History of the Chartreux Since 1928

Jessie Strike-McClelland, Historian, Chartreux Breed, USA

The Federation Feline Francaise (FFF) was founded in Paris, France, in 1928. The Chartreux was listed and a standard written; registration began then and continues to the present.

Prior to and after World War II there was considerable breeding between the Chartreux, European cats (in other words, Feral cats), British Shorthair (blue, blue-cream, and cream), Russian blue, and Persian (blue.)

In 1967, at the Annual meeting, a commission consisting of FFF, Fife, and GCCF Judges changed the standard of the British Shorthair and the Chartreux, without consulting the breeders, so that both breeds were judged under a new standard. However, in 1972 FFF outlawed all cross breeds, although this ruling was not strictly enforced until the FFF show in Paris in 1978. In 1977 Fife, after discussion with the breeders of Chartreux, made a ruling that thereafter all cats of mixed lineage be registered with the letters RIEX attached to indicate that the cat was the result of an experimental breeding.

The Chartreux by 1970 were reduced to cats with one or more of the above breeds in their pedigrees, so that the cats from the de Guerveur Cattery (Leger sisters), de Saint Pierre cattery (Mme. S. Bastide), and the Cat Club of Paris stock all had, at some point, one or the other of the above breeds behind them.

What do we know of the de Guerveur Cattery? The following information is provided to us in an article in the magazine "Life in the Country" dated April 15, 1935, in which the sisters tell of their beginnings into the breeding of the Chartreux:

"Starting our first year at Bell-Ile-sur-Mere we were astonished by the number and beauty of some blue cats with short fur, that were called, at le Palais (the main city of Belle-Ile), the cats of the hospital. In the country, we also found these cats and strange thing they were all of the same type, despite breeding with the European (Feral) cats of the land, they had kept their characteristics. We acquired several of those cats, and from the first generation we obtained remarkable results. From the very first breeding of a blue male cat and a blue female cat, we had a litter of kittens all blue and perfectly typed. It seemed to us, then, that there must have been through many years and through breedings, the re-constitution of a race, with all the essential characteristics. From the first female cat acquired at le Palais, "Marquise", bred under our supervision to a blue male cat of the hospital, "Conquito", was born to us "Mignonne", who later became an International Champion.

In the beginning of the Leger sisters' breeding, they used only those cats roaming free on the island, but as time passed it was necessary to use cats from other sources. They acquired a male cat, "Calou de Trevise" (a cat with deep copper eyes), from M. Marolle, followed by "Titus de Saint Pierre" (breeder: Mme. Bastide), and a third cat from the cattery de Bertouget (Mme. Decorps); these three were the first cats not of their breeding which were incorporated. Others were added later.

Regarding the cats of M. Bastide, John Gamon, husband of Helen Gamon, who imported the first Chartreux to America in 1970, writes "We drove alongside the River Dorw, meeting a farmer with a scythe on his back who pointed out a farm-like house, well off the road, as the home of M. Bastide. Upon arrival at the farm, I went with Louis Bastide (husband or son?) to see the Chartreux, which were housed in a screen enclosure alongside the barn; the enclosure had access through punched holes in the wall to a similar screened enclosure inside. Louis went into the barn and emerged with a ten-day old male kitten with eyes just about to open."

It must be noted that the de Guerveur cats and the Saint Pierre cats were bred under rather harsh conditions and were outside cats, no doubt the animals being very hardy as a result of this. There is no record of how M. Decorps, de Bertouget Cattery, raised her Charterux, or the name of the male Chartreux from that Cattery which became part of the de Guerveur stud force.

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