Early Sheepdog Trials Project

News

The Early Sheepdog Trials Project

Summary of recent additions:

November 8: It has been almost a year since the last singinficant additions to these pages, but thanks to Kathy Gooch, we have some additions to the New Zealand section, taken from information on the Ancestry website on NZ Huntaways and Eye Dogs. One of the most interesting pieces of information is that A B Smith, a Scottish Highlander, is thought to have introduced sheep dog trialling to the area. Unfortunately it does not say whether this was an idea imported from his native Highlands, but the descriptions of the trials add to our knowledge.

INTRODUCTION

For many years, everybody “knew” that the “first recorded sheepdog trial” took place at Bala in 1873. However, in the last couple of years, newspaper cuttings emerged from Australia and New Zealand reporting on earlier trials. Were these the first trials, or had sheepdog trialling been exported to the lands of new opportunity along with shepherds and dogs uprooted from their Scottish or Welsh origins? It occurred to me that there is very little information about the earliest trials, and I decided to have another look at what we actually know (and what we don’t know) about trials up to the outbreak of World War I after the completion of the 1914 trials season. My thanks to the many shepherding historians who provided information to make this project possible.
Particular thanks to Sylvia Barcroft for allowing me to include her work on Jonathan and George Barcroft. It is clear that their prolific successes at trials were far more than a farmer or shepherd attending local trials - their numerous wins were in many cases far removed from their Lancashire base. Sylvia’s research also reveals many places where trials were held about which I was completely ignorant. My thanks too to Judi Max for providing much useful information from her research.

I hope this project will inspire others to look for more information, so that at some point in the future a more complete picture can emerge. If you have any information to add, please contact me by email.

There seem to be a number of categories of trial:

Annual Trials held in the same location every year, listed under the year the trial was first held and the name of the venue.

Annual Trials held in different places in rotation, listed under the year the trial was first held and the name of the organising group (ie an Agricultural Show or Sheepdog Trials Society).

Stand Alone Trials, intended as individal events, even if held in the same place more than once, such as the Alexandra Palace trials of 1876, 1882 and 1900, are listed as for Annual Trials which are held in the same location.

ISDS International Trials are much bigger events, and as the information comes to light will be covered individually.

Smaller trials almost certainly existed - the records we have are of trials big enough to be reported in the press.

LIST OF PAGES:

INDEX TO PEOPLE AND DOGS

JONATHAN AND GEORGE BARCROFT: SHEEPDOG TRIALLING SUPERSTARS

BALA AND BEFORE: TRIALS 1867 TO 1873

THE 1870s 1874 TO 1879

THE 1880s 1880 TO 1889

THE 1890s UP TO LONGSHAW 1890 TO 1894

TRIALS 1895 TO 1899

BALA 1899 PROGRAMME

TRIALS 1900 TO 1905

TRIALS 1906 TO 1908

TRIALS 1909

TRIALS 1910 TO 1914

INTERNATIONAL TRIALS

1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914

Details of the foundation of the ISDS and the 1906 International appeared in International Sheepdog News for Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec 2006; the 1909 International in May/June 2009 issue, and the 1910 International in the July/August 2010 issue.