125 YEARS OF THE INDIAN GAME CLUB. 1886-2011
As I start to write I’m conscious that this is the story of The Indian Game Club and not of the breed itself, which would stretch much further back into the mists of time. It’s a celebration of the meeting of like minded people with a common interest, an interest that has transcended 125 years and links us, today’s fanciers, with the thousands of our members past and present who have joined with a single cause to preserve and improve a breed of poultry that has given us all the same pleasures and frustrations. Quite amazing, when you think of how events over the last century and a quarter have changed the world and human society and yet here we are with a common thread running through all those years. Maybe we haven’t fundamentally changed as much as one might think. That said it is necessary to outline how the early development of the breed lead to the formation of the Club so I make no apology for including a brief paragraph or two about the breeds history as far as we know it.
THE BREED
The breed of poultry we now know as Indian Game has its origins hidden in the mists of time but it has been told by our fellow Victorian fanciers that a statement was made in 1886, to a Mr Montresor, a prominent Game Fancier of the time, by General Gilbert (later Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert) to the effect that years earlier he had originated the breed in Cornwall by crossing Red Aseel, imported direct from India, with Lord Derby’s strain of Black Red English Game.
This type of bird seems to have first appeared outside the West Country in an “any other breed” class at theCrystal Palace Shows in 1858 and 1859. At that time the birds were far removed from what would become known as Indian Game being much more akin to a rangy Aseel. These first two shows were won by Mr John Pomroy of Callington,Cornwall, who was later to become the clubs first treasurer. It is interesting to note that he won the two selling classes in the first show when 91 cocks and 67 hens were in competition. It was said that John Pomroy was the main person, in conjunction with a few friends, including William Brent and John Frayne, to popularise Indian Game outside the West Country, so was a very important figure in the Club’s history.
Later observations and reports confirm that around 1870 to 1887 a further introduction of a breed termed “Pheasant Malays” was made to produce the rich black colour in Indian Game. These Pheasant Malay were probably a breed similar to that we now callSumatraGame, albeit of a somewhat different type. It was written that these birds were “intensely black in the cocks and magnificently glossed in both sexes”. These birds formed the very bedrock of the breed and at this time interest was growing on the show front as numbers of fanciers began to grow. Several prominent showmen began to think about formalising and standardising the breed, the obvious move forward was to form a club to look after and promote the birds already widely termed “Indian Game”.
Mr John Frayn 1911
THE CLUB
The Club was formerly inaugurated at a meeting on the 15thof April 1886,held at The Royal Hotel, Devonport, Plymouth. It is recorded that those present were John Frayn (President), Julius J Mosenthal (Secretary), John Pomroy (Treasurer), James Frayn, William Brent, Mr Crockford, Mr Henwood and Mr Slite. The Club rules were set and a basic breed standard was agreed at a second meeting on the 1stof December in that same year. The club’s future was looking bright, however clouds were forming and following an argument between some of the members the club was suspended. It’s an interesting point that around this time Brothers John and James Frayn had a grave falling out and the latter changed forever the spelling of his Surname to Frayne. We can only speculate if Club and Family rift were connected. It was at a meeting in Bridgewater, Somersetin 1891 that the Club was reformed with new executives but with John Frayn retaining the President's position. The rules and standard already set were re adopted, the latter being formalised and fixed in 1896 and so it remained for the next 90 years. I’ll go into further details of the standard in a later chapter.
The Club was formed to look after three basic aspects of breeding and showing Indian Game, these being to look after the Breed Standard, to look after the interest of the members and assist where possible with regard to their interest in the breed and finally to promote the breed wherever possible by such means as encouraging new fanciers, producing articles, providing breed specials for shows and by holding a Club show every year. To emphasise this I would quote the first rule of the Indian Game Club, set down all those years ago and still the fist club rule to this day. This is an exact copy from the 1899 club annual report.
“That this Society shall be called the “INDIAN GAME CLUB,” and shall include all varieties of the Breed. That its objects shall be to increase and cultivate the popularity of this most useful and fancy breed of poultry by articles in the poultry press etc., for the providing of classes at all the leading shows; and generally to promote and protect the interests of breeders and exhibitors of this variety”.
These principles have been followed by generations of club officials and have made sure the Breed has prospered to a greater or lesser degree over the last century and a quarter.
Membership has obviously fluctuated over the years and we have record from 1899 showing that at that time there were 128 members. This rose to about 150 by 1908 and then the Great War curtailed interest in all poultry with the natural decline in membership which stood at about 80 by 1920. Through the early 1920’s interest was restored getting back to 1908 levels by 1924. There was a very rapid, almost rocketing increase up until 1930 when membership reached over 250. The world slump then hit (you see we’ve been there before) and over a period of 3 years membership had dropped to 165, still quite a respectable figure, however just as membership began to grow again through the mid 1930’s the threat and eventual breakout of World War 2 intervened. Presumably due to the push to keep the country fed membership did not drop to the levels seen through the first great conflict and even at the end of WW2 we still had over 130 stalwarts. The clubs heydays followed and by 1952 the club had 270 fellow fanciers, a figure never topped, and as the last record prior to the mid 1980’s were in 1955, we can only now guess at our fluctuating fortunes. When Sylvia and I took over as joint Secretaries back in 1988, we had about 40 paid up members but with a little cajoling and gentle persuasion on our part, membership has fluctuated between 110 and 120 since, hopefully we can retain and even increase this with all the interest in poultry keeping and self sufficiency we see today.
THE STANDARD OF PERFECTION
Whilst this is not an article on the finer points of the standard and rather one on the Indian Game Club it of course forms a central pillar to the Club and we must include mention of how and why it has been altered to accommodate breeders requirements and to reflect subtle changes in fanciers views of how the breed should progress, it also nicely illustrates how the Club itself has evolved. It is up to current breeders to decide on the merits or otherwise of the changes but all have been the subject of long debate and discussion, have been agreed by the majority of members at the time and have subsequently been accepted by the Poultry Club who are the governing body, looking after all breed standards.
The first revision was an addition rather than a change and was made to include Bantams into the Standard in 1899 and after agreement, appeared as an addition at the end of the full standard as follows.
BANTAMS.
Same as big Game, except in weight which should be as follows:-
Cocks, 2lbs 12oz. Hens, 2lbs 4oz,
Cockerels 2lbs 8oz,Pullets 2lbs.
This weight is suggested by the Secretary, after discussing the question with some of the Bantam Fanciers.It is worth commenting that while these weights are tiny and would never be achieved today, the birds were of a vastly different type than now as evidenced by this contemporary photograph.
CHALLENGE CUP WINNING BANTAM COCKEREL 1904
By 1904 the weights for Bantam Cocks had been raised to 3lbs and Hens to 2lbs 8oz.
The next significant revision was again an addition and was introduced to include the Jubilee variety to the standard. It is an illustration of how fiercely the founders defended the original standard on considering that Jubilees were originated in 1897, and named after Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in that year, when in 1900 the Indian Game Club announced that “Jubilees would most definitely not be recognised by the Indian Game Club”. Jubilee breeders in fact started their own club in 1920 and set their own standard. The variety was, seemingly a little grudgingly accepted into “the fold” in 1950 and to emphasise the point, the 1951 yearbook announced the Club as “The Indian Game Club incorporating the Jubilee Indian Game Club”. The Jubilee standard was not, however, revised and incorporated until 1955, almost 50 years after they were first produced by Henry Hunt in 1897.
It was in 1985, that Clarrie Devall, with assistance from Mr A. W. van Wulfften Palthe, commissioned John Vander Laan to produce line drawings of an Indian Game Cock and Hen to form part of the breed standard of perfection. After various draughts and amendments the pictures were circulated to all members who agreed to accept them and they were subsequently put to The Poultry Club who accepted the addition as part of our standard in 1986 to coincide with the Indian Game Club centenary and now include them in the Poultry Club Standards book.
It was first proposed in 1989 that a third colour variety be standardised and members agreed to have a standard set for Double Laced Blue Indian Game to put to the Poultry Club. As it is necessary not only to produce a standard for any new variety it is required that the Club can prove that at least three generations of birds have been bred true to colour and type and to prove there are sufficient breeders to ensure continuation. Finally all Club Members must receive a standard and must agree that it is correct and that the majority wish to have the breed standard accepted by the Poultry Club. History shows this was all done satisfactorily and the variety was formally adopted by the Indian Game Club in 1991.
In 1990 a proposal was made to change the breeds name to “Cornish Game”. A referendum was taken by sending a voting form to all members in the first 1991 newsletter. The Poultry Club was also approached to clarify the rules about changing a breed name. Both the referendum result and The Poultry Clubs reply meant that the original breed name of Indian Game should remain.
The Poultry Club approached all Breed Clubs in 1991 asking them to look firstly at changing the standards format, in other words the way the standards were laid out, so that all the standards were in the same form and had at least a semblance of order. Secondly any changes in the actual standard itself needed to be considered with a mind to reflect the modern interpretation of the original standard. The Poultry Club Book was due for publication in 1997 and over the 2 years prior, Club officials formatted the 1898 standard in the required manner, firstly with no changes to the standard of the breed. Four changes were eventually proposed and after a vote by the entire membership were agreed and passed to the Poultry Club who agreed to the first actual changes in almost 100 years. The changes were as follows.
1)We changed the wording for the head standard from “Rather long and thickish” to “Of medium length and thick”.
2)The Shanks went from “Medium length and well scaled” to “Short and well scaled”. However the proviso included in the 1898 standard, “The length of shank must be sufficient to give the bird a “gamey” appearance” remains in place.
3)The description of the eye colour changed from “Varying from pale yellow to pale red” to “From pearl to pale red”. The term “pearl” is fairly self explanatory and is meant to allow for a somewhat lighter colour than implied by “pale yellow”.
4)The suggested weight of Bantams was increased to “Males 4lbs 8oz and Females 3lbs 8oz”. The rule that these weights are suggested only, as has always been the case, remains in place and an additional clause was added stating “excess size should be penalised”.
This takes us onto the final changes made for the 6thedition of The Poultry Club Standards published in 2008. Three changes were made at this time as follows.
1)Since 1889 the description of the comb read “Comb (in undubbed birds) pea type”. It was decided to remove the passage (in undubbed birds) as dubbing was no longer undertaken and the general view of this type of practice was very different to that in 1898.
2)The description of the tail carriage was changed from “drooping” to “in line with the back”.
3)The description of eye colour had an addition and became “Pearlto pale red, pearl preferred”.
The standard in full will be found elsewhere in this yearbook and this shows how it now reads in 2011. We can only hope that the changes we have made over the years would have had the backing of those august Gentlemen who threshed out the way they wanted their breed to look 125 years ago.
CUPS AND CHARACTERS
There is not room here to list all of the famous breeders, past and present, who have made great contributions to the Club, not least as there is too great a danger of missing people out, but I have selected 3 names from the early days that certainly deserve a mention if only because they have a direct connection with Indian Game fanciers today and will be familiar names to all of us who have supported the Club Show over the years. I apologise to all the others that I could have mentioned but have failed to do so.Mr William Brent was a founder member of the Club and the founder of a dynasty of Breeders whose influence is still felt and talked about today. I still have calls from fanciers old and new who assure me they have, or know of Indian Game that are of the “Real Brent strain”, sometimes called “The Clampit strain” from the name of the Brent residence, Clampit Farm in Callington, Cornwall. His renown as a breeder of prize winning stock extended beyond Indian Game and if you look at the reproduction of a 1909 advertisement you will note he kept both Devon Long-Woolled sheep and a renown heard of Devon Cattle (as supplied to His Majesty the King, Royal Farms, Windsor). William Brent was the Club President for 1932-33 and was succeeded by his Son Cecil who held the office for the following 2 years.
The next esteemed member for us to take a brief look at is Dr John K Goodall who hailed from Brimington, Chesterfield, and held the position of Club Secretary for 21 years from 1894 until he died in 1915 when he died. The first report of his passing appears in the Club yearbook for 1920, the first to be published after the Great War. He was succeeded by Mr E D Gladwin who had been the Assistant Secretary for most of Dr Goodall's tenure. Dr Goodall’s most lasting legacy to the Club is the solid silver trophy, known as the “Goodall” challenge bowl presented to the club by him in 1904, won by Major H S Hassall, and which has been awarded to the champion Bantam at every Club Show since. He was made an honorary Life Member at the 1905 AGM after a proposal by Mr H S Hassall “as a slight token of the esteem of Members, and of appreciation of the work he had done for the club” (1906 Club yearbook).
We feasted our vision upon a scene unsurpassed in our experience and recollection. We have no “brief” to hold for the genial Doctor, but, in short, a more magnificent, varied and numerous show of grand typical Indians we have never contemplated. (Mr Sylvester, writing in “Stock-keeper,” March 10th, 1905)
Since 1904 The Champion of the Indian Game Club Show has been presented with the “Hassall” Challenge bowl, presented in that first year by Major Harry S. Hassall of the Cedars, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and won by Mr James Frayne. Major Hassall was certainly a member when the first yearbook in my position was published in 1899. He sat on the committee by 1904 and was a Club Judge and Vice President by 1906. Interestingly he was the first winner of the “Goodall” Challenge Bowl in the same year that he presented his, now famous, trophy. There is little mention of his activities within the Club but on his passing in early 1922, the Club President, Mr C M Nicholson wrote “He was always a strong supporter and was always ready and willing to assist whenever appealed to. We shall miss him very much.