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When “The Parson” is mentioned around dog people or in terrier circles it means only one man, Parson John Russell; born at the Belmont house, Dartmouth, South Devon, England on December 12th 1795, a member of a fox hunting family and it was inevitable that he should develop a passion for hunting himself, being a man of his class and time. His family had lived in Devon since 1549 when Lord John Russell was sent to Devon to suppress the Prayer Books riots. Jack’s father was also a Clergyman and he was a noted sportsman who took tremendous interest in Hounds, Terriers and the working and hunting of both. Already when he left for Tiverton for studies his interest in hunting had began. It can truly be said that Jack patterned his own life in his father’s footsteps. Russell then attended
theology school at Exeter College in Oxford.
At Oxford John Russell found the center of a great hunting world
and took all the opportunities his finances would allow to hunt with the
Beaufort, the Bisector and the Old Berkshire where his contact with men
such as Philip Payne, Stephen Goodall, Will Long and their like, served
only to encourage his passion for the sport. |
As a boarder at Blundell’s School, in Tiverton, the boys at the school were not allowed to have pets but John at the age of sixteen with the assistance of another pupil, Robert Bovey and the village blacksmith, kept a pack of four and a half couples in secret. He hunted the pack to the delight of the local farmers but not his Headmaster, Dr. Richards. When the truth was known, Russell was lucky to escape with a thrashing while Robert Bovey was expelled. It was at the end of his time in Oxford that John bought his first terrier. During a walk on a lovely morning in May he meet the milkman and he had a terrier walking a long with him. John stooped and couldn’t take his eyes away from the dog. What a terrier! In John’s eyes this was the perfect working terrier! She had all that he could ever wish for and bought her right on the spot. Later he made attempts to find her pedigree. Jack was successful in finding the name of the milkman, who was well known for breeding excellent terriers, but the lines that she was breed from were never found. The immortal Trump is said to be the foundation of John Russell’s strain of working terriers. |
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“In the first place the color is white with just a patch of dark tan over each eye and ear, while a similar dot, not larger than a penny piece, marks the root of the tail. The coat, which is thick, close and a trifle wiry, is well calculated to protect the body from wet and cold, but has no affinity with the long, rough jacket of a Scotch terrier. The legs are straight as arrows, the feet perfect; the loins and conformation of the whole frame indicative of hardihood and endurance; while the size and height of the animal may be compared to that of a full-grown vixen fox.” |
After gaining his Bachelors and Masters degrees Russell became a deacon and was subsequently ordained in 1820. Returning to Devon as a curate, his yearly stipend of £60 did not prevent him from keeping his own pack of six couples. |
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Even his marriage in 1826
was no hindrance to hunting, for his bride, Penelope Bury, was as keen a
hunter as himself. Shortly after his marriage the Reverend Russell took
up the curacy of his father’s parish at Iddelseigh in North Devon
remaining there until 1832 when he moved and which was to be his home
for the next forty five years at Swimbridge and Landkey |
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| Parson Jack especially admired
Terriers who were pure white or had only very slight markings, like all of his
dogs were. It must have aroused considerable comment when Parson Jack bred his
beloved Trump to a Terrier who was Black and Tan. Two dogs of this litter made
their name in Jack Russell history as the foundation for this particular type of
Terrier. Fox Terrier historians have referred to the Reverend John Russell as
“The world’s oldest breeder of Fox Terriers”. His years of activity in the
breeding Terriers spanned almost his entire life from his youth until his death
at age 88. |
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The conformation of the Jack Russell Terrier follows its original function. Early British fox hunters used a black and tan type terrier, rather than the Fell or Welsh Terrier, whose coloring was too similar to the quarry it was hunting, namely, the fox. Difficulty in telling the terrier from the creature it was bolting out of it’s den brought about the desire for a more white-bodied dog. In all probability the English Black and Tan Terrier was crossed with the Old English White Terrier (both now extinct) to achieve the type of coat and coloring we have today in our Jack Russell Terriers. |
As the Jack Russell Terrier often followed the hunt on foot, he had to have a reasonable length of leg. As he was needed to run across rough terrain to follow the fox into it’s den and squeeze through tight, underground burrows and tunnels in the fox’s territory, it only makes sense that the terrier should be built similarly to this elusive fox.
The shorter-legged, bulldog-like, muscular terriers we often see today certainly are not the original working terriers that Reverend Russell owned, hunted and bred. They have been crossed in experiments over the years with Bulldogs, Bull Terriers and Beagles, yet they are passed off as Jack Russell Terriers. They are not the true Jack Russell Terriers, the way they were originally designed to be, nor are they as sound in temperament or health. These terriers may have the outstanding character, courage, and intelligence of our Jack Russells, but they do not have the shape required to properly hunt, nor do they resemble a vixen red fox, as is required. They are not true and proper, correct Jack Russell Terriers.
The proper Jack Russell Terrier of today is still able to perform the functions it was originally bred to do. It has longer legs, which allow it to travel on foot, it has a light flexible body that allows it to squeeze into underground dens, and it has an engaging terrier temperament that allows it to be both a wonderful companion and an excellent hunter.
England’s first dog show took place in 1862 the famous Bath event at Exeter. This show still remains as one of the most prestigious in the country. Parson Jack was among the exhibitors at this opening show and one of his Terriers won first place. The Parson became a judge of Fox Terriers although his preference was strictly for the working Terriers. His judging assignments included the Biddeford Show in 1863 and the famed Crystal Place competition in 1874.
John Russell was a founding member of England’s Kennel Club in 1873, and in 1874 he judged fox terriers for the KC. In his day John Russell was called ‘The Father of the Wire Haired Fox Terrier’, at a time when it was thought that wire coats were a passing fad. John Russell’s bloodlines are found in the pedigrees of early Smooth Fox Terriers, for as a breeder of broken coats he often bred to smooth-coated fox terriers to improve coat quality. His bloodlines are also found on both sides of the wire-coated bitch, L’il Foiler, dam of the well-known wire champion, Carlisle Tack. Many Jack Russell Terrier breeders today regard Carlisle Tack as the ideal Russell type. The Jack Russell is the original white fox terrier and is the foundation stock from which today’s modern Fox Terrier was developed.
Without a doubt the most significant day in the modern history of “Jack Russell Terriers” in the United States was the day when Mrs. Nelson Slater presented a JR puppy, named “Rare”, to her good friend Mrs. Harder Crawford III of Hamilton Farm in Far Hills, New Jersey. It was around 1960 and the results have been far reaching.
This started Mrs. Crawford off on a project that has created a whole new world of activity among of “Jack Russell Terriers” owners in the United States. Mrs. Crawford was so fascinated with Rare that she was eager to learn everything there was to know about the breed, share this knowledge with others and protect in every way the natural quality of this breed. From the day Mrs. Crawford received Rare, up to 1978 she created a large busy and influential kennel of JR’s. Her dogs were known and owned around the world thus acting as “Trail Blazer” for many new kennels. Although this involved a great deal of full time work Mrs. Crawford founded the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America. She was its first President and took on the job of handling the registry of Jack Russell Terriers in the United States. Mrs. Crawford was not only a member of the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America but she was a member of the Jack Russell Terrier Club of Great Britain, Australia and South Africa. She has judged and worked Terriers for two decades in both England and the United States.
Fox
hunting in the southern parts of Great Britain was and is today comprised
primarily of mounted hunts riding over the fields of the countryside. Terriers
working these hunts were required to be baying dogs. Parson Russell demanded
that his terriers be “steady from riot”, for the hunt ended if the fox was
attacked underground. If the fox did not bolt, the terrier man, listening to his
Russell bay down in the tunnel, dug to the spot and released the fox. In the
south, hard Russells who tried to kill the fox underground were suspected of
carrying undesirable bull terrier blood (hence the brindle disqualification in
the standard). In the northwest of England, near the Scottish border, foxhunts
are not mounted, and man and dog follow the fox on foot over rocky terrain.
Northern terriers are often expected to be hard dogs who can latch onto their
quarry and drag it from the earth, as the rocks and hills make it difficult to
dig. In the north, hard Russells were suspected of carrying Lakeland or fell
terrier blood (hence the faulting in the standard of a curly or wavy coat that
does not lie flat).
The Jack Russell was, and
should remain, a baying terrier whose job was to bolt, not kill, his quarry.
This part of the breed’s history affects both its correct type and its
attitude in the show ring today.
In
1862 the Rev. Handly owned a terrier bitch call Sting, Family III of the
present day Smooth Fox Terrier came from this bitch. Sting was mated to Tartar
and produced a bitch, Grove Nettle which later had a dog, Old Hornett.
In
the meantime the Reverend Russell had mated his bitch, Vic to Grove Willie
to produce Juddy, a bitch which became the start of today’s Family 1 of
Smooth Fox terriers. The link was then made by the Parson between Juddy and Old
Hornett with Moss 1 arriving in 1869. Moss 1 was mated to Gibson’s
Bitters to result in Moss II, another bitch. Moss II was then
mated to a dog of Russell’s breeding, Tipp II and from that match came Wasp,
which the Parson sold to Thomas Wooton of Nottingham. In 1883 Wasp was
mated to a dog-named Young Foiler, the breeding of which went back to Juddy.
This mating led to Lill Foiler, a bitch which went on to produce Carlisle
Tack by Trick in 1884. Carlisle Tack was then mated with Vice
to produce Carlisle Tyro, a dog which had all the qualities to be seen in
today’s Parson Russell terriers. So, while the modern Fox Terrier was
emerging, the old foxing terrier remained and it is from these old terriers that
the descent of the Parson Jack Russell Terriers of today may be traced.
By
the time of the Parson’s death in 1883, three recognizable type of white
working fox terriers were in evidence, firstly the Fox Terrier, either as an
elegant animal generally smooth-coated with a long fine muzzle or in the form of
the more robust wire-haired dog.
There
was also an abundance of crossbred hunt terriers, indiscriminate in size,
referred to as Russells. These ubiquitous animals were not the terriers bred by
the Parson for the story behind them is quite different. John Russell had a
kennel man, Will Rawle, and a relative of his, Annie Harris, bred and sold
terriers. She found that if these were sold as “Jack Russells” they went
more easily but what she actually sold was the crossbred working terrier without
necessarily the length of leg of the Parson’s dogs. At the turn of the century
Arthur Heineman, a journalist who was the secretary of the Parson Jack Russell
Terrier Club of the time, had terriers going back to the Parson’s breeding. He
also had a great passion for badger digging, however, and for this the terriers
he used did not need the length of leg. He often introduced Bull Terrier blood
to produce a “harder” terrier.
Finally,
the older type of fox terrier, the Parson Russell Terrier, remained in
specific areas valued by those people who appreciated the practical and
purposeful qualities of the dogs which had been recognized and bred true to
type, throughout his long life, by the Parson himself.
John Russell died in Black Torrington the 28th of April 1883 and was put to rest in Swimbridge. He left as his permanent memorial the type of working terriers, which bears his name; so long there are men who love a game terrier, the name of Parson Jack Russell will never be forgotten.
Thus it was that the country best known and hunted by the Parson was that of the wooded slopes, green fields, red soils, rock outcrops and moorlands of Devon itself. The terriers he bred, mainly white, long in the leg, rangy and racy, with the stamina to run with hound best suited his needs as a fox hunter and the country he hunted.
After John Russell’s death,
the name “Jack Russell” was misused to describe all mix and manner of
working and hunt terriers, many of which bore little, if any, similarity to
Russell’s own terriers. The mounted style of fox hunting in southern England
had been hampered by expanding agricultural practices and the sport became
expensive. Those without sufficient land or resource took to fox and badger
digging for terrier sport. Terriers were carried to known sets and released down
an earth to attack whatever they found, no horses or hounds required. These
terriers were more aggressive than intelligent, and needed not the leg, stamina,
nor common sense of the early Jack Russell. The public came to know a “Jack
Russell” only as a game-working terrier, regardless of shape or size.
Unfortunately, it was this kind of terrier; bull-headed, long-backed,
short-legged, prick- eared, frequently achrondroplastic and of questionable
temperament, that was imported to America incorrectly bearing the name “Jack
Russell” and who can be found all over the media today. Parson John Russell
and his compatriots would not have recognized these terriers, not as Jack
Russells or Fox Terriers, nor as suitable for fox hunting, for indeed they are
not.
Arthur Heinemann, who founded
the Parson Jack Russell Terrier Club in 1914, drafted the first Jack Russell
breed standard in 1904. The standard calls for a 14” terrier and
accurately reflects the original Jack Russell. This Parson-type Jack Russell was
kept alive by sportsman in southern England and recorded through the years by
well-known dog fanciers.
In England in the early
1970’s, a 10-15” height standard was devised to encompass the myriad of
commonly popular post-war breed distortions. The 10”-15” standard calls for
a ‘balanced’ terrier, as does the 12-14” standard. From breeders
standpoint the 10-15” standard is impossible to reproduce, as a 10” balanced
terrier has none of the bone, substance, or stature necessary to satisfy breed
function.
The Jack Russell Terrier
Association of America (JRTAA), originally called the Jack Russell Terrier
Breeders Association (JRTBA), was founded in 1985 to help restore and breed to
the original Parson Jack Russell Terrier breed standard. The Jack Russell
Terrier Association standard is based upon the Heinemann standard, and is
written to represent the Jack Russell Terrier as a working terrier to red fox
and red fox alone. With the specified 12-15” height range, the JRTAA breed
standard defines a terrier who can perform the dual functions required of
Reverend John Russell’s terriers, to both track the hunt and follow the fox
underground.
In January of 1990, The Kennel
Club as the Parson Jack Russell Terrier, a working variant of the fox terrier,
recognized the Jack Russell on the 14” standard in England.
The Parson Jack Russell Terrier Club of Great Britain (PJRTC) is composed of
working terrier people who felt the breed was seriously endangered by the
practices of those who advocated a 10-15” standard, and they took the breed to
Kennel Club recognition to protect the original standard.
To date, the Parson Jack
Russell has been recognized under the F.C.I. umbrella by News in Germany,
Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy, South Africa, and
Australia. The northern European countries have a strong showing of good types,
particularly in Germany, Finland, and Sweden. In Australia, the ANKC has
recognized both the Parson Jack Russell (12-14”) and the Jack Russell
(10-12”) on the basis of entirely separate registries.
The quality of the breed in the United States is highly regarded: “Indeed, it has to be admitted, that American-bred Russells are probably the best in the world at present, in terms of their depth of quality.” Sheila Atter, Jack Russell Terriers Today 1995. We hope to be able to continue the trend.
Davies, E.W.L. A memoir of the Rev. John Russell and his out-of-door life. (3rd ed.) London: Chatto & Windus (1902) xii, 345, [11]p, plates.
Kerr, Eleanor. Hunting parson: the life and times of the Reverend John Russell. London: Herbert Jenkins (1963) 192p, plates: ill.
Lamplugh, Lois. Parson Jack Russell of Swimbridge. Swimbridge: Wellspring (1994) [ii], 27p: ill, ports [ISBN 0951534734]
Pepper, Frank S. Parson Jack Russell. Swimbridge: Church Council (1981) 8p. [Westcountry Studies Library - p920/RUS]
Lifetime Passion for All Forms of Hunting: The Sporting Parson The Reverend John Russell. Devon Family Historian 84 (1997) pp. 2-3. [The Hunting Parson who bred the Jack Russell terrier]
Eddie Chapman: "The Working Jack Russell
Terrier" Henry Ling Ltd Dorset
Press, Dorchester GB 1985
Eddie Chapman: "Der wahre Jack Russell" Publisher Kynos ISBN 3-924008-99-X
Jean & Frank Jackson: "The Parson & Jack Russell Terriers" ISBN 0-09-174924-7
Jean and Frank Jackson: “The Making of the Parson Jack Russell Terrier”, The Boydell Press, Dover, NH 1986 ISBN# 0-85115-437-9
“Parson Jack Russell Terriers. An Owner's Companion”, The Crowood
Press, GB 1990 ISBN# 1-85223-392-3
“The Parson & Jack Russell Terriers”, Popular Dogs Publishing Co, Ltd., London 1991 ISBN# 0-09-174924-7
Sheila Atter: "Jack Russell Terrier Today the Parson's Terrier" ISBN 1-86054-045-7
D. Brian Plummer: "Jack Russell Terrier", Publisher Kynos ISBN 3-924008-68-X
Dan Russell: ”Jack Russell and His Terriers”, J.A. Allen & Co, Ltd., London. 1979
D. Caroline Coile, Ph.d: “Jack Russell Terriers”, Barron's Educational Services, Hauppauge, N.Y. 1996 ISBN 0-8120-9677-0
Martin Haller: "Jack Russell Terrier" Publisher Paul Parey ISBN 3-490-34912-1
Hans Lange: "Jack Russell Terrier" GU Animal scientist ISBN 3-7742-2685-7
Alexandra Daniel: "Jack Russell Terrier” Publisher Falken ISBN 3-8068-1867-3
Edited by Mary Strom: “The Ultimate Jack Russell Terrier”, Ringpress Books Ltd, Box 8, Lydney, Gloucestershire GL15 4YN 1999 ISBN# 1-86054-155-0
John Valentine: "Jack Russell Terrier" Publisher Kynos ISBN 3-929545-59-4
Questions about Dogs" 4/98 "A new old breed: The Jack Russell Terrier" (Interview (kr) in Hunde" 4/98 "Eine neue alte Rasse: Der Jack Russell Terrier" )
D. Brian Plummer: ”Diary Of a Hunter”, 4-M Enterprises, Union City, CA 1978 ISBN 0-85115-009-3
“The Working Terrier”, The Boydell Press, Ipswich, GB 1978 ISBN# 0-85115-121 -3
“The Complete Jack Russell Terrier”, Howell Book House, NY 1980 ISBN 0-85115-121 -3
“Hunters ALL”, Huddlesfcrd Publications, Gravesend, Kent, GB 1986 ISBN 0-907827-03-9
Michael Shaw: “The Modern Working
Terrier”, Boydell and Brewer Ltd. GB
(Shaw is Plummer's nom de plume).
Patricia Lent: ”Sport with Terriers”, Arner Publications, Rome, NY 1973 ISBN 0-914124-01-3
Jo Ann Frier-Murza: “Earthdog Ins & Outs”, OTR Publications, Box 481, Centreville, AL 1999 ISBN 0-940269-15-5
John Valentine: “Pet Owner's Guide To Jack
Russell Terriers”, Ringpress Books Limited, Gloucestershire, UK 1997 ISBN
1-86054-007-4
