My Shopping Cart
Affiliated with Dogs NSW
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of NSW Inc
In Memoriam
This page is dedicated to those that have passed away that have been instrumental in the formation and ongoing running of this club or who have tirelessly promoted this wonderful and loving dog breed world wide.
Katie Eldred
Katie is pictured here on the left at the very first Cavalier Championship Show in 1946 with her CC winner Belinda of Saxham. On the right is Jane Bowdler with Daywell Roger, the dog CC winner.
102 years old
Born on February 22, 1917 in Northampton, United Kingdom.
Passed away on April 12, 2019 in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.
​
" I was sorry to hear of the passing of Katie Eldred on April 12 (2019). She died peacefully at the grand old age of 102.
Katie Eldred owned Belinda of Saxham, the winner of the very first challenge certificate for a bitch at the first Cavalier Championship show that was held in August 1946. The dog CC at that show was Daywell Roger owned by Jane Bowdler and he became the very first Cavalier champion. Her sister Daphne Murray was hired by Amice Pitt as her kennel maid in 1933. At that time Amice Pitt had both Chows and Cavaliers at her Ttiweh Kennel. At that time Katie was working in London and would occasionally be invited to spend the weekend at Bourne Lodge where Amice lived. However in 1937 her sister gave her a Tricolor Cavalier puppy from Amice’s kennel, as an advance gift for her 21st birthday. She named her Josette but alas, she died a few weeks later of hard pad, and in those days there was no vaccination for the disease. The following year her boyfriend drove down to Bourne Lodge and came back with a surprise replacement puppy from the Ttiweh kennels. Linooga, otherwise known as Lulu. She was a blenheim by Aristide of Ttiweh out of Selena of Aucott, and she became her devoted companion for 12 years and started her lifelong love for the breed.
Katie became Secretary of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club during the mid-forties and in in 1945 when the Kennel Club finally gave separate registrations for Cavaliers, Katie, Amice Pitt, and Mme. Harper Trois-Fontaine spent a whole day at the Kennel Club offices in Clarges Street picking out of the King Charles Spaniel registration books the names of all the dogs that were Cavaliers or Cavalier-types, or that were known to throw longer muzzled progeny. It was a huge job and they probably selected around 200 or more dogs that were “Cavalier” type as opposed to King Charles Spaniels. All these names were transferred to form the new Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Register and from that Register all the Cavaliers in the world today are descended.
In her 40s she moved to California and then later after retiring she moved to Canada where she spent the rest of her life.
Back in 2009 when Tina and I were researching for our book on the origin and founding of the breed Katie was of tremendous help. She was 93 at the time and we would regularly exchange emails and she gave us so much information and even proof read a few of our articles.
In just a few months of each other we have seen the passing of both Jane Bowdler and Katie Eldred, the owners of the first dog and bitch CC winners. The last direct link in the history of the founding of the breed."
​
​
Dennis Holmes, April 2019
Jane Bowlder "Ttiweh" Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
89 years old
Born in 1929
Passed away on 20th September 2018
​
"I was so sorry to hear of the passing of Jane Bowdler at the age of 89. For the benefit of newcomers to the breed Jane was the daughter of Amice Pitt who was one of the founders of the breed and also the first secretary of the Cavalier Club (UK) when it was formed in 1928. Jane was born one year later and grew up surrounded by dogs and pictured here is a photograph of her as a young girl with a couple of Cavaliers in a pram.
On 29th August 1946 the very first Cavalier championship show was held and as an eighteen year old girl she gained a challenge certificate with her dog Ch Daywell Roger who was still a puppy and eventually would become the very first Cavalier champion. She is pictured (Above) standing on the right with Ch Daywell Roger and on the left is Katie Eldred with the bitch CC winner Belinda of Saxham. We had great affection for Jane and nine years ago when Tina and I were doing research for our book on the origin and founding of the Cavalier breed she was a great help to us. In fact Jane wrote the forward for our book. She even gave us her mother’s book of handwritten pedigrees and several old photos which we included in our book. These photos and the pedigrees are now in the Cavalier Club’s archives. Then in 2014 when we organized the Toy Spaniel Art Exhibition at the Kennel Club’s Art Gallery we asked Jane if we could include two of her old paintings. We traveled down by train and she picked us up at the station, cooked us a lovely meal and we spent several hours sipping wine and talking Cavaliers. Such a lovely lady who will be so sadly missed."
​
​
Dennis Holmes, September 2018