Landolt and Ms. Kendrick teased the princess about the possibility of adding a Skye to her kennel of beloved Bull Terriers.
