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Percy
Whitaker - A tribute
15 August 1905 to 29 December 2002
WITH
THE death of Mr Percy Whitaker in the early hours of Sunday
29 December 2002, the Chow world lost its oldest and probably
most knowledgeable devotee. Percy was already a legend in the
world of dogs when we became associated with him in the early
80’s. He was of course Kennel Manager with the famous ‘Amwell
Kennels’ of the late Lady Faudel Phillips from the early
1920’s until her ladyship’s death in 1944.
A few years later he joined forces with Eric and Joan Egerton
and helped to create the most successful chow kennel ever, ‘Ukwong’.
For these two kennels Percy prepared and showed some of the
most prodigious winning Chows, the most famous of these being
‘Ukwong King Soloman’. Percy’s life has been
well documented over the years, so when John and I came into
Chows and found out that ‘Mr Chow’ lived just around
the corner from us, we met Percy and his wife Helen, who was
also a well respected judge in her own right. Percy suffered
the loss of his partner just a few months short of their 60th
wedding anniversary. This was the time that John and I became
more involved with Percy on a day to day basis, making sure
he had a cooked evening meal and was coping well with all his
daily requirements.
Percy kept up with the advice and encouragement in those early
days and, when one of my bitches produced a litter of puppies,
he picked out a black bitch we called ‘Himwin Rhula’.
This brought a real sparkle to his eyes; “you have a good
one here”, he said. Travelling from one end of the country
to another doing the shows with Rhula and my dog partner Ken
Smith and his black bitch Midnight Masquerade seemed to keep
Percy young at heart.
Indeed John, Ken and I believe this interest and purpose in
his later years maybe extended his life a little more. Of course
Percy was also known for being Chow correspondent for OUR DOGS
for over 60 years, so you could say his views and opinions were
well recorded.
When in 1992 John and I, along with Ken and Anne Smith, decided
to import a dog, Percy was thrilled and a big help. He made
contact with Paul Odenkirchen in Canada and started the ball
rolling for us. You would have thought Percy was just starting
out in Chows, so excited he was at the prospect of bringing
a dog over from abroad. At this time Percy was of course 87
years old but showed no sign of losing any passion for going
to the shows, because this was where he was happiest talking
to friends old and new about dogs.
He would travel with Ken and me, and many a time we would call
around to pick him up in the early hours of the morning. He
would be standing at the gate of his house bright eyed, bushy
tailed and raring to go, keeping both Ken and me awake on long
journeys by telling us about his life in dogs. His good days,
and a few bad ones.
Many of the shows we attended Percy would say proudly, “you
know I have won BIS and awarded BIS in this venue”. He
would also comment that when Himwin Rhula, Midnight Masquerade
and later Himwin Tyga all won their champion titles it gave
him just as much pleasure and satisfaction as he had felt with
other more famous dogs. One of his other favourite sayings was
‘good dogs have made me rather than me making good dogs’.
So with his passing a chapter in our life comes to an end. Goodbye
Percy, a big gap left by a big man.
Jean and John Hempenstall
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