The modern basset first came to Britain in 1866, a smooth coated dog and bitch arrived as a present to Lord Galway from Comte de Tournon. Having bred from them, he then sold all three and a half couples to Lord Onslow. The reason for their entry to this country was because of the growing interest in dog fancying, the basset then being considered to be related to the already popular Dachshunds. At that time both were also thought to be descended from the hounds originally bred in the sixth century by St Hubert which became the medieval Talbot and the modern Bloodhound. Recent research on genetics and evolution indicate that bassets are not related to the Dachshund and may not be descended from the St Hubert .
The word ‘basset’ may be derived from the French word ‘bas’ indicating ‘low’ . the term basset first appears in a 16 th century French book. In this the basset is recommended for underground work on badgers and foxes. It may also have been used for it’s scenting ability to find quarry such as deer, boar and wolves in dense forests. Both smooth and rough varieties were known. When guns became used for sport, the basset was used to drive game to the guns, it’s slower pace making it more useful than conventional hounds. In Europe, that is the main role for bassets today, although some are used in packs.
In the nineteenth century dog fancying and showing became popular throughout Europe and selective breeding became commonly used. Following the re-introduction of hunting in France, the French set out to re-create the many breeds of native hounds. The leading breeders of bassets were the Comte Le Couteulx de Canteleu and Louis Lane. The English favoured the more athletic bassets of the Comte, whilst the French favoured the heavier Lane variety with more crook. The best aspects of both types were combined by Leon Verrier and resulted in the smooth coated, semi-crooked Basset Artésien-Normand. Other breeders developed the rough coated Basset Griffon Vendéen, the related and straight legged Basset Fauve de Bretagne and the smooth coated straight legged Basset Bleu de Gascogne. In 1890 Princess Alexandra, later Queen, was presented with some rough coated bassets to join at Sandringham the smooth coated bassets given to husband in 1884 to mark the foundation of the Basset Hound Club, following the recognition in 1883 of the basset and the BHC by the Kennel Club.
In 1874 Sir Everett Millais had imported ‘Model’, one of the Comte’s breed. The next year Millais showed ‘Model’ at Wolverhampton in the variety breed and then put him to selected beagle bitches, unaware that there were other bassets in England. But these crosses were not successful. Later ‘Model’ was mated to a basset bitch imported by Lord Onslow from the Comte. In 1893 Millais tried a Bloodhound cross, using artificial insemination and caesarean section, two firsts in the dog world. This was very successful and resulted in a new breed: the Basset Hound. Another leading breeder and importer of bassets was George Krehl who started with drafts from Millais and Onslow. He imported a fine dog ‘Fino de Paris’, who was thought of better quality than Model.
In 1890 Godfrey and Christopher Heseltine formed the Walhampton Basset Hounds from stock from existing basset packs. They hunted them in and around the New Forest. Initially they hunted badger but switched to hares in their first season. They found the basset slow, not eager to kill the hare and constitutionally poor. In conjunction with Millais, Krehl and others, the Heseltines set about improving their hounds by selective purchase and breeding with heavy culling. The result was not only successful in the hunting field but also winning numerous Kennel Club prizes thus proving that a first class hunting hound had show ring quality. But disagreements increased between the hunts and the show breeders and, in 1911, the Masters of Basset Hounds Association (MBHA) was formed.
The Walhampton was hunted continuously up to 1903 when Major Heseltine was sent to India on duty and the hounds were sold to the Marquis of Slane in Ireland until the Marquis returned them to Godfrey on his return top Billericay in 1909. During the Great War, hounds were again dispersed and hunted by various Masters including the Royal Navy. In 1920 Major Heseltine moved to Leicestershire and resumed his Mastership. He died in 1932. The entire pack was auctioned in 1933. Eric Morrison purchased many of them and re-named the pack the ‘Westerby’. This exists to this day. Eric started a long breeding programme to improve the basset for hunting. The aim was to improve the legs whilst retaining scent and cry. Outcrosses were made with beagle, harrier and fell hound. The result became known as the English Basset.
Bassets had almost disappeared by the end of WWII. A few bassets survived, including some Wick and Westerby bassets owned by Miss MM Keevil. She set about re-creating an improved Basset Hound, again using Bloodhound and then three Basset Artésien-Normand she imported from France. The resultant Basset Hounds hunted well and won numerous KC shows. But in 1956 the Kennel Club decided to adopt the US Standard for the Basset Hound. This called for a heavier hound unsuitable for hunting. This led the MBHA, on it’s reformation in 1958, to again split from the Kennel Club. Miss Keevil encouraged new hunts to form and, on her retirement, her Grims hounds were drafted to from the present day Leadon Vale and Fourshires. This type of hunting basset can be referred to as Basset Anglo-Artésien-Normand. Similarly there are packs of rough coated bassets developed for hunting from French rough coated bassets which can be referred to as Basset Anglo-Vendéen.
