LONGHAIR/ANGORA/PERSIAN - BLACK

Black Longhair Histories | Black Longhair Photo Gallery (1875-1974)

 

Although the Black Longhair has been championed by many individual fanciers, it has not enjoyed any consistency of fame or notoriety until the 1960's and 1970's, when consistently good Blacks could more than hold their own against the best Blue Persians and were in fact, by this time, also appearing to be more pre-potent in passing on their best qualities to their progeny.

One of the earliest proponents of the Black was Mrs. Alice McLaren Morrison of Kepwick Park who benched and bred more quality Blacks in the late nineteenth century than anyone else. By the turn of the twentieth century the challenge had been taken up by Mr. Robert Little and Dr. Roper, and as the new century progressed by folk such as Mrs. Cyril Yeates, then latterly Miss L. Fraser (Hendon), Miss Rodda (Chadhurst), and Mrs. Marjorie Bull, with her striking double Olympia winner, the immortal 'Deebank Mascot'.

In the United States, early benchmarks were cats like 'King Max', and 'Cyrus The Great', followed by cats such as 'Great Lakes Charcoal' and then latterly Richard Gebhardt's GC Vel-vene's Voodoo, followed by a new generation of Blacks of the ilk of 'GC Misty Mornin Conquest' and 'GC Lullaby Abracadabra' and their many descendants.

Today, the Blacks continue to hold their own, and are very often the benchmark of quality Persian breeding. The adage that 'Black is Beautiful' has long since become a reality. In the words of Harrison Weir:
"…and to my thinking, a jet-black cat, fine and glossy in fur and elegantly formed, certainly has its attractions."

BLACK LONGHAIR HISTORIES

(* = completed histories)


Registers associated with this article include The Incorporated Cat Fanciers Association of Great Britain (TICFAGB), National Cat Club (NCC), The Cat Club (CCR), Beresford Cat Club (BCC), Feline Federation Francaise (FFF), Siamese Cat Registry (SCR), US Register & Studbook for Cats (USR)including Supplement(USRS), The Studbook of the American Cat Association (ACA), and the Studbook & Register of the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA).

 


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