The Dog Men of Gilling West (Paperback)

The result of 30 years of genealogical sleuthing is a book which does not easily fit into any one particular genre. the main theme is four famous dog men from Gilling West who were national giants in their time. Rich Henry Brown, a co-director of Shoolbred and Co. in London sold bull dogs to royalty while Tom raper was the Prince of Slippers for the Waterloo Cup. George Raper was Britain's greatest dog judge and journalist who bred out the Yorkshire terrier in Victorian times and crossed the Atlantic on over thirty occasions. He also famously won foot races running backwards. Although two inns, The White Swan and the Angel Inn in Gilling West, are a starting point the story moves to the Green Tree Inn in Darlington, home of Britain's earliest dog shows. There are many fascinating anecdotes of Dales incidents in times past which trace both of the author's parents to Gilling. Not least is the scandalous story of a Gilling man's married daughter who ran away from her family to start a life with a famous actor James Herbert Standing. The final chapter is where the author, a well-known mountaineer shows how his hunting, shooting and fishing ancestors bred a generation which spread from Richmond, Yorkshire to make their name in a modern new world after the Second World War.