My Rabbit Pages

Medium Marten Sable	Smoke Pearl Polish	Dwarf Lop

How it all began.

I have always been fond of animals. From a very young age I found that I had an affinity with them. We always had a dog, as far back as I can remember. There was also usually a cat around the place, although it was never quite clear whether the cat belong to us, we belonged to the cat or we were all just strays. I was always fascinated by pet shops, and often dragged my mother off to the petshop whenever we were in town .It wasn't long before I managed to persuade my mother that I was old enough to have some pets of my own, and it was decided that a rabbit would be ideal. I would probably have been around ten or eleven years old, which may not seem so young to some, but you have to remember that I was told in no uncertain terms that this would be my pet, and my responsibility, I would get little or no help. So I managed to acquire an old tea chest and hammered together a door made of an old window frame covered in chicken wire, and when all was ready, off I went to the pet shop I often frequented (by that I mean I used to hang around in there for hours on end). There I choose a most beautiful Silver Fox doe, an adult. We knew it was a Silver Fox because the guy who brought it in had a brother who had a mate, who used to breed them during the War. This was around 1960 and most things had a reference back to "the War", and indeed most of the culture of rabbit keeping had been established during that period, so tea chest hutches and bran and tealeaf dinners were the way to rear rabbits. Of course I now know that my "Silver Fox" doe was just a tan-patterned crossbred, but even that knowledge cannot diminish my sense of pride in owning what I truly believed to be the most beautiful animal that ever drew breath.

It wasn't long before I realised that we had a problem. Does cannot make babies on their own! Thus came my first (and only) lesson in the reproductive cycle. "You need to find someone with a buck", my dad told me. That was it. Here endeth the first (and last) lesson. Fortunately my auntie Doris had a friend, and her husband, I was assured, bred Silver Foxes. It was with this knowledge that I found myself standing at the door of Bill Senior. Bill was a kindly man, who appeared to a young lad of eleven as though he might be maybe 70 or 80 years old, but in retrospect I guess he was probably in his mid 40s. He peered into the cardboard box I was carrying, and immediately exclaimed, "sorry lad, that isn't a Fox, in fact I am not sure what it is?". He did however, agree to mate the doe to one of his bucks, and we (I had taken my mate Peter with me, we always took mates with us when we went anywhere) were promptly taken across the field to where his allotment was. As it turned out he actually had two allotments which were around 50 yards apart, Each had a pigeon hut, full of pigeons, and a large number of rabbit hutches, full of what he called Sables, and Ermine Rex.

Over the next three or four years, Peter Riley and I spent much of our spare time down the allotments, looking after Bill's rabbits. We learnt the difference between Marten and Siamese Sables, and about the colours, mainly Medium and Darks. The Ermine Rex were a complete revelation to us, we had never seen anything that even resembled the coats on these rabbits. We were told that they were from Edna Murphy and Harvey Thompson, but this meant nothing to us, but it seemed to make Bill proud, so we just nodded knowingly. It was the Sables that really captured my interest. They weren't Silver Foxes of course, but they were close, and they seemed to have the added excitement of never quite knowing exactly what colours you were going to get in a litter. (Strangely, we never seemed to breed any Medium Siamese, and it was probably some ten years later that I would actually breed my first one). Bill taught us all about breeding, feeding, showing and preparing rabbits for a show (this stayed with me and proved invaluable experience in later years). Of course we also learnt quite a lot about 'mucking out', and fetching food and bedding, but everything has a price.

Bill Senior had a motorbike, a "Shooting Star" I think he called it, we nodded knowingly, and looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. Now this was no ordinary motorbike, it had a sidecar. This was the early 60s remember, in the days before they invented "health and safety". Nobody had invented crash helmets either. The only headgear was a leather helmet, the sole purpose of which was to keep your ears warm, and it had probably been liberated from the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War (1914-18). The sidecar was a little basic, and was probably originally a pram used when Bill's (now grow-up) sons were babies, and it probably doubled as a tin bath on Friday nights. But I was young and fearless (I was also on the pillion, no way was I getting in the sidecar, that was my friend Peter's job). So off we went one Saturday afternoon to our first show, the carrying boxes and Peter in the sidecar, Bill up front doing his best Biggles impersonation, and me clinging desperately to Bill, we must have looked a sight as we sped along Doncaster Road, towards Hexthorpe.

So our first show was a box show in the Hexthorpe Hotel, Doncaster. Interestingly the Best in Show was an Ermine Rex shown by another juvenile, Derek Makin. We were to see a lot of Derek and his dad over the years, and we became good friends. Bill had bought us a couple of Tortoiseshell English, they were from Fred Haslam I think he said. Some years later I spoke with Fred Haslam and related the story, but he could not recall seeing Bill, but did say that he often sent some quite good stock to the local pet shop! Of course our baby English had no chance against the Ermine that Derek's dad had bought for him (probably from Harvey Thompson), but what did we care, we were exhibitors of show rabbits, and very proud to be so. Of course the reason Bill had acquired the English for us was because he realised that we would want to show the rabbits in our own name, and we could not do that with his rabbits.

From there we went to all the local shows. There were two monthly box shows in Sheffield, the Sheffield Original held in the Manchester Hotel, run by old Mr Roebuck, and the East and West End, run by Clem Furness and his brother, who showed English in partnership with Willis Middleton. Clem and Rex Gaunton both bred Havana Rex. Clem gave us a wonderful buck that we showed for what seemed an eternity, winning all over, and even beating Derek Makin once (or maybe I just dreamt that bit). The buck never moulted at all, and looked like a ginger cat by the time we were finally decided to retire him. By this time we had visited Rex Gaunton in Hoyland (he was a butcher there I think), and bought (very cheaply) a couple of Havana Rex does. Sadly, despite the quality of the buck, and the fertility of the does, we never produced anything of reasonable quality from the many youngsters we bred, but this was primarily due to our inexperience in animal husbandry. The rabbits never grew well.

Other shows were held at Goldthorpe, where we met Bill Yates, Swinton where I saw my  first Silver Fox at last, owned by a very colourful character named Walt Nuttall, who showed in partnership with another man. Somewhere along the way we met Geoff Dawson, who showed Dutch, and lived nearby, so became a very welcome source of lifts (up to then we had gone to most shows on the bus as Bill now had to work most weekends). Geoff was a policeman, and I got into awful trouble with him one day, whilst giving him directions to Heeley show in Sheffield I directed him down a one-way street! Geoff introduced us to Harry Field, another colourful character who became a good friend in later years before his premature death. He was very kind to us and gave us some very nice Sables. I was pleased to be able to repay some of that kindness later on. I also recall meeting J K Ward, who was judging a pen show (something of a rarity for us) in a pub near the market in Doncaster. He took the time to discuss the merits of our Sables with us after the show. Sadly this was the only time I met him as he had died by the time I returned to the fancy.

Things were going really well, although Peter and I were tending to do our own things separately. We had also drifted away from Bill, as is the nature of teenage boys. Local housing development gave me the opportunity to build a whole new set of custom-made hutches, using much of the waste from the prefabs being demolished. Each prefab had a fridge in it, and each fridge had a couple of wire shelves, just the right size for hutch doors. The wood offcuts were ideal for frames and the floorboards made great hutches. I had just about finished building my perfect rabbitry when my mother dropped a bombshell. We were moving house! I had just a few weeks to get everything sorted out. Of course it was impossible. A fifteen year old simply does not have the resources to make such a move. So the stock were disposed of, the hutches torn down and transferred to Peter and I moved house. Within a few months I had started work and was otherwise occupied for the next few years. It was to be another seven or eight years before I was again in a position to keep rabbits.

Dark Marten Sable	Dark Siamese Sable	Medium Siamese Sable	Medium Marten Sable

A Brief History of the Main Rabbit Breeds in the UK

I had always assumed that rabbit breeds had been around forever. Although if I had given it any thought at all I would probably have realised that the development of breeds must have been fairly recent - more "Victorian" than "Roman" I would guess. That is of course quite close to the truth.. The Lop is probably the oldest breed still recognisable today, although we now call it the English Lop in order to distinguish it from the other fairly recent Lop varieties. The following is a snapshot of the significant breeds you might find in the UK at milestone dates throughout history.

before 1850

Lop - The English Lop is reputed to be the first breed to be exhibited.

Angora - no one is really sure about the origins, but Angoras were known in England well before 1800

Dutch - imported from the Continent around 1830, current day Dutch are vastly improved in standard from the original imports.

English - spotted, broken and double-smut rabbits existed in the early 1800s. The English Rabbit Club was formed in 1890.

1850-1900

Silver - known to have existed well before1800, but died out and was rediscovered in warren stocks in Lincolnshire around 1860

Tan - first Black and Tan produced in Derbyshire around 1887

Polish - originally introduced from Belgium, but also produced in England from Dutch or Himalayan around 1870

Belgian Hare - introduced from Belgium around 1874.

Flemish Giant - created in the UK, probably from Continental giants crossed with Silvers. The National Flemish Giant Rabbit Club was formed in 1890.

Harlequin - originally called Japanese, but renamed during the 1939-45 War, imported from France around 1890.

Himalayan - an old established breed, probably introduced from China before1880.

1900-1930

Argente - the first Champagne was introduced from France around 1919

Beveren - whilst there were a few around in the early 1900s, the present day rabbits are descended from stock imported from Belgium around 1915. Colours : There are five colours all with the same characteristics : Blue (illustrated), White (blue-eyed), Black (originally called Sitka), Lilac and Brown.  Size : Large - over 8lb (3.62 kg)

Chinchilla - imported from France around 1919

Havana - imported from Europe around 1908, originally from Belgian stock where the breed was discovered around 1898.

Lilac - created from crossing a Blue Beveren with Havana around 1910.

New Zealand Red - imported into UK from United States around 1920

Rex - Castorrex were introduced from France around 1920, and other colours were then developed by crossing these with other breeds. Rex are now available in most varieties and colours including Ermine (illustrated)

Silver Fox - found in litters of Chinchilla around 1918 Colours : There are four colours all with the same characteristics : Black (illustrated), Blue ( a medium shade), Chocolate ( a dark shade) and Lilac. Size : Medium size 5.5lb to 7lb (2.5kg to 3.2 kg)

Sable - discovered in the UK in litters of Chinchilla rabbits around 1919. The Sable Club was formed in 1927. Colours : There are two varieties; Siamese (illustrated) and Marten (similar markings to the Silver Fox), and each comes in three shades; Dark, Medium (illustrated) and Light. Size : Medium size 5lb to 7lb (2.3kg to 3.2kg)

1930-1980

Alaska - originally known as the Nubian, the Alaska was re-introduced from Belgium around 1972

Dwarf Lop - developed in Holland in the 1950s from French Lops and Netherland Dwarfs - introduced and developed in the UK during the 1970s.

French Lop - old established breed on the Continent, introduced in the UK in 1930s but didn't become established. Re-introduced successfully during the 1970s

Netherland Dwarf - introduced from Holland around 1950

New Zealand White - generally considered to have been imported from the USA around 1946, but there were certainly some rabbits with the name New Zealand White well before this. Mrs de Ville Mather wrote an article in 1932 stating that the New Zealand White had been one of the breeds used in the development of the Ermine Rex.

Satin - imported from the USA around 1947

1980-2007

Mini Rex - created in the 1980s in the main, by the crossing of Standard Rex with the Netherland Dwarf

Lionhead - very recently standardised in the UK in 2002.