page_title: Staffordshire dog figurine
section_title: Common names
hierarchical_section_title: Staffordshire dog figurine / Common names
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Princess Victoria of Kent (later Queen Victoria, Empress of India) with her spaniel Dash. Victoria noted the sittings for the original portrait, between 29 January and 22 March 1833, in her diary. The original was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1833, and reproduced as a mezzotint and oil copies.
context_page_description: Staffordshire dog figurines are matching pairs of pottery spaniel dogs, standing guard, which were habitually placed on mantelpieces in 19th-century homes. Mainly manufactured in Staffordshire pottery, these earthenware figures were also made in other English counties and in Scotland. They are also known as hearth spaniels or fireplace dogs as they were positioned on top of the mantelpiece.
  Many other breeds were produced, particularly the greyhound, though the spaniels were especially popular and this is attributed to royalty favouring the King Charles Spaniel breed. In Scotland, they were colloquially termed 'Wally dugs.' and were manufactured in bulk at potteries in places such as Pollokshaws in Glasgow and Portobello near Edinburgh.
  Though the most popular, the dogs were only one of many types of Staffordshire figures; other animals and human figures of various kinds were also popular.
context_section_description: "Wally dugs" have been mentioned in Scottish poetry, including "The Queen of Sheba" by Kathleen Jamie and in a poem describing life in a Glasgow tenement.
  There is a popular Scottish poem by an unknown author dedicated to "The Wally Dug". It reads:
  I aye mind o' that wee hoose that stood on the brae,
  
  Its lum was aye reekin', its roof made o' stray.
  
  The outside was bonny, the inside was snug,
  
  But whit I mind best o' was the wee wally dug.
  
  It stood in a corner, high up on the shelf,
  
  And keepit an ee on the best o' the delf.
  
  It was washed twice a year, frae its tail tae its lug,
  
  And pit back on the shelf, was the wee wally dug.
  
  When oor John got mairrit tae sweet Jeannie Blue,
  
  The auld folks they gied him a horse an' a coo,
  
  But when I left the hoose, ma hert gied a tug,
  
  For a' mither gied me was the wee wally dug.
  
  There's an auld saying, 'Ne'er look a gift horse in the moo',
  
  But I looked that wee dug frae its tail tae its broo'
  
  An' a fun' a wee slit at the back o' its lug,
  
  It was stuffed fu' o' notes, was the wee wally dug.
  
  I tain it hame tae oor Lizzle tae pit on a shelf,
  
  An' I telt her the worth o' that wee bit o' delf.
  
  An' we aye feed it yet through that hole in its lug,
  
  It's a guid bit o' stuff, is the wee wally dug.
  The figures are also referred to as “comforters”; this is reputed to be because they could be bought outside of premises selling alcohol by husbands hoping to gain “comfort rather than conflict” from their wives.
  Staffordshire dogs were described by writer Teleri Lloyd-Jones as "ornamental clichés" and depictions of the dogs have been incorporated in designs on bags and cushions.
  Enid Marx’s still life painting "Still life with Staffordshire Dog and tulips" was motivated by her white Staffordshire Wally Dug. Various examples of Staffordshire dog figurines were included in the Marx-Lambert collection, which was put on display at Compton Verney House in 2004.
caption: Victoria with her spaniel Dash, 1833, painting by George Hayter
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