In 1920 Mrs Rogerson from Gloucestershire, a lady with a firm belief that “all things that were small were beautiful.” became very interested in canaries and in particular the Crest and Crest bred birds. She very strongly disliked all the excessive amount of long uncontrolled feather that this type of canary had and felt that if she could breed a canary that was only half the size of the existing Crest and which had a much smaller and neater feather, then such a canary would be far more attractive to look at.
After much thought on the subject, she produced a breeding programme to commence her objective, purchased a few crested Roller canaries, and these were paired up to some very small borders obtained from a breeder J. H. Madagan
While Mrs Rogerson was making her first attempt to breed a miniature Crested canary; in Scotland, John McLay a well known breeder and judge of Crested canaries, also started to breed a miniature of the popular Crested canary. John McLay’s idea was to use his smallest Crests and pair them up to the smallest borders that he could obtain.
While these two dedicated breeders were parenting this new “Type” canary, reports of what they were doing became known to the UK’s best known canary fancier at the time, A.W. Smith, and he encouraged Mrs Rogerson and John McLay in their efforts and from time to time they exchanged breeding stock.
1925 – London National Show
Such was the progress made by Mrs Rogerson in her breeding success, she agreed to enter two of her miniature crests at 1925 London National Show. As these two canaries were completely different in appearance to the normal Crests, they were allocated a separate class of their own and were awarded first and second prize. This was the first time that this canary had been exhibited in public, and fanciers were able to see the birth of a completely new “Type” canary the foundation of which consisted of small crested rollers, small crests and the smallest “wee gems” the early border.
Move forward 100 Years and 2025 is the centenary year of the first time that the Gloster was exhibited in public. It would take a further 3 years (1928) to be shown at the Palace exhibition where these little chaps gained a quote at the time …. “You will notice that the judge has placed first the bird which has the neatest and best crest, coupled with the best shape of body. Too much size is not wanted in this variety.” [Interesting final sentence do we not think ?]
Move forward a further 14 year to 1939 for the Officially Named Gloster Canary
In the intervening years the Gloster has spread across the world as a much loved and admired canary, with groups celebrating the occasion in their own way.
