Joseph Salter and the Riverside Retrievers

JOSEPH SALTER’S RIVERSIDE RETRIEVERS

Role of Joseph Salter

Joseph Salter ran the stables, kennels and home farm for ‘Jack’ Cooke at the Brine Baths, Nantwich. He had moved north from Hampshire to Cheshire around 1885.
The details for the Salter family from the 1901 Census are as follows. They are recorded as living at Riverside, Nantwich. Joseph Salter was 37 and was recorded as a Groom Liveryman who had been born in Upham, Hampshire. His wife Mary was 33 and she had been born in Market Lavington, Wiltshire. The children were Mabel (10); Gladys, my grandmother (8); and Albert Reginald [‘Uncle Reg’]. There is also data from the Marriage Certificate for Joseph Salter and Mary Elizabeth Davis. They were married 9 December 1889 at the Parish Church of Martyr Worthy, Hampshire. Both Joseph and Mary Elizabeth were 25 at the time. Joseph was described as a bachelor, working as a groom in Nantwich, Cheshire.

It is touching that he went back to Hampshire to bring back his childhood sweetheart,

Flat-Coated Retriever History

The Flat-Coat arrived out of the desire to create a selectively-bred bird dog. The breed cites in its ancestry the Retriever Proper, a cross-breed emerging from the Large Newfoundland, setter, sheepdog, and spaniel-like water dogs, in addition to various other breeds that have contributed the Flat-Coat’s unique stature and appearance. Retrievers were invaluable to fishermen and were the subjects of trade between Britain and North America, particularly with the cod fishery off Newfoundland during the 19th century, when the term "Labrador" dog came into use and was indiscriminately applied to a number of small dogs in the area.

Eventually, a breed known as the Wavy-Coated (subsequently Flat-Coated) Retriever - not to be confused with today’s Labrador Retriever - came onto the scene in America.

The first British dog show was held in 1859, but classification for Retrievers, comprising both Curly-and Wavy- or Smooth-Coated, was not available until the following year. Accurate records do not appear until 1874, but it is known that from 1864 on, two bitches of a working strain of retrievers belonging to J. Hull, a gamekeeper, figured in the awards of the British shows of that time. It was this stock that produced an important nucleus to the development of the breed, though the greatest credit for integration of these retrievers into a stable type goes to S.E. Shirley, founder of the Kennel Club in 1873.

Subsequently, the breed gained enormously in popularity and numerous important breeders made their contribution to the quality and elegance of the Flat-Coated Retriever as well as to his excellent working abilities. The breed’s most famous patron was H.R. Cooke, who for over 70 years kept the breed in his unparalleled "Riverside" kennel.

Though considerably popular when admitted to the AKC in 1915, the Flat-Coat began to steadily drop in popularity until its levels reached a new low following the World Wars. Thankfully, Stanley O’Neill, one of the greatest authorities on the breed, took it upon himself to revive the breed. Finally, the mid-1960’s showed a new interest in the Flat-Coat and a flourishing on both sides of the Atlantic.

Henry Reginald ‘Jack’ Cooke

Henry Reginald Cooke was born in Altrincham in 1859. He was the son of Henry J.P. Cooke who was a successful member of the Manchester Stock Exchange. Henry Reginald Cooke graduated from Cambridge in 1881 and developed a successful business career. One of his business ventures was the development of the Brine Baths Health Spa at Nantwich, Cheshire. He married Mary Helena Birch, daughter of James Frederick Birch, in 1901.

In later years, Henry Reginald Cooke purchased a beautiful Georgian mansion called Dallicote House at Bridgnorth in Shropshire.

The story goes that Jack Cooke started by fostering the development of hunter and steeple-chase bloodlines and that by 1914, the stable was becoming very well-known. However, the horses were conscripted for WW1 and Jack and my great grandfather Joseph then turned to breeding Flat-Coated Retrievers.


PRIZES WON BY THE RIVERSIDE RETRIEVERS AT VARIOUS SHOWS
349 Challenge Prizes
130 Reserve Challenge Prizes
2,084 First Prizes
513 Second Prizes
228 Third Prizes
296 Special Prizes

ALSO WON:

Crufts Sporting Team Challenge Cup - won outright 9 times
Crufts Challenge Cup for best brace of Gun dogs – won outright 3 times
Kennel Club Challenge Cup for the Best Retriever – won outright 8 times
Birmingham Challenge Cup for Best Retriever – won outright 8 times.

IN FIELD TRIALS THE KENNEL WON:

15 First Prizes
10 Second Prizes
11 Reserve Prizes
21 Certificates of Merit