Issue: 12/07/2019

from Anne Roslin-Williams

(OUR DOGS is grateful to Anne Roslin-Williams (Mansergh) and the Swedish Labrador Retriever Club for giving permission to reproduce this article, and to Anne Roslin-Williams for her agreement for us to use the various photographs.) 

Crufts 1974

Part of the experience which I wrote on my CV for judging Labradors was that I was brought up as a Mansergh Labrador. From my earliest recollection there were well mannered gentle black Labrador bitches, the males came later. 

Food for humans and dogs was scarce in the early 1940s and we children soon learnt that before we had completed 'Mummy I don't like...' the plate was removed, and the food given to the nearest dog. We soon learnt to polish the plate clean. 

 Surrounded by working dogs (Labs, a Curly Coated Retriever, Cockers, all three Setter breeds, a couple of Welsh Springers and assorted terriers) and other animals, we learnt to respect and to be nice to them and enjoyed watching my parents training the gundogs. We graduated to being expert dummy throwers, although I never could aim straight, and were sometimes allowed to watch the dogs out shooting. I remember throwing a tantrum when left behind, at a very early age, on a shooting day. 

Anne Roslin-Williams in lane with Frost of Mansergh

We all enjoyed dog walks twice a day, when we opened the kennel doors, called them all to heel, and walked down the lanes with somewhere between twelve and twenty dogs with maybe one lead between them. To meet a car or even a tractor was a rare occurrence then.

Petrol was rationed for years so when my mother started showing and we children went too, it was by public transport. Later came overnight trips on special dog coaches run to championship shows. One such trip entailed a very long journey. Mother and myself plus a couple of Labradors and my Border Terrier shared the back seat. She could sleep anywhere so went straight off. Meanwhile I had a wretched journey with a Labrador leaning propped against either side of me and every time I closed my eyes one or other kindly licked my face to wake me up.

Mary Roslin-Williams with group - Damson, Moleskin, Groucho, Antonia - all 'of Mansergh' except Moleskin who was Mansergh Moleskin

Coloured wires and other near disasters 

Apart from being OCD chewers, the Labradors were goodies. But the awful chewing... We visited a relative on a hot day after a show a long way from home. The dogs were tied up under the car for shade, quite safe there. They emerged to greet us with mouths full of coloured wires, which prolonged the visit by several days. Any new car was lined with metal so they couldn't wreck their area. Buying them all upholstered armchairs for comfortable beds in their kennels proved disastrous - horsehair and springs were tossed around like confetti. And the time she decided to give her whelping bitch an old eiderdown....Actually, she shut the door on the feathers and moved house after that one!!

A near disaster was Ch Midnight, as a teenager, eating a 1 kilo glass jam-jar. My father promptly shot a rabbit, boiled it skin and all and fed the skin to Midnight: problem solved. 

Mary Roslin-Williams at a field trial with Carry of Mansergh

Another consumed the congealed fat which had been taken off a large boiler after a sheep had been cooked in it. That was a very ill bitch, on strong pain killers for several days until this had passed through her system. Afterwards she avoided fatty foods and would even turn away tempting biscuits if she sniffed out too much fat. She lived for years and was not otherwise affected in the long term.

While on the subject of disasters, Ch Damson, when a puppy, appeared with an eye hanging out of a socket, poked out by a playmate with a stick. Our level-headed vet said leave it, even though it looked horrific, and just lightly wash it with water occasionally. After a few days it went back into the socket but showing mostly the white side. Again the vet said leave it, and, sure enough, it righted itself gradually, although leaving her with a slight squint, otherwise her sight was fine. A judge at Crufts had a plaster cast on her wrist which fascinated Damson. The judge was fascinated too, by the squint following her moving hand as she attracted Damson to see the expression. 

Anne Roslin-Williams in boat with Skiff of Mansergh

Famous old time Labrador Breeders

I remember several famous old-time Labrador breeders. I saw Lorna Countess Howe on several occasions, including seeing her judge the Labrador Club at Henley in 1958. I always re-read her book on the breed as well as the breed standard before judging.

May Macpherson of the Braeroys lived nearby for a while and I remember visiting her. At my half term from boarding school near York, while everyone else ate wonderful meals with their parents in posh hotels, we visited the Poppleton kennels but unfortunately my memory of this is very hazy. Mrs Wormald I remember well, and her Dual Ch Knaith Banjo as an old dog. The doyenne of Golden Retrievers, Mrs Charlesworth, came to stay with Dual Ch Noranby Ranter. I was so excited to have a dual champion visiting our house.

Margaret Ward was a great friend of my mother and we often visited her, and vice versa. I knew the classy Ch Careena, Bliss and Chs Jasmin and Odessa of Heatheredge very well. Janet Hayward of the Glencoins , another close family friend, lived with us for one summer with her dual purpose dogs and then lived nearby. Later she bred a remarkable line of Field Trial Champions. 

Anne Roslin-Williams with Carry and trophy

I was fortunate to see many famous dogs from the 'fifties onwards. At an open show I saw a yellow bitch enter the hall and told my mother we might as well go home now. That was Ch Judith Aikshaw making her debut. I can't have been far wrong as she won 3 CCs under Lady Howe among the many she won. Another who hit my eye the first time I saw her was Ch Milkmaid, later to win BOB from me at WELKS show. Sh Ch Sandylands Mercy sticks in my mind as possibly the best dog of any breed that I judged, but I never judged her at championship level. Funny that, those are three yellow ladies!! There have been some gorgeous blacks as well, and livers.

One not so gorgeous dog I judged overseas, I won't say where, was a smart 'obvious winner' with the hardest expression - not one for me - a nice gentleman proper Labrador won instead. Next day came the working test. The hard faced one put a stretch of water between himself and his handler, stood defiantly glaring back at his handler and then ran amok, totally out of control. I was pleased with my decision of the previous day.

That's my dog!

One of my favourite characters was Eastview Black Prince of Mansergh, a very clever dog. He loved puppies and, when a new litter had arrived, would frantically try to get into them. Anyone not knowing would have misunderstood his intentions. But once he had been taken in to see the new puppies he was content. He had beautifully defined hindquarters. After the judging at an agricultural show we were chatting to other exhibitors before going home. I noticed a black Labrador going out of the show with a lad, cornering the gatepost on remarkably neat hocks. Admiring the backend, I suddenly realised this was Timmy. I ran after him, now trotting away from the show in a line of people going home. I snatched the lead from the lad who had him: 'that is my dog' was all I was capable of saying, and, no argument, back he came with me.

Years earlier we were at an agricultural show where our dogs were tied to metal railings. One was not there when we returned. Sent to find her, we children scoured the car and horse box parks. It is difficult sometimes to recognise your own dog in the wrong environment. Seated on the seat in a plush Rolls Royce was a black Labrador sharing the well-heeled owners' picnic. Was that Frost or not? We walked past several times, no sign of recognition from the dog, her eyes were on the food. Eventually the kind folks asked if she was our dog, she had just joined them, an uninvited guest, for their picnic.

Most lovely thing ever in my mouth

Retrieving was innate in them all. Least favourite was the one who tenderly carried my young Borders about on dog walk, the one who delivered a live rat, tail dangling out of the mouth, the one who did a stylish retrieve of the 'dagging knife' (for removing unsavoury bits from sheep hindquarters), point forwards, and impaled my mother's leg as she promptly delivered it. There was reputed to be hidden Jacobite treasure at Lilymere which we always hoped would turn up. One day a Labrador retrieved a beautiful silver embossed curved horn spoon, but she could not be persuaded to reveal where she had found it.

Blue mountain hares are found in the Scottish highlands but we did not have them in the north of England, just the bigger brown hares. My mother had a good trialler doing really well in a trial in the Highlands. She was sent for a blue hare, the first she had ever encountered, retrieved it beautifully and then the eyes glazed over with a blissful expression: 'This is the most lovely thing I have ever had in my mouth' and she just kept it ,holding it tenderly. After every possible verbal encouragement to hand it over had failed, the judge told my mother that she could use other methods as they were now definitely out of the trial!

A suspicious looking character

Bat Brulin became a family friend. I recall first seeing her at the Royal Lancashire Show, looking very hard at Ch Bumblikite on her bench. I alerted my mother that a suspicious looking character was showing too much interest in Bumbli. She was approached, and from that meeting Black Plum, daughter of Bumbli, made her way to Sweden.

Ch Midnight, my mother's first Champion, was a super dog, everything he should be, kind, a good trialler, good looking, truly dual purpose. Mother went to see his sire before using him and asked to see him working. No problem, out he came from his kennel, along with his kennel mate who happened to be a pig. A shot was fired, the dummy thrown, a good retrieve by the pig. After several repeats, with the pig running in every time, the pig was removed and the patient steady dog allowed to show his merits. 

There are so many memories around the Labradors, all of them good.

Why didn't I go on with them? Firstly because they are such good honest citizens. I prefer a dog which is a bit more complicated to understand, such as a terrier, though I sometimes wish they were more like Labrador when they are being a bit too 'terrier' at an inconvenient moment. And secondly, I might have inadvertently altered the type by selection as my eye for a Labrador was not always the same as my mother's. So often I have seen second generation breeders in other breeds shift away from precisely what had established the kennel's reputation. So the Mansergh Labradors rested on their well deserved laurels.

One remarkable thing about my mother I must share with you. Right from when I started to judge Labradors, from a few classes at smaller shows to giving CCs , she was often seated at the ringside but I never recall her criticising my judgement. She sometimes must have been sorely tempted to say something, but refrained. However, a few weeks after I had judged at Crufts she said she was going to see Tony Pascoe, to see if that dog I gave the CC to was any good (she was not there on that occasion). 'Well?' I asked, somewhat sarcastically, when she saw him. She used him at stud...enough said!!