Ann Storey
This period is generally thought of as the era when the early fancy was at its most flourishing, although it didn’t start out that way at the beginning of this time. They still had the same low number of varieties and entries had indeed dropped off. Entries at the time were about 20 in a handful of classes. In 1909, Selby -Thomas, then acting as secretary, considered that this could be due to the lack of varieties and not lack of encouragement. In fact, there were several nice cups on offer and rats had an equal look in when it came to winning the NMC gold medal at the Annual show. A Mrs Marshall, a successful breeder at the time, had offered a pair of white rats from her winning strain to any novice fancier who would promise to make 2 entries at any show catering for rats during 1909. Shows were pretty widespread at this time and although the mouse and rat fancy seems to have died off in Scotland it was very popular in the North of England, both rats and mice. Two shows in one day were generally avoided though and frowned upon when they happened.
On the 21st Jan 1910, in a review of the entries for 1909, S-T writes ‘Regarding the rats, I regret that the figures are not nearly as favourable (as the mice), but 1909 has certainly seen the rat fancy at it’s worst….as is well known, several shows provided a classification for rats, but had to cancel the classes due to insufficient entries, and even at the club show the number of classes were only 3, and not 5 as in previous years. Thus it is that we find that only 18 classes for rats have been allowed to stand during the whole of the year. Worse of all is the very moderate response that has been made in the way of entries to this small number of classes, the grand total being 116 giving an average of slightly over 6 per class, truly the rat fancy needs to boom!’
S-T’s breakdown of the entries though in 11/3/10 was a bit more positive. ‘Although small in number the quality of the exhibits has certainly improved during 1909, a rat exhibitors seem to have overcome the ‘spiked ear’ trouble, and general condition has been better all round. No new varieties have been bought out, though there are whispers of some in the making. In whites, greater purity has been apparent, and the few self blacks have certainly been sounder and more like the desired article than those of previous years. Evens have maintained their reputation, several very nice spotted ones having been produced. Agoutis and Irish blacks have not been particularly strong. I can only think of one example of a silver grey, and that left a lot to be desired’.
It’s worth noting however that during this time MD had been ill. She had taken over from WM as hon sec in 1907 but had become ill very soon afterwards. While she seems to have carried on taking the subs, most of the secretarial work fell on ST. There are several times when she said she was coming back (she moved to Wadebridge in Cornwall from Worcester for a change of air at the beginning of 1909) but in the end she didn’t return until 1910. Also during this time she had not surprisingly had to drastically cut down on her stock.
In his round up of the show entries, ST finishes up by saying ‘Still, there are better days ahead in store for the rats I an confident, as Miss Douglas, to whom the previous success of the rat fancy was due, is again taking an active part with the pets, and the outlook for the present year is much better than that of the past.’
This didn’t altogether please MD. In 16/7/10 she writes, ‘I was told the other day that the rat fancy depended largely on me to keep it going – I should be very sorry to believe this to be the case, or to think that the rat fancy was in any case a one man show. And if it has depended a bit on me in the past, please try to make it a bit more self supporting in the future.’
One show of significance at this time was the Morpeth show held on 28/2/08. The show was won by a Mrs Singleton with an agouti even doe.
‘Rats: Mrs Singleton won the Peace Challenge cup, breeders cup and the NMC gold medal for BIS (rats and mice), with a lovely agouti and white even, practically perfect, a real gem.’
There is a picture of this rat and her prizes in Walter Maxey’s book, the rat is indeed beautifully marked, although I would say that it’s on the small side.
This show was interesting for another reason. There were no provisional classes then, anything different or even of a different species (spiny mice turned up in the mouse AOV classes) went into AOV. The winner of this class at the same show was – ‘AOV 7: 1 sp and Loyal cup, Parkes, a german rat, real tricolour, much admired, lovely golden brown top, with red shadings at the sides and throat, black chest and white taffets at neck, pretty specimen’. Further information was in ST’s column in 13/12/08. ‘Whilst on the subject of rats, I’m sure the following particulars of a German rat, owned by Mrs E Parkes, will be of interest. ‘’This rat’’ writes Mrs Parkes, ‘’ is not a bit like a wild English rat, either in colour or habits. He is really more like a miniature bear, especially when he sits up. He is very thick set, and has a short tail. The under or belly colour is black, edged with cream and a deep red border outside the cream, resembling a fancy waistcoat. The top colour is the same as a golden agouti. He is also furnished with pouches like a monkey (ie not like a marsupial), which he fills up if anyone is looking at him.‘
She also goes on to mention that if he did bite, he wouldn’t let go unless you forced his jaws open with a screwdriver! This animal was of course not a rat at all, but most likely a European Hamster.
The job of Hon Sec seems to have been very fraught. Enoch Welburn, the first hon sec, seems to have left after about a year due to the pressure of work. WM, who did the job tirelessly until 1907 had to give up due to ill health. ST wrote in 26/3/09 that ‘It is with feelings of great regret that I have recently learnt of a very old friend’s distress. I refer to WM, the father of the rat and mouse fancy. Time, it would appear is dealing rather hardly by him, and a long period of bad health, undoubtedly brought about by unjudiciously burning the candle at both ends for a number of years to further the interests of the mouse and rat fancy; finds him ill – able to stand the privations brought about through shortness of work, and in addition to this his aged mother, whom he has to maintain, has been dangerously ill, thus adding greatly to his anxieties and difficulties’. ST then suggested that the club had a whip round to help him out. Remember there was no NHS nor welfare state to speak of in those days and the final stop for the destitute was still the Workhouse.
As I’ve said, shortly after taking over the job MD became ill and so ST stepped into her shoes as acting Hon sec. In 1909, he was made President, a post he held until 1913. However, by 5th June 1910, he writes a very blunt column that’s really too long to reproduce about the difficulties of his job, viz a viz; ‘ Holding the reins of a Specialist Club is no sinecure’ which I am sure anyone who has done any major job in a club would agree with. He argued that he spent so much time on the NMC after work (he ran his own business) that he had no time left for anything else.
Shortly after this ST had a nervous breakdown. This seems to have jolted MD back to work. In July that year she writes that ST’s health was improving, but he still had a way to go. It’s worth noting here that far from the genteel world we have been led to believe, the fancies at least were a hot bed of cheating and comments that could best be described as libellous, although all wrapped up in polite (ish) language. The rabbit and cavy fancies also seemed quite happy to resort to the Law when they felt it necessary.
With Mary’s return to rats the fancy did indeed undergo a revival, not just because of her exhibits but a genuine increase in exhibitors. In August MD writes the following, she had obviously decided not to stand again for secretary and so decided a few words would be appropriate, especially in light of the problems suffered by past incumbents. ‘The members will very shortly be asked to elect a new Hon sec and I would earnestly ask all, by a little forethought, to lighten his labours. Those overdue subscriptions, those ‘whip up’ postcards, what a lot of needless work they make. It might all be avoided. Won’t members see to it in future’.
In 1910, the second edition of Walter Maxey’s book ‘How to breed and exhibit fancy mice and rats’ was published (I’ve never actually seen a copy of the first edition, published in 1903, let alone own one). This included a whole section on rats and provides a valuable insight into the exhibiting of rats at this time. This edition was largely revised by ST with input from MD on the rat section.
Fur and feather was full of adverts from livestock dealers prepared to take any amount of surplus stock . ST comes down quite hard on the idea of using these dealers in his column of 26/3/09 because in his opinion these animals are going to be transferred to the laboratory of ‘some arch fiend vivisector’. There follows a lurid article about the evils of vivisection and how no good had come of it. MD was to write a similar article, although she was not above quoting from the results from these researchers, both in the form of genetics (that will feature in a later article) and also with regards to diet. Rats were being used at the time to study the effects of eating white bread or flour over standard bread or flour. This was in the light of Bread Reform, a popular health movement of the day. The following is a quote from History Today. The Bread Reform League was founded in 1880 by May (Mary Anne) Yates, an amateur artist and member of the Ladies’ Sanitary Association. On a visit to Sicily she had admired the fine physique of the peasants who lived principally on brown bread, and contrasted their vigour with the ill-health she saw in English towns, especially among poor children. Her conclusion that white bread, the staple food of the working classes, was a principal cause of malnutrition, led her to renounce her artistic career, sell her jewellery, and devote the next forty years to changing British tastes from white bread to brown.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the research concurred with the League. White bread and flour nowadays is fortified because of this research, which it wasn’t then.
Entries by 1912 were up to over 50 at most shows and at the 1912 AGM it was agreed to change the club’s name to the NMRC. There had been a previous attempt to do this (1908 I believe) but it had been defeated. Not only that but a number of ratters had also been elected to the executive and that both rats and mice would in future be eligible for the area points cups. Shortly after this rats started to appear on the F&F heading on the title page. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of this. Over the next year entries continue to rise with MD asking for an entry is 3 figures, although again, I don’t know it this was ever achieved. The only variety that did not appear to benefit was the Irish, which as Mary said was disappointing as it was the only variety with a cup of its own.
At the end of November 1913 MD left the UK for a short time to take up a post in South Africa . This was shocking enough for the then editor of F& F, JE Watmough (of Practical Inbreeding fame) to write an editorial entitled ‘Mouse and Rat Fancier’s Loss’. However, although ratless, Mary continued with all her contributions from SA. She was also elected Secretary again at this point although I’m not sure how she managed this from there. I do feel that there’s some missing information at this point, as all the correspondence still seems to be going to her house in Cornwall and she seems to be carrying on much as normal.
The outbreak of WW1 in August 1914 caused a deal of panic amongst some show committees and fanciers and so cancelled a lot of shows. JE Watmough helped provide a steadying hand through his Editorials though. On the 14/8/14 he wrote ‘From the signs which we see around us we are afraid that some of the leaders of the Fancy are losing their heads. This is no time for panic. It should be the aim of every man and woman rejoicing in the name of Briton to, as far as possible, live and move as if the war had no existence. Those who do go about in this spirit will be doing their Country’s work as effectively as her sons who are fighting for her against the enemy.’
As time went on, breeders did start to get a bit more adventurous when it came to feeding, we find the addition of bones, rice pudding, table scraps etc alongside the normal mixed grains and vegetables. Corn comes in for a hammering from time to time, mostly because it was felt to be heating and thus the cause of many maladies. A cure for this was said to be the feeding of green food and magnesium powder. Drinking water caused a surprising amount of disagreement, with many breeders considering that they got enough from the veg and wet mash in their diet. MD on 12/11/13 says the following; ‘Re green food and water. Personally I found that my rats kept in better condition without water, but it would be cruel however to keep them without some form of moisture. I think that my rats obtained sufficient from the soft food and occasional carrot in the cold weather. Very few days passed in the summer without every inhabitant receiving some form of green food, chicory, lettuce or dandelion. Frequently the green food was substituted for the soft wet food, except in the case of a doe with a litter. I would not advise giving both together….My stock was rarely troubled with sore ears and tails, caused I think, by the blood becoming overheated by giving too liberally of heat forming foods.’ Other people disagreed with the feeding of meat as this was thought to be too stimulating, with one breeder complaining that it caused young rats to ‘fit’ as they were getting their adult teeth, which is odd considering like all rodents rats do only have one set of teeth. I also remember being told that feeding meat would give the mothers a taste for blood and would cause them to eat their own babies.
MD considered quite rightly that poor feeding was a major factor where condition was concerned. ‘The ideal to aim at’ she writes ‘is the production of a fine, healthy specimen, racy, sleek and fine in coat. Far too many of the rats I have seen on the show bench, and the money too, have been round, podgy and coarse in appearance, with hairs like quills on a porcupine. Experiment with your feeding and carefully note results, you will soon evolve a good system if you attack it with the true fanciers’ spirit. How many rat fanciers bestow as much care on their pets as does the most successful rabbit and cavy men, but a daily grooming of at least the best specimens will work wonders’. She also points out that this daily grooming will also help with temperament. ‘Handle them daily, if possible, from earliest babyhood, place them on your arm or on a bench, brush them from nose to tail with a soft hair brush, and follow that with your hand or a soft duster. Handle and stroke them as much as possible, and oh! What a pleasure for the judge, no more railings about their ferocity. Really rats are most tractable if you care to make them so.’ Earlier. 15/11/12, Mary had written the following, ‘talking of shedding coats, I am wondering whether a cure for that old trouble of ivory and brown tinged fur in adult white or even marked rats, is not to be found in careful grooming. The other day I was handling my big spotted even cup winner – who now wins no longer owing to the discolouration of his coat – when I found that much of this discoloured fur was loose. I removed this, with the result that below it I find a much shorter, softer coat, not pure white but of a much better colour than the long fur. I doubt if rats can lick this long fur off, and it does not come out with stroking, but a very gentle pull removes it and the rats appear to appreciate being relieved of it’s superfluous coat, which is probably detached from the skin and merely held by the closer fur beneath. This theory would account for its discolouration, being dead hair, no longer fed by the hair sac.’ Just to note, it was a widespread belief at the time that hair was alive, and indeed my grandmother used to tell me that it was normal for hairdressers to ‘singe’ hair after cutting it to stop it bleeding. MD was of course pulling out the unfortunate rat’s guard hairs.
MD 19/12/13 makes the comment that rats were generally not big enough, which she puts down to inbreeding, breeding too young and working the does too hard.
Introductions come up a couple of times. ST recommends adding both groups to a fresh cage while MD also says that although she rarely has had any problems, rubbing a few flowers of sulphur into the coats of the bucks cam help.
Earlier ST on 6/5/10 brought up the question of spring cleaning or as he puts it ‘a clear out’. He says that while a lot of people will be painting sheds inside and out and thoroughly cleaning and repairing cages, one area often overlooked is the stock. ‘Despite frequent advice and warning from experienced fanciers there are still plenty of longtail supporters who will commit the fatal error of going for quantity instead of quality and that they would find a periodical clear out beneficial there can be no possible doubt. There is always a great reluctance on the part of the beginner to destroy any stock, and so he allows them to go on and increase, and breeds from rats who are good, bad and indifferent and by his own actions he is militating against his own success.’ He goes on to say that the reason given is that they don’t know what ones to keep – ST recommends that they have a good look at the stds and always select stock closest to it.
By far the commonest ailment seems to have been respiratory disease, often referred to as ‘asthma’. In September 1910 a breeder asked for advice on the treatment of what appeared to be ‘a bad cold in the head’. The rat continually sneezed and chattered. It appeared to be infectious but the rat remained in good coat and weight. MD, offers no cure but a general request to the members for advice. However In the 2nd edition of Walter Maxey’s book, referred to earlier she says the following; ‘The most common ailment to which rats are subject is asthma. In many cases the only symptom which is apparent it rough, rasping breathing. The patient does not lose flesh nor is the condition affected. Such an attack normally begins suddenly, and may continue for months, but often disappears on the return of the warmer weather. It is certainly not infectious, nor do I think there is much to fear its being transmitted if the rat is used for breeding, although unless in the case of the rat being a particularly valuable specimen it is not advisable to do so. On the other hand, chronic asthma is not easy to cure, although in favourable atmospheric conditions it may do so of itself. The patient should therefore be kept in a fairly warm, even temperature and the cure maybe assisted by administering daily a small quantity of Scott’s emulsion in bread and milk, in which form the rat will readily eat it. In the acute form, in addition to the affection of the breath the rat loses flesh rapidly. This form of the complaint is probably akin to consumption an appears to be incurable, therefore the ‘happy despatch’ is the kindest treatment.‘
Head tilt in 24/9/10 ST reports the following letter. ‘I have a white rat which has a very peculiar ailment’. It holds its head all on one side and when held by the tail twists round like a whirligig’ - MD replies – and said that it was not uncommon and in her opinion was caused by shock or fright which had caused a form of brain mischief, She goes on ‘Rats I believe are more nervously constituted than mice , and on several occasions I have seen rats, youngsters especially, who were perfectly sound when sent to a show, come back with their heads aside; once or twice, indeed, I have known death to be caused, evidently by fright at a show, It was for this reason that the age limit for young rat classes were raised to three months, as when an earlier limit was tried it was soon found that very young rats were liable to injury from excitement or shock. In slight cases the rat carries the head aside, but does not appear to be otherwise inconvenienced. In severe cases I have seen them whirl round and round in the manner of waltzing mice. I do not know of any cure, but it’s possible that bromide of potassium might be beneficial. I have tried laudanum with no effect. I do not think this condition is transmissible , but it would be advisable not to breed with rats so affected, as the liability to the disease, if not the disease itself, might be transmitted to the offspring in an extra highly strung nervous organisation.’
One other ailment of interest, almost certainly ‘wet tail’ was reported by T. Wilkinson in 19/12/13.He said ‘My young ones just after being taken from their mothers became ill. The fur between the hind legs becomes wet and brownish – the wetness, in some cases extends up to the throat. What is the cause and remedy for this?'