CATS AND THE CAT FANCY IN SOUTH AFRICA
THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CAT FANCY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Hazel King , a committee member of Western Province Cat Club, has provided much of this information about the early cat fancy in South Africa. Other information comes mostly from the overseas news section published in Our Cats.
A stud book of cats was held by Mrs Karie in Cape Town during the period 1899 to 1904. Most of the cats registered appear to have been blue Persians, such as Roughie (born May 1899 sired by Big Ben from Kitsy, and bred by Mrs E Knowles of Leicester, England). An early South African bred cat was Daisy Bell, bred by Mrs Jac Theron of Worcester (the one in the Cape Colony) in 1900. The sire was Gascon, and the grandsire, Ch Blue Jack, winner of a Challenge Cup at the Crystal Palace in 1891. Several other cats and breeders are mentioned in an article in the September 1970 issue of Cats Calling, the magazine of the Western Province Cat Club.
During the 1960s, Kay Wheeler (a WPCC committee member) took part in a radio quiz show, her subject being cats. As a result of this, eventually, Mrs Karie’s daughter, Mrs McQueen, was traced, and she remembered several cat shows being held at various locations in Cape Town, and records exist of at least two, held in 1912 and 1913. These included classes for Persians (blue seems to have been the most popular colour, and there were classes for Colonial Bred and Imported cats, males, females, neuters and kittens) and shorthairs.
The South African Cat Fanciers Association held its first show in Cape Town in July 1912, the judge being “the well known Transvaal judge, Mr E Hjort.” [Cape Times 15 July 1912] This was, however, not the first cat show in South Africa. Hazel King is still researching this first show, but she has established that cat shows were held in conjunction with poultry shows in the Transvaal Colony between 1907 and 1912.
The organised cat fancy in South Africa appears to have fizzled out at some point, to the extent that, when it was re-established in the 1940s, the people involved had no idea that there had previously been shows or stud books. The cat fancy in South Africa was re-established in 1945 with the Governing Council of the Associated Cat Clubs of South Africa (GC ACC SA) which became in the Southern African Cat Council (SACC) in October 1996). Its cat register and stud book were started up a year later and maintained by Lynda Emery in Johannesburg. Anecdotally, a small show was held on a tennis court in Johannesburg in 1946. The WPCC show held in December 1948, was announced by the Cape Times as “the first cat show in Cape Town” and given a full page of photographs.
The South African Cat Union (SACU) was founded by Miss P. Deeble (now Mrs. A. Somerville) of Durban in 1946 and covered "the Rhodesias southwards". Dr. Smith was elected as the first President. The Union was founded primarily to register cats, to encourage their breeding and to organise cat shows. Early on, it became associated with the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy of Great Britain, but unlike the GCCF it had no clubs to govern at that time! In February 1948, Miss Fania Pocock founded the Western Province Cat Club with headquarters at Cape Town, and the WPCC at once became affiliated to the Union.
The first WPCC show was held in La Rochelle (now the Athenaeum Hall) under the Railway Bridge in Newlands. The winner was "Little Boy" who was entered as a Russian Blue though his parentage was uncertain. Little Boy was owned by founder member Mrs R Gilmour. The WPCC remained the only cat club in Cape Town until the early 1970s when the All Breeds Cat Club arrived on the scene. The WPCC claimed to be the first to show a Sia-Manx (or Sianx), just a few months ahead of one exhibited in San Diego, USA. The late Father Fowler's Sia-Manx was exhibited at their show during 1952, some months before the cat at the San Diego show, and resembled a Siamese Seal Point with definitely high hind quarters and complete absence of tail. He was described as a very charming person by Miss P. Ashby-Spilhaus, the Registrar of the South African Cat Union.
Personal circumstances meant Mrs. Somerville was unable to carry on, and the WPCC took over the running of the Union. Miss Pocock became Chairwoman of the SACU until resigning in 1953. The headquarters were moved to Cape Town, where the first meeting was held on 22nd December, 1949. A constitution was formed which would cover the single club and allow for representation of other clubs as the; more were formed and became affiliated to the Union. The whole registration system was overhauled to render it efficient, easy to run and as fraud proof as possible. There were just over 200 registered cats in 1949, but by 1953 there were over 1,000 Seal Point Siamese alone. The Union also founded a library and issued an occasional bulletin.
The Union's growth was staggering, but risked overwhelming its workers, all of whom were voluntary, inexperienced and had day jobs. This caused a number of hiccups and delays. Some technical hitches were inevitable. The worst of those was the unworkability of details of the constitution that some clubs felt could not be overcome due to the long distances involved. Those clubs seceded from the Union and the constitution was entirely recast following the experience.
The Natal Cat Club, which had its headquarters in Durban, was founded in July 1948 and sponsored annual Championship shows (attended by around 1500 visitors) as well as several local shows. There were 137 fully paid up members on the books by June 1953, most being residents of Durban. It also attracted members from Pietermaritzburg, various parts of Natal, Zululand, the Transvaal, the Cape and Southern Rhodesia (1150 miles away from Durban). The clubs main problem was the huge distances between towns and getting really competent judges at its shows; the latter necessitating the aid of Dr and Mrs Stewart and other friends in Johannesburg.
The club's formation was largely due to Mrs I Miles of Westridge. her cattery in South Africa was probably the largest of that time and comprised Siamese, Chinchillas, Blue Longhairs and Cream Longhairs. Mrs Miles persuaded Mrs Maunsell to get the ball rolling and Mrs Maunsell became the first Hon Secretary. The first Chairman was Dr J J Meiring, later succeeded by Mr W E S Philip during 1953. The President was Mr H W Davey.
In 1948 or 1949 (sources are contradictory), the Siamese Cat Society, was founded. In 1984, this became the Transvaal Cat Society. Their 1956 Show Catalogue gave a potted history, stating it was "founded in 1949, when a small group of enthusiasts, particularly interested in the Siamese Cat, met and discussed the idea of laying down a standard for the breed, based on that existing overseas, and the holding of shows to encourage breeders to improve local standards and foster a better understanding of the care and management of cats in general." The founder members of the Siamese Cat Society were Gladys Haswell, Rosemary Harte and the Reverend and Mrs Oliver. Mrs Stewart and Dr FG Stewart later joined the committee and their intimate knowledge of show procedure greatly benefitted the Society. The Stewarts had recently arrived from England where they had been very much involved with the cat fancy there. At the time, they were described as the only people in Johannesburg who knew anything about cat shows or how to run them. Their first show was held in the Norwegian Hall in de Villiers Street, Johannesburg, in 1950 and was very well attended. The Stewarts were both show judges in England, but in South Africa the judging fell to Mrs Stewart while her husband ran the show. In addition to running the cat shows, they trained cat judges in Johannesburg.
The All Breeds Cat Club (ABCC) was founded in 1968 by Stella Slabber and other breeders who broke away from the WPCC (much of its early history involved rivalry with the WPCC). Its autocratic Chairman, Mike Barrett, was unpopular with many members, hence this incarnation of the ABCC disintegrated when many founder members resigned to form their own All Breeds Club. The ABCC, under Barrett, continued with the remaining members, but local WPCC-trained judges refused to judge at its first show. Sister Francis Bradford, who wasn't part of the inter-club animosity, trained judges and stewards for the ABCC show. This took place in Winter 1969 at the Old Mutual Hall and Barrett was show manager. The animosity between ABCC and WPCC resulted in the WPCC secretary and her husband being removed from the show for snooping. Apart from that incident, the show was extremely successful, but Barrett withheld the profits for himself. It turned out that he had appropriated the ABCC's funds and its property (show cages etc), leaving the club with nothing.
At the 1969 AGM, members voted to start anew under the chairmanship of John Cullen. Funds were raised through donations and fundraising events. Meanwhile, Barrett apparently began a vendetta against the WPCC that resulted in a reconciliation between the WPCC and the new ABCC. In 1970 they took Barrett to court and on the day of the hearing, he settled out of court (at least in respect of the property, if not the money). ABCC shows were held in the old Drill Hall in Cape Town and they became affiliated to the South African Cat Association. The first championship reported in The Cape Times, Saturday, July 21, 1973.
The Siamese Cat Society was one of the first members of the Associated Cat Clubs of SA, the forerunner of SACC, along with the Rand Cat Club, Natal Cat Club, and WPCC. In 1969, delegates from all cat clubs in South Africa met in Bloemfontein to discuss a constitution for the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy of South Africa (GCCF SA). The GCCF SA held its inaugual meeting in January 1970. It appears that the GCCF SA ultimately replaced the Associated Cat Clubs of SA that had been founded in 1945.
The story of Hazel King’s quest for South African cat fancy history is also interesting. Shortly before the Western Province Cat Club (WPVCC) celebrated its 60th anniversary, she was given some old copies of Cats Calling (the Club magazine from 1957 until 2005). Using these, she created a commemorative booklet for exhibitors and show personnel at the WPCC 60th Anniversary Show. As a result, various people provided further editions of Cats Calling, resulting in an almost complete collection. In those old Cats Callings that she found the story of Kay Wheeler taking part in the radio quiz. After that, several people contacted her and one gave her a medal that was awarded at the 1913 show.
At the time, the Club tried unsuccessfully to find out more about the South African Cat Fanciers Association. Some time later, another committee member came across Mrs McQueen, whose mother, Mrs Karie, had kept the 1899 - 1904 stud book, after which the cat fancy gradually faded out. Another committee member interviewed Mrs McQueen who was, by then, an elderly lady and whose memory of those early days was rather hazy (she must have been a young child when her mother was active in the cat fancy). She still had the stud books, and even photos of some of the early cats, but it wasn't possible to reproduce them in Cats Calling, due to the printing method used.
Hazel then found a mention that the first WPCC show, in 1948, had been covered by the Cape Times. She contacted the paper and was referred me to their archives held in the National Library. Despite being a large and well-known institution, the National Library (postal address Queen Victoria Street in Cape Town) is tucked away behind the Cathedral in the Company Gardens and it took Hazel a whole morning to find it! As well as the sought-after microfiche of the Cape Times of December 1948, the magazine section of the Weekend Magazine contained a full page of photos; some of which are now on the WPCC website.
The next step was to find out about the show where the medal was awarded, so it was back to the National Library to read the Cape Times of July 1913. It contained a long report of the show, including all the prize winners. Trying another newspaper, she found mention that it was the SACFA's second show, so she went back to the Cape Times of July 1912, and found a report of their first show. That article said that it was not the first show in South Africa. The report also mentioned that they had wanted to hold the show in June, but had to delay in order to get the services of the esteemed Transvaal judge, Mr E Hjort. If Mr Hjort couldn't attend Cape Town in June 1912, was this because he was judging at a show in Johannesburg in June? This was a long shot, because he could have been attending to business or a family occasion. Hazel researched the newspapers from Johannesburg in 1912, and read the microfiche of the Rand Daily Mail of May and June 1912 where she found mention of a forthcoming poultry show - which included cats! It had been organised by the Central South African Poultry Club, secretary: Mr E Hjort which confirmed why he couldn't judge in Cape Town that June.
The cats involved in the Central South African Poultry Club show were all Persians, and the newspaper article suggested that their inclusion in a poultry show was nothing new, so Hazel went back to 1909, which was their first annual show. The 1909 show also included cats, and again they didn't seem to be anything new. Hazel realised that if showing cats at poultry shows was nothing unusual, maybe cats were also shown at agricultural shows such as the Rand Easter Show held in 1894, 1895, 1896, a hiatus for the Boer Wars, and started up again in 1907. There was no useful information about the big agricultural show that used to be held in Cape Town around the same time. The Rand Daily Mail only started in 1902, so the first Rand Shows were not reported, but there was plenty about the 1907 show. A few cats were exhibited at the 1907 show but were seemingly not judged. The cats included some of Mrs Hjort's Persians. It appeared that cat shows, unlike dog shows, were not part of agricultural shows (the Witwatersrand Kennel Club had a big dog show as part of the Rand Show). The Rand Daily Mail reported on two other agricultural shows as well as Rand, neither of which seemed to have a category for cats. But the Rand Poultry Club show of June 1907 included Persian cats. Hazel’s next stop is the Cape Times of June 1905 …