# Nipper

Nipper (1884 – September 1895) was a British dog. He is best known as the subject of the 1898 painting His Master's Voice, painted posthumously by his owner Francis Barraud, that went on to become a famous entertainment symbol.

## Background

Nipper was born in 1884 in Bristol, England, and died in September 1895. He was likely a mixed-breed dog, although most early sources suggest that he was a Smooth Fox Terrier, or perhaps a Jack Russell Terrier, or possibly "part Bull Terrier". He was named Nipper because he would often "nip" at the backs of visitors' legs.
Nipper originally lived with his owner, Mark Henry Barraud, in the Prince's Theatre where Barraud was a scenery designer. When Barraud died in 1887, his brothers Philip and Francis took care of the dog, then Francis took Nipper to Liverpool, and later to Mark's widow in Kingston upon Thames, London. Nipper died of natural causes in 1895 and was buried in Kingston upon Thames at Clarence Street, in a small park surrounded by magnolia trees.

## His Master's Voice

In 1898, three years after Nipper's death, Francis Barraud, the brother of Nipper's original owner, painted a picture of the dog listening intently to an Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph. Thinking the Edison-Bell Company located in New Jersey, United States, might be interested in the painting, he offered it to James E. Hough, Edison-Bell's British representative, who promptly replied, "Dogs don't listen to phonographs".
On 31 May 1899, Barraud visited the Maiden Lane offices of The Gramophone Company to inquire about borrowing a brass horn to replace the original black horn in order to brighten up the painting. When Gramophone Company founder and manager William Barry Owen was shown the painting, he suggested that if the artist painted out the cylinder machine and replaced it with a Berliner disc gramophone, he would buy the painting. Barraud obliged. The slogan "His Master's Voice", along with the painting, was sold to The Gramophone Company for £100 (equivalent to £13,667 in 2023) – half for the copyright and half for the physical painting itself. The original oil painting hung in The Gramophone Company's headquarters, and then in EMI's boardroom in Hayes, Middlesex for many years. It appears that after the image was copyrighted, two employees of the Gramophone Company, William Sinkler Darby and Theodore Bernard Birnbaum, recorded a Mutoscope in 1900 entitled 'Nipper runs amok!'. A similar looking dog was used to act as Nipper.
The Gramophone Company used Nipper's likeness on its sound equipment, and created the His Master's Voice record label in 1909, as well as the HMV retailer in 1921. The Gramophone Company's American affiliate the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor), registered the trademark for use in the United States on 10 July 1900, with it entering into use in 1901, and used the dog and Gramophone on its products and advertising. The symbol also became popular in Japan, and remains used by JVC.
   "It is difficult to say how the idea came to me beyond the fact that it suddenly occurred to me that to have my dog listening to the phonograph, with an intelligent and rather puzzled expression, and call it 'His Master's Voice' would make an excellent subject. We had a phonograph and I often noticed how puzzled he was to make out where the voice came from. It certainly was the happiest thought I ever had."
   —Francis Barraud

## Legacy

As time progressed, Nipper's resting place was built upon, and the Kingston upon Thames branch of Lloyds Bank now occupies the site. To commemorate Nipper's 100th birthday, Mr. D.F. Johnson, the then-chairman of the HMV retailer, placed a commemorative plaque to the rear of the bank on the 15th of August 1984, understood to be near to the resting place. An additional plaque was placed on the wall inside the entrance to the bank, referencing the one outside.
Nipper's likeness has been reproduced into pocket watches, salt and pepper shakers, paperweights, cigar lighters, stuffed toys, coin banks, coffee mugs, T-shirts, neckties and clocks. These advertising items have long been popular collectables.
A depiction of Nipper appeared in RCA television advertisements, and later versions with his "son", a puppy named Chipper who was added to the RCA family in 1991. Real dogs played the roles of Nipper and Chipper, but Chipper had to be replaced much more frequently, since his character is a puppy.
A Baltimore street leading to a development of town-houses is named Nipper Way, where a statue of Nipper resided for a brief time before being relocated.
On 10 March 2010, a small road near to the dog's final resting place in Kingston upon Thames was officially named Nipper Alley.
Statues
A four-ton Nipper can be seen on the roof of the former RCA distribution building now owned by Arnoff Moving & Storage. The site is located at 991 Broadway in Albany, New York.
A statue of Nipper was purchased by Jim Wells from RCA in Baltimore for $1, where it originally graced the former RCA Building on Russell Street. After spending many years on private property in Nipper Park in Merrifield, Virginia, perched over Lee Highway (U.S. Route 29), it has now been returned to Baltimore, Maryland. Nipper now sits atop the Maryland Historical Society building at Park Avenue and West Centre Street in Baltimore, and the statue now includes a gramophone.
A small statue of Nipper in the United Kingdom can be seen perched above a doorway in the Merchant Venturers Building on the corner of Park Row and Woodland Road in Bristol; this building, part of the University of Bristol, stands near the site of the old Prince's Theatre.
In Orlando, Florida, at Walt Disney World, a replication of Nipper with a gramophone appeared inside of a spaceship on the Space Mountain rollercoaster, and remained until the sponsorship from RCA to Walt Disney ended, upon which he was made into a robot dog and moved elsewhere within the queue.
Various reproductions of Nipper can be found in the permanent exhibition of the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner in Montreal, Quebec, a museum dedicated to the work of Emile Berliner and his companies that Nipper was the face of.
In 1984, a life-sized ornament of Nipper appears in the music video of Cyndi Lauper's song "Time After Time".
In May 2017, the City of Albany held a contest for various groups or artists to submit designs for creative, painted Nipper statues which were placed throughout the city. Ten of the contestants were chosen to create ten Nipper statues – which were displayed for one year and then auctioned off for charity.