A Brief History of the Burmese Cat

 

Most Burmese can trace their ancestry back to one cat - the famous Wong Mau - who was brought from the Orient to the USA by an American sailor.  In 1930, was given to Dr. Joseph G. Thompson of San Francisco, who was so enamoured by her that he, in the company of Virginia Cobb (Newtown Cattery), Billie Gerst (Gerstdale Cattery) and Dr. Clyde E. Keeler, ventured forth to establish the Burmese breed.

Prior to that, there had been a few Burmese in England documented as early as the

1800s when they had been known as "Chocolate Siamese", but interest in them had waned because it had been hard to compete against the striking coat and eye colour of the Siamese.

Wong Mau was described as "a rather small cat, fine-boned, but with a more compact body than that of a Siamese, with shorter tail, rounded, short-muzzled head with greater width between rounded eyes".  Her colour was described as "walnut-brown with darker brown points".  I would have been interested in her eye colour, it looks light in photos of her - but, that could be pale anything - gold, blue or green.

Wong Mau was mated to a Siamese, which was considered the closest breed in confirmation at the time, and produced kittens of three coat colours/patterns - Pointed (Siamese pattern), Mink (Medium brown body with darker points - like Wong Mau herself) and Solid.  The last type were considered the most attractive and breeding was aimed at isolating the genetic make-up of this phenotype.  It was found that these Solids would consistently produce dark brown kittens (i.e. breed true), whereas, kittens of Wong Mau's colouring would continue to produce kittens in all three coat colours/patterns, thus proving that Wong Mau possessed the cscb genes (cb being Burmese, cs being Siamese), and was, in fact, what is termed today as a Tonkinese (then called a "Hybrid" (1)).  Selective breeding and planning produced the Burmese cat and they gained CFA USA breed recognition in 1934.

Prized, honoured and considered quite rare, Burmese occur naturally on the Malay Peninsula.  Here, they were called the "Rajah Cats" and lived in temples with the Head Priest and were loved by the Burmese Kings..  In the 1960s and 1970s, some of these Burmese were imported into the USA, however, most of us are proud to say we can trace our cat's ancestry back to that one little dark cat, Wong Mau.

The next thing of importance that happened in the development of the Burmese came in 1947, when the breeding of Burmese to Siamese (producing "Hybrids" (1)) was becoming so commonplace that the CFA USA ceased registering them.  CFA brought in a rule that there had to be three generations of Burmese in the pedigree for them to be registered.

To England, and it was 1949 when Mrs. Lillian France imported that country's first Burmese.  Two cats - Casa Gatos da Foong and Chindwin's Minou Twm were sent from the USA.  Unfortunately, Minou Twm didn't enjoy good health, losing a litter to an unrelated male in quarantine.  Shortly after, Laos Cheli Wat joined the other two, to help strengthen the breed.  Within the following two years, Mrs. France also imported the famous Casa Gatos Darkee - who went on to sire the first Blue Burmese in England.

After a little while, Mrs. France was forced to give up breeding and all her breeding stock was transferred to Mrs. C. F. Watson.  In 1956, Mrs. Watson imported another male, Darshan Khudiram, and she was also given a Canadian female by a serviceman returning home, Folly Tou Pou.

These cats contributed to the early history of the UK Burmese.

Back to the USA and in 1956, third generation (therefore, considered "pure") Burmese were realised, and in 1957, CFA began registering Burmese once more.  In 1958, with their registration status restored, the "United Burmese Cat Fanciers" was formed, and one of their first acts was to write and adopt a standard.  This original standard included these words, "The head should be pleasingly rounded, without flat planes, whether viewed from the front or from the side.  Face should be full with considerable breadth between the eyes, tapering slightly to a short, well-developed muzzle.  (Body is to be) medium, muscular, compact, with an ample, rounded chest."

Some of the early noteworthy American Burmese were Prince Pogo of Regal who showed excellent type, Ch. Chinki Golden Goddess (the first Burmese to attain Champion status in the UK), and Mizpah's Clancy, who became the first Burmese to earn the title of Best Shorthaired Cat.  Mizpah Cattery had a fine reputation and became the foundation stock for other well-known catteries which included Briarwood and Hill House.

 
In 1957, Mrs. A. Dunn wrote to a group of breeders in Australia, Mr. & Mrs. G. Allen, Mrs. M. Hellsham, Mrs. A. Willington and Mr. E. Watley, offering them a Brown Burmese to start off their program, and not long after, in the August of that year, Tomahawk of Affpuddle, Australia's first Burmese, arrived.   In November of the same year, a queen, soon to be Tomahawk's bride, arrived, her name was Calpyso Pallas Athene.  The cost of these two cats were 200 pounds sterling, which was an incredible sum of money in those days.  The two cats are in the ancestry of a lot of today's Australian Burmese.
Today, there are Burmese all over the world - they have gone on to share their type and ancestry with many man-made breeds, including the Burmilla, Australian Mist, Bombay and Tonkinese and they are recognised in a rainbow of colours - Brown, Blue, Chocolate, Lilac, Red, Cream and Tortie, some places are even studying the possibility of the presence of the Dm gene - Caramel and Apricot.

(c) Keryn J. Rivett; 2001

Sources:

CFA USA - Breed Article: http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/articles/burmese.html

Burmese Cat Society: http://www.burmesecatsociety.org.uk/burmesehistory.html

Meaux Cattery (Rosemary Taffijn): http://www.geocities.com/meauxburmese/index.htm

(1) Nowadays, a Hybrid is considered any crossing of two breeds, in this article and when dealing with the early Burmese, it specifically meant the crossing of Burmese with Siamese.