(Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange)
 Chaman Afghan Hounds UK Page 10 (By Steve Tillotson October 2013)
Ed Notes - This is quite an interesting page because we start off with a Chaman hound from Scotland, we mention a small Scottish kennel that I doubt many have heard of then we switch briefly to an Afghan hound owner who was already an established Irish Wolfhound breeder, who lived in Kenya, Africa for several years and then moved back to England. That owner partnered with a Colonel from a famous family who specified the eastern boundaries of Afghanistan in 1893, effectively putting large chunks of Afghanistan into the new nation of Pakistan, then we return back to Scotland and Molly and her Chamans. 1. 1937 Photo Moti Of Chaman I found the photograph above in a Scottish newspaper archive but didn't recognize the name of the owner - Mrs Harris. After some further research I tracked the name down and it would appear that Mrs Margaret Harris, of Edinburgh, Scotland, owned the Cromalt kennels. I had not previously heard of the Cromalt kennels so that opened up a new line of research for me and led to some interesting connections. 2. Cromalt Afghan Hounds I suspect the kennel name "Cromalt" is largely unknown to readers. The probable reason is that Mrs Harris is not mentioned in any of the breed books, did not breed any UK Champions. However, "impact" on the breed, in my humble opinion, is not confined to people or kennels that produced champions or big winners. There are many small kennels in our breeds history that made a significant contribution but do not appear in the record books. Their ownership, breeding activities and their exhibiting of a "new breed" (as it then was) helped to give the Afghan hound visibility and attract interest, and likely encouraged others to own the breed and become involved. In the case of Cromalt, the kennel was active in Scotland in the pioneering era of the early 1930's, alongside the more famous Garrymhor's (Dundee) and Chaman's (Dumfries). In fact Mrs Harris was actively involved with both Col and Mrs T S Couper (Garrymhor) and Molly Sharpe (Chaman). It appears that Mrs Harris started out with a Chaman bitch purchased from Molly Sharpe - Moti of Chaman, born 24/4/1936, pedigree shown below.
3. Moti Of Chaman photo (we think) I don't yet know the name of the Afghan hound in the photograph at the top of the page. My reaction when I first saw it was that it was more of a Bell-Murray type than a Ghazni type. The photograph was taken in May 1937. Mrs Harris's foundation Afghan hound was Moti Of Chaman, born April 1936. The sire of Moti was the last pure-bred Bell Murray Afghan hound - Kulli Khan Of Kuranda. So I am going to suggest that the above photo is in fact Moti Of Chaman. That is not a statement of fact, rather a suggestion about the "probability". We will of course research further and try and validate our hypothosis. We know from Molly Sharpe's own writing that her first impression of the Bell Murrays was one of disappointment. Later however, she changed her mind and incorporated Bell Murray lineage into her breeding program. The photograph above of the assumed to be Moti of Chaman, has a good length of back, as indeed did the early Chamans, but Moti is lacking that "upstanding" presence that the Chamans are world famous for. So, perhaps (another hypothisis), Moti was a bit too-much Bell Murray for Molly's liking and hence she sold Moti on to Margaret Harris? 4. Bell Murray and Chaman The next hound that Mrs Harris procured was a bitch "Hamaysha" (Garrymhor Yenghiz Khan x Zinanna Of Ghanistan) whelped 17/07/1937 from a litter of 9 bred by Dr R F Courtin (UK). Hamayasha was first owned by Mrs T S Couper (Garrymhor), We note that Zinanna Of Ghanistan was sired by Kulli Khan Of Kuranda (pure Bell Murray) and Zinanna's mother was Natasha Of Kuranda (50/50 Ghazni/Bell Murray). So maybe Mrs Harris liked the Bell Murrays and that was why she acquired Moti Of Chaman, rather than Molly disposing of Moti to Mrs Harris? 5. Mrs Harris's "Hamaysha" came from a famous litter This 17/07/1937 litter bred by Dr R F Courtin (another small, but significant kennel) is worthy of more discussion. Littermates included - Hamara Of Pommel Rock and Suleiman Of Pommel Rock, both of which were exported to the USA and became important hounds in the development of the breed there. The next thing I observed was another littermate "Bint". It was the name of the owner that got my attention - Mrs M A Beynon (UK). Afghan hound people will not be familiar with this name. I have an active interest in Scottish Deerhound/Irish Wolfhound breed history and regognized the name immediately - 6. Mrs Beynon, Irish Wolfhounds, Afghanistan Mrs Beynon founded the famous Bournstream Irish Wolfhounds. She was later joined by Colonel H M Durand and they became partners in the kennel. Colonel Henry Marion Durand, Esq., D.S.O. (late 9th Lancers) comes from a family with quite a history legacy, and that has a connection to the home of our hounds - Afghanistan. Colonel Durand's father was Sir H Mortimer Durand. The name Durand has a particular historic signifigance. England occupied both India and Afghanistan in the 1880's and England was involved in three Anglo-Afghanistan wars. Sir H Mortimer Durand was the English Foreign Secretary of British India in 1893 and responsible for defining the border between India and Afghanistan (which Afghanistan has never accepted to this day). This border became known as the "Durand Line". In essence it was a line drawn north/south along the north west frontier which separated India and Afghanistan. Later, England granted Independence to India and the new Islamic Republic Of Pakistan was born. The lands of the North West Frontier, east of the Durand Line were decreed by England to be part of the new Pakistan. So in terms of Afghan Hound breed history, many of our early references to places such as Quetta, originally in Afghanistan, are now part of Pakistan. You can read a great IW-Org website article on Bournstream here and/or you can read a shorter IWT article on Bournstream here . With the kind permission of Hilary Jupp who runs the best Irish Wolfhound breed history website out there, I post below two photographs, one of Mrs Beynon and one of Colonel H M Durand
6. Cromalt Afghan hounds breeding Back to Afghan hounds again now - Mrs Harris only bred two litters, both out of Moti Of Chaman - The first litter was ex Amanullah X Moti of Chaman, whelped 8/9/1937 and contained the littermates Aruna Bey of Cromalt, Dyan of Cromalt, Prithvi Raj of Cromalt , Souriya of Cromalt and Surajmul of Cromalt .Interestingly, Molly Sharpe also used Amanullah as sire for her Chaman litter whelped 9/3/1938 The second Cromalt litter was ex Tash Garift Of Pushtikuh x Moti of Chaman, whelped 10/7/1938, but we only have records of two from this litter - Akbar of Moti and Shireen of Moti. Note also that the second litter (bred by Mrs Harris) was under the affix "Moti", not Cromalt, perhaps a sign of affection Mrs Harris had for her foundation bitch. 7. The Moti of Chaman litter and rare photographs Moti of Chaman was a littermate to Ch Taj Akbar of Chaman who we discussed previously in this Molly Sharpe article. There were a total of 6 hounds in the Moti litter and we only have photos of Taj Akbar and now (hopefully) Moti of Chaman and this gives us an idea of the "variations" produced by those blends of the early bloodlines. Steve Tillotson, December 2013 Related content Breed History Canada Rana Of Chaman of Royal Irish Page Previous Chaman Page Library Of Articles/Main Menu Toolbar Whats New Page |
