History of the Cornish Rex

In July 1950, in an old farmhouse on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, the Cornish Rex cat was about to be 'discovered'. A tortoiseshell cat owned by Mrs Ennismore was quietly giving birth to five kittens, one of whom (a red and white) appeared to have a curled coat. Mrs Ennismore had heard reports of curly coated cats being born in Cornwall and as she had bred Rex rabbits herself, she immediately realised that this could be a new feline mutation. She therefore decided to keep the little curly boy and named him Kallibunker.

Kallibunker was to be the first registered Rex cat in Britain and had what the Cat Fancy described as 'foreign type': long slender legs, with the hind legs taller than the front, and a 'medium wedge’ head.

After consultation with the geneticist Mr AC Jude, Kallibunker was mated back to his mother. Of the three kittens born, two had curly coats. A repeat mating produced more rex-coated kittens. Sadly Kallibunker died soon after this, but his son Poldhu was kept as a stud, having been purchased by Mr Stirling-Webb in 1958.

Herein lies a debate over Poldhu, as he is reported to have been a blue-cream and white male, and tortoiseshell male cats are usually sterile. Poldhu was mated to his mother, grandmother and other relatives and a number of rex kittens were born. It has been suggested, therefore, that Poldhu was in fact blue tabby and white. Many of the kittens Poldhu sired appeared to lack stamina and died, but one female, 'Lamorna Cove' (a solid blue) was mated back to Poldhu and then exported to America, along with her red rex-coated half-brother 'Pendennis Castle', where she gave birth to four Rex coated kittens and is believed to have founded the Rex breed in the USA.

Meanwhile, in the UK, because it was believed that Poldhu was tortoiseshell, it was decided to take a small tissue sample from him to discover more about why tortoiseshell males tend to be sterile. Unfortunately the operation rendered Poldhu infertile and worse still, the tissue sample was mislaid.

A cream and white male 'Champagne Chas', from one of Kallibunker's earlier matings, who was still entire, was loaned to Mr Stirling-Webb in order that a planned breeding programme could be carried out to increase and further the breed. Champagne Chas was mated to Burmese and British Shorthair cats; naturally all offspring were straight coated (variants), but these were mated back either to their sire or to each other, with about a quarter of the resulting kittens having curly coats. These rex-coated kittens were outcrossed once more to avoid too close in-breeding. However, the resultant Rex kittens were losing the distinctive 'foreign' look and so 'Riovista Kismet', a blue boy bred by Miss Jeanne Jeffrey of Calgary, was imported from Canada by Mrs Alison Ashford. He was a great-great-great grandson of Kallibunker. With selective mating the Cornish Rex breed was soon back on track.

In 1965 the GCCF approved the Provisional Standard for Rex gene 1 (Cornish) and in 1967 they were granted Championship status and allocated breed number 33. The first cat to be made up to Champion was a blue-cream female, Champion Noend Crinkle (bred by Mrs Aitken and owned by Mrs Bygraves). The first male Champion was Champion Lohteyn Golden Peach (owned and bred by Mrs Heath). In 1975 the first Cornish Rex to become a Grand Champion was Grand Champion Senty-Twix Jasper (bred by Mrs Hardy and owned by Mrs Treanor). In 1976 the 'Supreme' Cat Show was introduced, allowing a new title for the Overall Best in Show Exhibit - SUPREME. To date only one Cornish Rex has achieved this accolade; in 1982 Supreme Grand Premier Cooli Iced Vanilla gained his title (bred by Mr & Mrs Conway, owned by Mrs Brown). Another new title - UK Grand Champion/Premier – was introduced at the Supreme Show in 1988. The first Cornish Rex to achieve a UK Grand title, in 1989, was UK Grand Premier Cupboardluv Pontefrac (owned and bred by Mrs Curtis) and in 1990 Mrs Curtis did it again, winning the title of UK Grand Champion with her Chocolate Tortie girl UK Grand Champion Cupboardluv Fudge.

Today’s Cornish Rex owe a lot to those people back in the 1950's and 1960's, who persevered towards recognition of the breed and to ensure that we have the lovely Cornish Rex cats we know today.

 

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The first known Cornish Rex - owned and bred by
Mrs Ennismore


  Kallibunker



Poldu