Looty (dog)

Last updated

Looty
Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl - Looty (1861).jpg
A painting of Looty by Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl (1861) [1]
Other name(s)Lootie
Breed Pekingese
Sexfemale
Born(Before 1860)
China
Died(1872-03-02)2 March 1872
England
Known for Queen Victoria's Royal Collection of Dogs
Owner Queen Victoria
Residence Windsor Castle

Looty or Lootie was a female Pekingese dog acquired by Captain John Hart Dunne during the looting of the Old Summer Palace (near Beijing) in October of 1860. He presented her to Queen Victoria for the Royal Collection of Dogs, who named her Looty or Lootie in reference to how she was acquired. Looty may have been the first Pekingese dog to arrive in England.

Contents

Acquisition

During the Second Opium War in October 1860, British and French forces looted the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) near Peking (modern Beijing). British Captain John Hart Dunne came across a small Pekingese dog. He later recorded the event in his diary:

"I have been able to retain a good many trifles that I bought there [The French camp], also a pretty little dog, smaller than any King Charles, a real Chinese sleeve dog. It has silver bells round its neck. People say [he added], it is the most perfect little beauty they have ever seen." [2]

Dunne brought it back to England by sea, letting it sleep in his forage cap. [2] It is said to have been the first Pekingese to survive the voyage and arrive in Britain, however this is disputed. [3] [2] [4]

Life in England

Dunne presented the dog to Queen Victoria in 1861, writing that:

This little dog was found by me in the Palace of Yuan-Ming-Yuan near Pekin on 6 October 1860. It is supposed to have belonged to either the Empress or one of the ladies of the Imperial Family. It is a most affectionate and intelligent little creature – it has always been accustomed to be treated as a pet and it was with the hope that it might be looked upon as such by Her Majesty and the Royal Family that I have brought it from China. [5]

Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept the dog. She named it Looty or Lootie in reference to how it was acquired. [2]

Looty was "considered by every one who has seen it the smallest and by far the most beautiful little animal that has appeared in this country." [6]

Her integration into the Royal household was not without problems. Dunne had given instruction that she was a fastidious and delicate eater, and would accept only rice and chicken. These were commonplace in China and the Royal Court there. However the British instead offered her their standard dog food, primarily beef and offal. These were ingredients that the Chinese court would have regarded with horror and she would not have recognised as food. [2]

Following Keyl's painting of her portrait, Looty was taken to the main kennels at Windsor Castle and lived there for the rest of its life. [3] [5] There, she became more of a curiosity than the pet which Dunne had hoped for. The Queen herself took little account of her gift, having other more favoured dogs which she kept with her. [7]

In 1912, Harper's Weekly described the dog:

... He[ sic ] was a very lonely little creature, the other dogs taking exception to his Oriental habits and appearance, and when the Prince and Princess of Wales returned from a Continental trip the latter pleaded with her mother-in-law to be allowed to take Looty to Sandringham. [8]

Looty died at Windsor Castle on 2 March 1872. [5] Unlike many of the queen's dogs, her grave is unmarked. [9]

Depictions

Queen Victoria commissioned a painting of the dog by Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl in 1861, a copy of which was given to Captain Dunne. [3] William Bambridge captured a few photographs of the dog in 1865, including one of Looty asleep on an ornate chair, which remains in the Royal Collection Trust. [10] Another showed Looty lying on a footstool. [11]

Historic significance

Modern critics have described Looty the dog as symbolic of British imperialism. At the time, naming it "Looty" was seen as appropriate to its status. [6] The flippancy in choosing this name is symptomatic of how normalized and socially acceptable the looting of foreign nations was still considered at the time. [12] [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convention of Peking</span> 1860 unequal treaty between Qing China and Britain, France, and Russia

The Convention of Peking or First Convention of Peking is an agreement comprising three distinct unequal treaties concluded between the Qing dynasty of China and Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire in 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welsh Corgi</span> Dog breed

The Welsh Corgi is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name corgi is derived from the Welsh words cor and ci, meaning "dwarf" and "dog", respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shih Tzu</span> Dog breed

The Shih Tzu is a toy dog as designated in the USA or Utility breed as designated by the British kennel club. They are a pet dog breed breed originating from Tibet. Originally the breed was frequently interbred with Tibetan Spaniels which explains why in the 1930s there might be Spaniels thrown in a litter and even up to the 1970s.Due to the dog regulations following the Chinese Revolution and other factors only a very small number of Shih Tzus founded the modern breed. Due to this small number in the 1950s the British Kennel Club gave permission for a Pekinese to be used to increase the gene pool(once).It is worth noting that the USA and British types are very distinctly different as are the "Karashishi" a minature form which is a modern introduction and unfortunately appears not to be as healthy as the traditional Shih Tzu( pronounced "Sheed zoo".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence House</span> Royal residence in London

Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the royal Duke of Clarence, the future King William IV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frogmore</span> Royal estate in Berkshire, England

Frogmore is an estate within the Home Park, adjoining Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. It comprises 33 acres (130,000 m2), of primarily private gardens managed by the Crown Estate. It is the location of Frogmore House, a royal retreat, and Frogmore Cottage. The name derives from the preponderance of frogs which have always lived in this low-lying and marshy area near the River Thames. This area is part of the local flood plain. Its large landscaped gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pekingese</span> Dog breed

The Pekingese is a breed of toy dog, originating in China. The breed was favored by royalty of the Chinese Imperial court as a companion dog, and its name refers to the city of Beijing (Peking) where the Forbidden City is located. The breed has several characteristics and health issues related to its unique appearance. Because of its desirable characteristics, the Pekingese has been part of the development of designer crossbreeds, such as the Peekapoo and Peke-a-tese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lap dog</span> Dog small enough lie on a persons lap

A lap dog or lapdog is a dog that is both small enough to be held in the arms or lie comfortably on a person's lap and temperamentally predisposed to doing so. Lapdog is not a specific breed, but a generic term for a type of dog that is small in size and friendly towards humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tibetan spaniel</span> Dog breed

The Tibetan Spaniel is a breed of assertive, small dogs originating in Tibet. This breed is not a spaniel in the original meaning of the term; its breeding differs from other spaniels, and unlike true spaniels, which are gun dogs, the Tibetan spaniel is a companion dog. The spaniel name may have been given due to its resemblance to the bred-down lapdog versions of the hunting spaniels, such as the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Charles Spaniel</span> Dog breed

The King Charles Spaniel is a small dog breed of the spaniel type. In 1903, the Kennel Club combined four separate toy spaniel breeds under this single title. The other varieties merged into this breed were the Blenheim, Ruby and Prince Charles Spaniels, each of which contributed one of the four colours available in the breed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pug</span> Dog breed

The Pug is a breed of dog with the physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. An ancient breed, with roots dating back to 400 B.C., they have a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, most often fawn or black, and a compact, square body with well developed and thick muscles all over the body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dash (spaniel)</span> King Charles Spaniel owned by Queen Victoria

Dash (1830–1840) was a King Charles Spaniel owned by Queen Victoria. Victoria's biographer Elizabeth Longford, called him "the Queen's closest childhood companion", and in the words of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, he "was the first in a long line of beloved little dogs".

Ch. Midkiff Seductive, a Cocker Spaniel, was the Best in Show at the 1921 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the first occasion it was awarded to a member of that breed. The judging in the Best in Show round had a split decision by the two judges, and required the referee to make a deciding vote.

Susan was a Pembroke Corgi dog owned by Queen Elizabeth II that was given to her on her eighteenth birthday. Following the dog's death in 1959, the Queen personally designed a headstone for her grave at Sandringham House. Susan was the first of a long line of Corgis and Dorgis owned by the Queen, all of them descended from Susan. The dogs often accompanied the Queen in her public appearances, and thus came to feature prominently in her public image.

Animals aboard the <i>Titanic</i>

There were many animals aboard the Titanic during her disastrous maiden voyage, which ended with the ship sinking on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal corgis</span> Corgi dogs belonging to Queen Elizabeth II

The royal corgis are the Pembroke Welsh Corgi dogs formerly owned by Queen Elizabeth II and her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Fond of corgis since she was a small child, Elizabeth II owned more than 30 corgis from her accession in 1952 until her death in 2022. She owned at least one corgi throughout the years 1933 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Victoria's pets</span> Domestic creatures kept by the British monarch

Queen Victoria and her close family kept numerous pet animals, including:

Dookie or Rozavel Golden Eagle was a Pembroke Welsh Corgi bought in 1933 by King George VI and was the first of many Welsh Corgis to join the Royal Family. The dog was especially popular with Queen Elizabeth II, who from then on owned over thirty corgis in her lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hart Dunne</span> British soldier of Irish descent

John Hart Dunne K.C.B. (1835–1924) was a British soldier of Irish descent, who served in several major campaigns of the nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances C. Fairman</span> English painter (1839–1923)

Frances Caroline Fairman was a British watercolourist, a painter in oils, and an illustrator. In her lifetime she was best known for her canine portraits, some of which were commissioned by royalty and aristocracy. She was known as "the Lady Landseer" for the quality of her work. She travelled to the Americas, France, and Switzerland, returning with watercolour landscape sketches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Kiosk, Frogmore</span>

The Indian Kiosk is located at Frogmore, in the Home Park of Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. The kiosk comes from India and was originally designed for the Qaisar Bagh, a palace complex in the city of Lucknow. The palace was looted by British soldiers following the suppression of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the kiosk was brought to England by Charles Canning, Governor-General of India, and presented to Queen Victoria. The Queen sited it in her private gardens at Frogmore, near the mausoleum to her mother. It is a Grade II listed structure.

References

Notes

Citations

  1. ↑ "Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl (1823-71): Looty". www.rct.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Godden (1977)
  3. 1 2 3 Entract (1972)
  4. ↑ Feller, David Allan. "Imperial Legacy". American Kennel Club Gazette. October 2008. pp. 30-31.
  5. 1 2 3 Matthews, David (2002)
  6. 1 2 The Illustrated London News , 15 June 1861. (Also quoted in Entract (1972)).
  7. ↑ Godden (1977) pp.96-7.
  8. ↑ "Famous Dog-Mother; The Story of "Looty," Which Was Brought from China In 1861". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022. (subscribers only)
  9. ↑ Godden (1977) p.174
  10. ↑ "William Bambridge (1820-79): Looty the Pekingese. RCIN 2105644". www.rct.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "Dogs – Bambridge, William (1819-1879). The Queen's Dogs. London: John Sanford [c.1865-7]". www.christies.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  12. ↑ Cheang, Sarah (April 2006). "Women, Pets, and Imperialism: The British Pekingese Dog and Nostalgia for Old China". Journal of British Studies. 45 (2): 359–387. doi:10.1086/499792. ISSN   1545-6986. S2CID   162595836.
  13. ↑ "This dog is cute, but it's linked to a brutal act of humiliation and revenge". ABC News. 10 January 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2022.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.