Clonmel Marvel, one of the really great dogs of the world, was bred by a novice, a Mr. F. C. Brown, who mated his Cholmondeley Mona to Clipper, a good dog, but no wonder. There were nine in the litter, and Mr. Brown showed Marvel, whom he called Warfield Victor, in a £3 Selling Class, where he was placed second, being sadly out of condition. "Jack" Holgate saw the rough diamond, bought it, and resold it to Messrs. Mills and Buckley, the famous Clonmel firm. Marvel beat all of his time—dogs and bitches—and won eighteen championships. Eventually he came to America, along with Ch. Clonmel Sensation and Clonmel Veracity. He was by far the best Airedale seen up to his time, a dog hard to fault, even in "the light of modern criticism." He proved as wonderful a sire as he was a show crack, and much of real terrier style in the breed to-day is due to him.
A contemporary of Marvel's was Ch. Dumbarton Lass, who also came to this side of the Atlantic to the kennels of Mr. Joseph Laurin, in Montreal. She was bred by Capt. Baird Smith, who benched her at Woolwich in poor condition. Mr. A. E. Jennings, whose kennels were then paramount, bought her and showed her for three years, when she went to Mr. Stuart Noble and was later bought by the Canadian fancier. She proved a gold mine as a brood bitch and was personally hard to fault—barring her coat.
But the most wonderful brood bitch of the breed, one whose name should be written in gold in the Airedale Hall of Fame, was not a great show winner. She was Bath Lady. Her first big winning puppy was Briarwood, who came out in London in 1896. Briarwood was by Hyndman Briar, by Willow Nut, and like all Bath Lady stock proved his value in the breeding kennels. His most famous get was the beautiful bitch of Ch. Broadlands Bashful. We can only mention two others of Bath Lady's offspring, but those fanciers who have dogs in whose pedigrees she appears can congratulate themselves. To Ch. Clonmel Marvel she produced Ch. Clonmel Kitty, a really good one all over, and to Master Briar she had Walton Victory, even better—except in skull—than Kitty.
During the nineties the Tone Kennels with Ch. Tone Jerry, whose forte was his wonderful coat and color, and Ch. Tone Crack, excelling in bone, coat, and body, but broad across the skull, had a big say in the prize-lists. In 1896 Studholme Sherry came out and was hailed as a flyer, but he did not last, though in his day he was a beautiful terrier.
Ch. Clonmel Monarch, who has done so much for Philadelphia's Airedale supremacy as a sire and as a show dog came as near the ideal Airedale as we find, made his début about this time in Leicester and ran second to Ch. Rock Salt. Monarch was undeveloped, but six months later at Alexandra Palace he came to his own and after that his show record in England was an unbroken string of firsts. He was a grand terrier—almost faultless—his coat waved a bit and his critics used to say he was "so fine he was bitchy." Just to mention some of his pups shows what he was at stud: Ch. Broadlands, Royal Descendant, Ch. Tone Regent, Ch. Clonmel Bed Rock, Claverhouse Enchantress, Clonmel Coronation, and Strathallan Solace. Ch. Rock Salt, mentioned as the conqueror of Monarch, was a good one whom Americans know best through Ch. The New King, his son, who has done so well for the New England fancier, Mr. Arthur Merritt.
Ch. Tone Masterpiece—known here as Ch. York Masterpiece, for Mr. Offerman gave him his own kennel's prefix—was a dog of ups and downs, but he was an honest champion, who just missed being great. His son (bred in England) Floriform was another good dog who did things in New York in the early years of the new century where he was owned by Mr. Offerman and later by Mr. Brookfield. Floriform was the sire of Ch. Engaflora, the first great American bitch.
In 1902 two good but unfortunate sons of Clonmel Monarch came out, Ch. Legrams Prince—a real flyer—and Bandolero, who never got his just deserts at the shows. Rheumatism spoiled Prince's shoulders for the show ring and his ill-starred half brother died of wasp stings. A contemporary of these dogs was Ch. Wombwell Rattler, a rattling good one with a softish coat who sired Mr. Offerman's well known crack Ch. York the Conqueror. In the same year (1902) Ch. Delph Girl, wonderful color and coat, good head and expression, but too fine, and Ch. Dumbarton Sceptre, the best bitch of the time, both made their début and eventually came to the United States. The dam of Sceptre, Claverhouse Enchantress (by Clonmel Monarch out of Clonmel Winifreda), needs special mention. She won a number of prizes, but soon passed into the hands of a novice, Mrs. Cuthell, and as a mother and grand-mother of champions made a place for herself second only to Bath Lady. Dumbarton Sceptre and Claverhouse Sorcerer—the former a real flyer, the other a dog above the average—were in her first litter. Her second, by Ch. Master Briar, resulted in the great Ch. Mistress Royal, probably the best show bitch produced. Enchantress was next bred to her own son Solace, mentioned above, but died of poison before whelping.
Ch. Clonmel Bed Rock, whom Mr. Foxhall Keene later imported, came out about this time. He was a good, sound terrier, full of fire, sound as a bell, with wonderful legs and feet and won lots of honors here and in England. Ch. Broadland's Royal Descendant was a rival of Bed Rock and a very classy dog with exceptional coat, real terrier fire, a good head, but not very beautiful ears.
After these dogs came Ch. Master Royal, which brings us down to the dogs of to-day—if not the present generation and it is out of place to say aught of dogs which one can see and judge in flesh and blood.
The show cracks have so very often proved so valuable in the breeding kennels that the two terms—great sire and show crack—may seem synonyms. They are not. Nevertheless there is a close chain that binds the whole of a breed of dogs to the show ring, for the show ring winners are the dogs most often sought for breeding purposes and so the styles of the main bench authorities are forcibly, if unwittingly, thrust on the race. The Airedale, however, has always been known and appreciated as a sporting terrier. His owners have fortunately never lost sight of the reason he was manufactured, and they remember that to-day he is intended to be a rough-and-ready dog, willing and able to do all terrier work just a little better than the other members of the family, and because of his greater weight enabled to do things his smaller cousins could not even attempt. His great usefulness has kept him from being wholly at the mercy of the faddists of the dog shows, who have given him all the great advantages of their skill in scientific breeding and all the advertising of public exhibition without turning him into a freak.