Devon are Heaven
In the Beginning...
By Shally Carlson / Kotickee Cattery
(Originally printed in CatBytes, September 1991, Reprinted by permission of author)
In the Beginning...
By 1960, ten years had passed since what was to become today's Cornish Rex had first been seen, and the "Poodle Cat" had become a popular oddity in England. Many interested breeders and researchers had worked hard developing early lines and the people of England were familiar with the novel curly coats of these cats.
About this time, a Miss Cox living in Buckfastleigh, Devon, became aware of a feral curly tom living in a deserted tin mine near her home. She was, therefore, not really surprised to find a curly kitten in a litter born to a stray tortie-and-white female. She felt that he was quite beautiful, with lots of curls and even ringlets on his tail. She decided to keep him and name him Kirlee. Miss Cox contacted Mr. Sterling-Webb, one of the breeders who was working to establish the rex as a breed, feeling that they might be in need of an outcross. Mr. Sterling-Webb and the other rex breeders were indeed very excited to hear the news. They persuaded Miss Cox to send them Kirlee to use with their rex program. Kirlee mated with several rex queens and all awaited the upcoming kittens. As Mother Nature frequently has a habit of having the last laugh, curly kittens were not to be had! All the resulting kittens were normal coated! After repeated breedings with other rex queens, it became apparent that Kirlee was of a different genotype from the previous rex cats.
One of the resulting normal coated kittens was a female named Broughton Golden Rain, bred by Mrs. P. Hughes. She was later returned to her father, Kirlee, for breeding and produced three kittens, two normal coated and one a curly blue-cream female, becoming the first curly coated cat from Kirlee. At a later date, Golden Rain was mated to one of the original [Cornish] rex males, producing four kittens, two normal coated and two curly. Golden Rain became the first hybrid known to carry both rex genes.
It became obvious that it would be necessary to distinguish between the two rex genes. The descendants of the original rex were called Gene 1 and became recognized as Cornish, and the new rex gene was called Gene II and became the Devon. It was known that throughout history gene mutations have occurred that have produced curly coats on various species of animals. These mutations for curly coat are known to have occurred in the cat in the past and will no doubt continue to occur in the future. The German Rex was identified as being the same as the Cornish, for example. The Oregon rex here in this country was identified as being different from either of the two established genes.
Further research and examination determined that there were some phenotypic differences between the rexes, as well as the genetic. There are three basic types of hairs that comprise the coat: guard, awn and down.
The Cornish has no guard and the awn is very hard to distinguish from the down. In addition, the wave is of a natural orderly pattern.
The Devon, on the other hand, contain all three types. The guard and the awn are changed to resemble down. The presence of the guard, though distorted and short, accounts for the more open appearance of the Devon coat as well as the generally larger and looser curl. The whiskers, too, are curly and being brittle, they often break.
By 1967, Great Britain's Governing Council of the Cat Fancy recognized the distinction of the two breeds. Standards were written for the Devon based upon Kirlee's type which was quite different from the more "foreign" type of the Cornish. Kirlee and his descendants had a shorter and broader head with ears that sat lower and to the side of the head. They were also more heavily built than their forerunners, the Cornish.
The early Devon breeders were hampered by what appeared to be a hairless gene among the Devon. Some had bare patches on their neck and underside, and some had no coat at all.
This did not seem to reduce their growing popularity in England. In fact, many Devon owners knitted woolen jackets for them and it is reported that they came willingly to have their "woollies" put on and to snuggle in before going out in the chilly winter air.
Breeders took steps to correct the lack of hair, and cats with evidence of hair lack were not bred. Over time, Devon were being seen with better coats and shortly after recognition by GCCF, Amharic Curly Katie bred by Mrs. Knight became the first Devon Champion.
The popularity of the Devon grew and many of the early breeders became dedicated to their cause. Not only did the unique appearance of these cats cause attraction of many but their endearing personality was the final ingredient for dedicated captivity with the new breed.
Alison Ashford, an early pioneer, tells how she acquired her first Devon.

"I visited Mrs. Sedgefield of Esher one day in 1962, and saw Du-Bu-Debbie, a young tortoiseshell, with her litter of Rex and 'plain' kittens. One kitten jumped into my arms from the floor, and literally refused to be put down. I tried to turn away, but loud purring and a wagging tail were prelude to another amorous leap.

This was Broughm, then six months old. I could not then really afford the price of a Rex kitten, but I could not leave him. So I rashly wrote a cheque on my housekeeping account and phoned home to warn my husband to have a bed ready for the new acquisition.

I was given a somewhat cold reception when I arrived home, but Broughm's charm soon convinced the family that it would be worth eating bread and cheese for the next month" (Ashford & Pond, p. 18)
Alison Ashford and those like her have contributed tremendously to the breed as we know it here in this country [USA] today.
The first Devon Rex were brought to this country by people who had seen them while in England. In fact the first Devon imported into the United States was by Marion White of Austin, Texas in 1968, and had been bred by Mrs. Ashford.
One of my first Devon, Anglo-Tex Trinket of Kotickee, bred by M.B. and A.J. White was a son of this first import, Annelida Sunset Gleam, who was only five generations away from Kirlee himself. Many of us can still find the cattery names of some of those early English pioneers in our pedigrees today:

  • Mr. Sterling-Webb - Briarry

  • (Editors note: Mr. Sterling-Webb was the major founder of the Himalayan or the Longhair Colourpoint)

  • Mrs. A. Ashford - Annelida

  • Mrs. B. Lyon - Berrileon

  • Mrs. Knight - Amharic

  • Mrs. Shrouder - Hassan

  • Mrs. Sedgefield - Du-Bu
Since the late sixties, we have seen more and more Devon from England, as well as several European countries, Australia, and New Zealand.
This wide geographic source is somewhat misleading because most all of these cats can trace their lines back to the original English stock rather quickly.
Even though CFA did not distinguish the Devon as a separate breed eligible for championship competition until 1979, breeders in the United States have made great strides in our own breeding programs in the past twenty years since they were introduced here.
The 1989-90 show season, saw the first Devon Rex to make a Top 25 National Win.
GRC Kotickee's Rassy Sassoul was Twenty-Third Best Cat in the country that year, ten years after Devon Rex were first accepted for Championship. The 1990's can see our homebred Devon competing internationally.
Many breeders here in the States have sent Devon to countries overseas where they hope to improve the existing Devon breed there. The Devon are no longer coming -- they are here!
References:

Ashford, Grace Pond. Rex, Abyssinian and Turkish Cats.
London: Gifford, 1972.

Lauder. The Rex Cat.
London: David & Charles, 1974.