History of the British Shorthair
The British Shorthair is originally, as the name suggests, from Great Britain. In the 19th century cat lovers bred, as a counterpart to the then popular Persians and Siamese, with the domestic cats. Cat shows were already an activity, but only affordable by the elite. By crossing the most beautiful cats with Angora cats (from what later the Persian breed originated) a beautiful image of the British shorthair was created, with small rounded ears, round paws and a full round tail. This was a cat breed for the ordinary people as well.
A breed standard was formulated, with the description from the appearance of the breed. Originally, only the colours blue, black and white, black, red and silver tabby, turtle, turtle with white and tabby with white, were allowed on cat shows. Breeding and influences of other breeds, started the existence of many other variations. Because many British shorthair cats were crossbred with Persian cats to improve the breed, occasionally a medium hair kitten (a so called ‘fluff’) is born.
In Europe there was a movement of breeders who bred with farmer cats. On the mainland the European Shorthair lovers took over the Breed standard from the English. More and more cats were exported and appeared at shows in diverse countries. In Scandinavia there were other shorthaired cats bred under name European Shorthair. These cats were a different type of cat than the European shorthair on the mainland, because of less crossing with British blood and because there were no Persian cats used.
When the cat hobby started to cross the borders, a naming problem appeared. In the eighties a separation was made, from which three races originated: The British Shorthair, the European Shorthair and the Chartreux. The British Shorthair has become one of the most popular cat breeds.