| Obituary - Colonel David Hancock MBE
|
Issue: 09/04/2021
OUR DOGS was sorry to learn of the death, on March 13, of David Hancock.
David, magazine and book writer, breed advisor and judge, had over half a century's experience with and in the study of dogs. Originally intending to be a vet, he worked for several years as a teenage kennel-boy to a vet. He learned at first hand, from assisting with surgical procedures, from attending Bath Dog Show, where his employer was the show vet, being instructed on conformation, structure and soundness and from visiting famous local kennels, such as Molly Harbut's world-renowned 'Bengal' Airedales, at Bathampton, near Bath.
As a professional soldier he subsequently worked in 22 different countries, studying their dogs and their ancestry. Retiring early, for 14 years he ran a National Trust property, where he oversaw a Rare Breeds Centre, conserving and breeding rare breeds of domestic cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, poultry and horses, breeding and exhibiting the stock. In his working life he was responsible for four different museums and an art gallery, advising the Natural History Museum on their canine displays.
He also worked with emergent dog breeds, writing the breed standard for the Sporting Lucas Terrier, the Victorian Bulldog and the Plummer Terrier and judged all these breeds as well as American Bulldogs. He also judged working tests for gundogs. He is the author of fourteen books on dogs, most recently The World of the Lurcher, Quiller 2010, Sporting Terriers, Crowood 2011, Sighthounds, Crowood, 2012, Hounds -Hunting by Scent, Crowood 2013 and Dogs of the Shepherds, Crowood 2014 and nearly 800 articles in national and international magazines. Three reviewers of his books have separately written: 'What a masterpiece! It is compulsory reading for anyone with any interest in dogs', '...based on impressive personal research extraordinary amongst writers on dogs' and 'That is what makes David Hancock perhaps the most important living writer about dogs.'
In 2009 he won an Annual Writing Competition award presented by the Dog Writers' Association of America, having been a runner-up two years earlier. He worked on Tigress Productions' TV series 'Dogs which changed the World', broadcast in the USA and Europe in 2007, and Passionate Productions's influential TV programme 'Pedigree Dogs Exposed', broadcast by the BBC. He also contributed regularly to the canine press. He subsequently contributed to the Bateson Report into pedigree dog-breeding.
He lived in the Cotswolds with his wife Susan, still maintaining a flat in his home town, Bath.
Comment(s)
Name:>/b> Dr. Bryan Cummins
Comment: I was sorry to hear about Col. Hancock's passing. He sent me a number of signed copies of his books that I cherish. Incidentally, I was the guy who referred to him as "perhaps the greatest living writer about dogs". I meant it. As I write this, I am working on another book about dogs and, needless to say, I quote him extensively,. RIP, sir
