Date

Links

Description

~1745

In Scotland large sheep-farms was introduced after 1745.

The Highland Clearances began in 1785. This period of time is well written about both in books and on the internet. It is still very painful for many Scottish descendants. The book The Highland Clearances by John Prebble (1963) is devoted to what happened during this time in Scotland.

The final end to the Clearances came in 1886 with the passing of the Crofters Act.

1749

Buffon

Georges Buffon published his Histoire Naturelle (shortened title) in 15 Volumes from 1749 through1767. It was translated to English in 1781. He included an image of Le Grand Barbet.

1770

Gainsborough-1

Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, was painted by Thomas Gainsborough in c.1770-1771. A mezzotint engraving of the painting was done in 1771 by John Dixon.  The dog has been called an Otterhound, a Norfolk water-spaniel, a Beardie, an Old English sheepdog, and a Dandie Dinmont terrier. etc. Let us take a closer look by clicking on the link. There is evidence that it could be the earliest known painting of a Beardie-like dog.

1780 and c.1780s

Gainsborough-2

Did Gainsborough paint Beardie-likes?

A chalk sketch of two dogs was made by Gainsborough (1727-1788). It was named Tristram and Fox. One of the dogs in the Gainsborough sketch could easily resemble any chalk study prepared today for a working Beardie-like sheepdog.  By kind permission of the Gainsborough Museum, we have a copy of the Lane etching.

1790

Bewick

Thomas Bewick published his History of Quadrupeds in 1790. He included line drawings of "The Shepherd's Dog," "The Cur Dog" and "The Large Rough Water Dog. The water dog is remarkably similar to Buffon's Le Grand Barbet from 1749. Bewick's Shepherd's Dog is described by a famous dog writer (James Watson) as being the first representation of a Rough Collie dog.

Late 1700s

Engraving of Shepherd's Dog

An engraving by Stephen Miller illustrated the interior of a very small country cottage where a shepherd and his family lived. A portion of the engraving was placed here for the viewer to see.

c.1800

Beginning of Modern Era (regarding the History section of this website). Sydenham Edwards' Cynographia Britannica was the first dog book to be illustrated by coloured plates. Edwards depicted a rough and a smooth-coated collie in his book, which was the second dog book to be published in English.

1803

Reinagle     

Taplin (c.1750-c.1830), a veterinary surgeon, published his book entitled Sportsman's Cabinet in 1803. It was actually published under Taplin's pseudonym name of "A Veteran Sportsman." Included in the book was an engraving of the Reinagle painting. This picture has been included in numerous Beardie publications. It must, therefore, be from a date on or around 1803.

This book is also the third dog book to be published in the English language.

c.1828

Constable

A painting by John Constable. Was the shepherd being followed by a Beardie-like dog? Rights were granted from the Rights and Sales Executive Department of Tate Images, Tate Picture Library, The Lodge, Milbank, London SW1P 4RG.

1829

First dog book to be published in Scotland was Biographical Sketches and Authentic Anecdotes of Dogs, by Thomas Brown, took place.

c. 1840s

Loch Turit

This image was reproduced from an engraving published in the 1840s. The engraving was taken from a painting by David Octavius Hill of Perth. It appears here for the viewer to see a geographical area where a Scottish shepherd watched the animals drink from water in the Loch Turit area (more commonly known today as Loch Turret). Notice that the Scottish shepherd wrapped in his plaid (cloak) has a dog at his side.

1843

Thomas William Earl, uncle to Maud Earl (a well known canine artist), painted this Beardie-like puppy in1843. Notice this puppy has a tail and a beard. It has been identified as an Old English Sheepdog puppy. Writers such as Rawdon Lee in the later 1800s concluded that the Beardies and OES were one and the same. Some of Lee's writings appear hereafter under their published dates. This puppy has a tail.

1844

Page 625

Page 626

Page 627

Henry Stephens (1795-1874) was a farmer who also became a writer on agriculture. It was his aim, after owning his own farm, to put forth writings that would assist those inexperienced in the farming way of life.

Thanks to assistance from the Library and Archives of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and ebook technology, we were able to obtain the language from pages 627-629 of the book where he gives advice on how to train and work a shepherd's dog.

c. 1844

Landseer's painting

In this linked image, one can easily conclude that  there were similarities between numerous types of dogs. In this particular image, the similarity would perhaps be between the head of an Otterhound and the Beardie-like dogs.

1845

The Scotch Sheep Dog

The English Sheepdog

 

William Youatt authored The Dog. He was born in Exeter in either 1776 or 1777. He later moved to London and became associated with a veterinary practice. He became an original member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England after it formed in 1838. His dog book was first published in 1845 not long before his death in 1847.

There have been many editions of this book. It is now available for free on Project Gutenberg, Ebook #9478 (an edited version by Elisha J. Lewis).

Youatt placed an engraving in his book entitled "The Scotch Sheep Dog." It is not a Beardie-like dog. Instead, it resembled what became known as a Rough Coated Collie.

Youatt also included an image for what he called the English sheepdog.

It seems strange that Youatt did not seem to know about a Beardie-like dog, especially since only one year later Edward Jesse provided an engraving showing another type of "Scotch Colly."

1846

Jesse

Edward Jesse, (1780-1868), an English writer, wrote Anecdotes of Dogs (1846). In the first edition of this book, there was an engraving by W. P. Smith entitled "Scotch Colly."

The close up image of this engraving was provided courtesy of Charwynne Dog Features.

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