page_title: Florence Nagle
section_title: Dog breeding
hierarchical_section_title: Florence Nagle / Dog breeding
caption_attribution_description: English: Irish wolfhound Sir Michael of Sheppey
context_page_description: Florence Nagle was a trainer and breeder of racehorses, a breeder of pedigree dogs, and an active feminist. Nagle purchased her first Irish Wolfhound in 1913, and went on to own or breed twenty-one United Kingdom Champions. Best in Show at Crufts in 1960 was awarded to Sulhamstead Merman, who was bred, owned and exhibited by Nagle. She also competed successfully in field trials with Irish Setters, from the 1920s until the mid-1960s resulting in eighteen Field Trial Champions. The male dog who was a linchpin in the 1970s revival of the Irish Red and White Setter breed was descended from one of Nagle's Irish Setters.
  Described as "the Mrs. Pankhurst of British horse racing", Nagle trained her first racehorse in 1920, the Irish-bred colt Fernley. At that time women were forced to employ men to hold a Jockey Club trainers licence on their behalf, or to have licences in their husbands' names. Nagle worked peacefully to redress such injustices to her sex. She successfully challenged the well-established leading gentlemen's clubs of the racing and canine worlds over their gender inequality, and in 1966 became one of the first two women in the United Kingdom licensed to train racehorses.
context_section_description: As a child, Nagle had a Pomeranian and a Bulldog, but was promised she could have a larger dog once her schooling was completed. In 1913 her dream came to fruition with the purchase of her first Irish Wolfhound, Manin Michael, for £5. James Nagle subsequently registered the dog with the Kennel Club, before it was transferred to the ownership of Mr and Mrs Nagle, and its name changed to Sir Michael of Sheppey in May 1917. Food shortages during the First World War resulted in an official prohibition on dog breeding, but Nagle ignored it and bred her first litter from a bitch called Lady Alma of Sheppey.
  During her marriage, while residing in Concara, Sulhamstead, near Reading, she began breeding dogs and served as a judge of Irish Wolfhounds and Setters; Great Danes and Deerhounds were other breeds she judged at championship show level. Her dogs were exhibited at shows by her husband, who was also a judge of Wolfhounds, and they were entered in his name until the couple divorced.
  A bitch puppy, the runt of the litter, was purchased for £48 in 1923 and she became Nagle's first dog to gain the title of Champion. Named Sulhamstead Thelma, she was declared the best Irish Wolfhound bitch and awarded the Challenge Certificate at three consecutive Crufts, in 1925, 1926 and 1927. Her next Champion was Sulhamstead Conncara, a male dog, born in 1925. Conncara was blind, possibly owing to an accident as a young puppy, but Nagle kept that secret until three years after his death, believing that his qualities would have been overlooked by other breeders if they had known. According to Nagle's biographer, Ferelith Somerfield, this dog was "one of the great sires of all time in the breed" and an "outstanding show dog". A prepotent sire, he produced several Champions and other top-class show specimens.
  Nagle owned or bred forty-five Wolfhounds who were awarded Challenge Certificates, twenty-one of them Champions. She believed dogs should be capable of carrying out the work the breed was developed to do, and she promoted coursing.
  Irish Wolfhounds bred by Nagle were also successful in America; she began exporting dogs there in 1933. Best of breed awards at the Irish Wolfhound Club of America speciality shows were secured by Champion Sulhamstead Matador of Killybracken in 1960 and by Sulhamstead Mars of Riverlawn in 1963. She also judged the national speciality there twice and judged Irish Setters and Irish Wolfhounds at Westminster in 1937. Other countries she exported Wolfhounds to included Sweden, Italy and Uruguay. As late as 1960, Sulhamstead Merman, a 150-pound Irish Wolfhound bred, owned and shown by Nagle at "London's big dog show", Crufts, won the Hound Group and went on to be declared Best in Show or "supreme champion"; the judges were H. S. Lloyd and Fred Cross. She judged the breed twice at Crufts: in 1961, the only time in a nine-year period her dogs were not best of breed there; and in 1970.
  Nagle acquired her first Irish Setter, whom she named Sulhamstead D'Or, in 1924 to keep a wolfhound puppy company. In April 1930 she entered him into the All-Aged Stakes at the Kennel Club field trials. In August 1932 she entered a dog named Sulhamstead Token D'Or into the Scottish Field Trials in the same category. At the Kennel Club field trials of April 1933, Nagle entered Sulhamstead Bob D'Or into the All-Aged Stakes and the judge awarded her the prize presented by the Irish Setter Association of England. In September 1934, she entered her Irish Setter Sulhamstead Snip D'Or into the Novice Stake of the Devon and Cornwall Pointer and Setter Society's 12th working trials at Pynes, near Exeter.
  In July 1935 Nagle entered the field trials of the Irish Setter Association near Ruabon in North Wales, competing in the Open Stake for Irish Setters and the Puppy Stake for Irish Setters, for puppies which were born the previous year. At the 35th International Gun Dog League trials held at Douglas Castle in August 1935, she was awarded a diploma in the Champion Stakes for Pointers and Setters. The following month, Nagle took the silver perpetual c
caption: Sir Michael of Sheppey, Nagle's first Irish Wolfhound, painting by Aldin
exif: {}