Harrison Weir's British Shorthair Cats

Harrison Weir 1889 - Wikimedia Commons

Harrison Weir a distinguished looking fellow with a beard lived between 1824 and 1906. He organised the world's first cat show. It took place in 1871 at the Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was a unique and rare metal and glass structure designed and built for the Great Exhibition of 185. It was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham, South London. Mr Weir is considered "The Father of the Cat Fancy" because of his early important involvement.

Harrison Weir was also a cat show judge, artist and author. He loved his British Shorthair cats. He was patriotic it seems because he disliked the fact that they were being bred with cats from the east, such as Persians. Persian cats were also one of the first cat breeds of the cat fancy and were in the early stages of the cat fancy beginning to dominate. Mr Weir did not like that either.

At the first cat show a cat that was imported from Persia caught people's eye apparently. The Siamese and Manx were also on display. These too are early cat breeds.

Classic Blue British Shorthair - photo by jans canon

The above cat is gorgeous. Blue is the best known color for this breed. This cat in the picture above is not bred to extremes in my opinion, which I like a lot.