Buremese breed hisory

Full credit must be given to Dr. Joseph Thompson who bravely decided to pursue his breeding programme with Wong Mau in the 1930s. However, consideration must be given to theories of "Burmese" appearing in England long before the pair imported by Mr. & Mrs. S. France in 1949.

It is generally recognised that the Burmese is a manmade 'American' breed with a distinct Malaysian connection, developed by Dr. Joseph Thompson (and colleagues) in the 30s from the cat known as Wong Mau. Some reports suggest that she was given to him by a renowned collector of wild animals Buck "BRING 'EM BACK ALIVE" Wilson, while others suggest Thompson travelled back from the Far East with her as he had been employed as a ship's doctor.

Wong Mau, the accredited "ancestor" of the modern Burmese breed, arrived on the West Coast of America in 1930. Cats Magazine (January 1948) published an account by a Major Finch who had been stationed in the Far East during World War II, of "Rajah" cats found in the region as 'being a recognised breed' whose characteristics appear to have matched those of Wong Mau. Major Finch returned to the USA with a cat similar to Wong Mau called "Simbuni".

As noted earlier, speculation exists that Burmese have been around for a lot longer than most surmise. Turn of the century periodicals found, not too long ago in England, have chronicled reports by various breed experts of the day and the conclusions drawn cannot be ignored. The opening pages of "Burmese Cats in Camera" as well as the recent (1991 revised) edition of "The Burmese Cat" book, relate some of these theories.

In 1903, Frances Simpson described two variants of Siamese being exhibited in England at the time; the preferred "Royal Cat of Siam", a cream coloured cat showing distinct points with blue eyes was more popular than the 'Chocolate'. The 'Chocolates' were characterised as "subtly shaded" cats, and were identical in all aspects to the Royals except for their coat colour. They were reported to be "a deep brown with hardly any markings". Whereas the "Rajah" type, (coincidentally similar terminology as used by Major Finch) appeared to be an uniform chocolate shade with eyes described as a deep amber colour. (Harrison-Weir in 1889). Overall, there was some confusion, regarding eye colour as descriptions varied from fancier to fancier. When considering the present day 'type' of both breeds, one must remember that the early Siamese bore a far closer resemblance to our "modern" Burmese.

Fables of the origins of the Siamese abound; the Burmese legends exist too and have also been romanticised. As with the Siamese, the Burmese were temple cats. Apparently each cat was assigned a student monk whose duties were 'to cater to, and indulge their every whim'. Further suggestions have been that the Burmese were the 'traditional pets of Royalty and the Nobility' long before the Siamese.

It has also been recorded by people who have lived in Burma and travellers who have visited Malaysia reported that Brown cats were an exception as the common domestic cats seen in the streets and alleys were no different from the many other moggies encountered around the world with variations in head and body shapes but seemingly with a high preponderance of kinks and other tail defects in the indigenous cat population.

But, let's get back to the tale of Wong Mau. In 1930 Wong Mau was the only cat of her 'type' around, so Dr. Thompson with the help of his geneticist colleagues - Virginia C. Cobb, Clyde E. Keeler and Madeleine Dmytryk - planned and mated her to a Seal Point Siamese, Tai. A scientific paper on their work, entitled "Genetics of the Burmese" was published in 1933 in the "Journal of Heredity".

When she was bred, she produced three types of kittens: some with Siamese colouring, sable or brown kittens and kittens similar to herself what Tonkinese fanciers would call "natural mink". The brown kittens were retained and selected as proving to be homozygous Burmese coloured cats to perpetuate the programme, the intermediate and Siamese coloured cats were quickly eliminated. When the brown offspring were mated to each other, they produced only brown kittens which proved the breed to be distinctive with a sound genetic background. (They were subsequently proved correct by further trial matings).