The Fantail pigeon has been a most endeared species of pigeon in the British Isles for about 400 years. It is said that the ancestors of the Fantail pigeon was recognised on the continent of Europe in about 1600 when English merchant traders worked in India to establish what was later to become the British East India Company. We may be certain that from that time onwards fantails from India in Whites, Colours & Saddles found their way from time to time by ship to England.
In a most interesting series of reproductions from old plates, pigeon books of the 19th century and photographs of the modern day American champions, Levi in The Pigeon shows the advancement which has been made century by century in the perfection of the modern Fantail. Broadly speaking he says that progress during some four centuries has led stage by stage to the gradual carrying upwards and backwards of the plane of the body, retrogression of the head and the perfection of the tail. This development must have proceeded steadily in India from 1600 onwards for at least two advanced Fantail types, the beginning of the modern day Fantail probably came from India in the early half of the 1800's.Fulton's Book of Pigeons contains a clear account by a certain George Ure, of Dundee, Scotland, of the two types of fantails which he calls English & Scottish.
It appears that the Scottish Fantails were small and excelled in carriage and action but failed somewhat in tail. Ure was actually uncertain of their origins but believed that they had come originally from India .The English Fantails lacked these properties and were course in the head and neck and were much larger, with hugh, flat tails that were often carried over their heads in umbrella fashion. The latter kind, Ure states, was frequently imported from Calcutta both by English & American fanciers.
In Great Britain the debate over which type, English or Scottish, represented the ideal Fantail was long in dispute, and several attempts were made to establish a standard for the breed on a basis of points evaluation of the salient characteristics.
The great turning point in the history of the Fantail pigeon in this country was reached finally in 1889 after an abortive attempt in 1886, when leading fanciers of that day, Messrs, Lee, House, Harrower, Bird, Marshall Harvey and from Scotland William Stevenson met on the occasion of a pigeon show at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, to establish the Fantail Club and to set up a standard for the breed and its Coloured, Marked and Lace varieties. This standard has since been universally and widely accepted all over the world It remains almost unchanged even to this day, except for the updating of certain technology, and it has led to the creation of the modern fantail, embodying the best of the English & Scottish types.
In 1926 the Scottish Fantail Club was formed on a tramcar between the towns of Barrhead & Paisley by a band of Fantail fanciers on their way to a show. These were men who had broken away from the Fantail Club due to some argument between fanciers on both sides of the border regarding type. This society is still in existence to-day and is a very successful and well admired Breed Club and I am pleased to confirm that most of its members are now also members of the Fantail Club so a healing has occurred over time between the two premiere Clubs of our breed within the British mainland .I am also pleased to confirm that I have the honour of at the present time being the President of the Fantail Club and the Secretary/Treasurer of the Scottish Fantail Club.
The exquisite Fantail pigeon, as we know it now has no earlier counterpart, but is the surpassing achievement of the fanciers of previous generations and also of fanciers of our own friendship and time.
The ideal Fantail must now, whether in action or repose carry its head constantly resting on the centre of the cushion. The body must be nearly as spherical as a ball, with its chest thrown well forward & upwards, so that the head is actually below the top level of the bosom. The legs, short though not over short, must be set well apart and should be in line with the central axis of the body. It therefore, follows that a correctly shaped body goes with a proper leg setting, and no point is more important than this.
The tail may be of two differing kinds of formation, both of which are permitted. There are birds with absolutely flat tails forming a nearly complete circle or there are birds with the most massive tails with the much-esteemed solid centres, which are slightly concave. What is the most essential to the architecture of the perfect tail is a wide, circular back cushion, forming a lesser fan behind the great arch of the tail to give the necessary support which must be reinforced by an ample front cushion extending well up the front of the tail.
To-day's Fantails appear to have a better, rounder body than yesterday's champions which now do appear to have lacked the depth and roundness of body which makes them appear rather flat-chested when compared to to-day's birds. The one large noticeable fault in to-day's U.K. birds is that they lack the very important characteristics which the American fanciers wisely insist upon i.e. length and breadth of centre feathers of the arch, in other words 'top tail', which should rise well above the level of the body and also due to some imported birds being utilised over the past 20 years we are finding more flat-footed examples than ever before. We must get back to birds that are on 'tip toe' more often so that they can be prompted to again walk in a graceful typey manner.
To-day's judges appear to be more knowledgeable in the Fantail characteristics and appear to be more interested in Fantails that excel in type rather than colour and justifiably so; we feel a Fantail is not a true specimen unless it is prepared to show whenever required. Hence we look for a bird which has the Nice round body when viewed from all angles; set on medium length well set wide legs; which can walk in a jaunty manner and which can keep its head straight in the pocket without pulling to either side; having lots of good wide feathered top tail, good frontal cover of the wing butts and narrow knife edged short wings so as to emphasise the 'beer belly' effect of the under- body. Everyone’s ideal bird!
Alas no Fantail will ever be the perfect Fantail as all champions seem to have their off days but it is our duty as true fanciers to see that the dreams and aspirations of all those that have passed before us, who created for us a Standard to work to-wards are carried forward for the next generations of fanciers. We have been vested with their trust to hopefully one day create a number of ideal Fantails so don’t let our forefathers down by accepting less than the perfect product become more quality conscious in you breeding pairs.
The English Fantail club has now seven Branch shows held each year in different regions of the British Isles so that each of its 80 plus membership has an equal chance to enter & compete against fellow Fantail Club members. Also each year since its inception, barring enforced idleness during World War ll 1939-1945 the Fantail Club runs a Club show which is now held at the Doncaster Race Course, where there are usually about 30 classes & about 250 to 300 exhibits in all colours included in the All Breeds show entry of about 5000.
I have gained the above information generally from the reading of old pigeon magazines and books together with the endless picking of the brains & hearing of the experiences of my older fellow fanciers over the last 30 years where the most popular colours of Fantails exhibited have been Whites with Messrs Eddie Swan, Harry Lovell, Tommy Scott, Martin Adair, Mike Richardson, John Gray and Ian Jackson to the fore. These have then been followed by the Bars with again Messrs, Adair, Swan, David Blackadder, John Mercer, Paddy Griffin, Sidney Clayson and Norman Brown to the fore. The Blacks have then come next with Messrs, Bill Rodgers, Harry Zamur, Jim MacCallum, Alec McKerlie and myself always well represented. The Saddles have been represented by the ever-successful Conrad Birch, Nigel & Tom Wycherley, Harry Zamur, Colin Ufton and again myself. This is a variety which everyone seems to keep at some time or another, but sadly for some reason when they are cutting down their numbers for the forthcoming breeding season, they do away with their Saddles and retain the easier bred White & coloured varieties.
The Body marked Fantail did remain in existence in the U.K. thanks to a very fine fancier by the name of Bill Rodgers who kept all varieties of Fantails including the Tail marked birds which he showed against such fanciers as Sidney Clayson, HansFuchs, Graham Taylor, Jim Roper and Jim MacCallum who in my estimation did breed one of the best Tail marks seen in the U.K. from a chance mating. The Yellows did improve in the 1980's thanks to much hard work by fanciers such as Harry Zamur, Bill Cooke and Ti Scott whereas the Reds have always lagged behind due to the fact that few fanciers now keep any in their lofts.
The Lace variety of Fantail which I believe is not seen within the USA has been regularly bred not in large numbers by Jack Penley-Martin, Ti Scott, Graham Taylor and myself in Whites; Eddie Swan with Blacks and Bill Rodgers with Bars and even a few with Saddle markings. These birds are still in so few hands that unless they are bred with the best of the solid colours then their progression and existence in the Fantail winner’s circle will be limited.
Over the last 30 years sadly there have been very few breeders who have tried to breed new colours in Fantails but the one who has pioneered over all adversaries and has been the most successful in the A.O.C. classes has been Jim MacCallum from Stirling in Scotland who is always working with different varieties of pigeons & Fantails in particular to produce the Grizzle factor, Andalusians, Almonds, Quamond, Faded this & Faded that and he is always trying to put our Judges on the spot when nominating what colour his particular creation is. This type of breeding requires a special fancier who is prepared to read into genetics and possess a lot of patience .Jim is one of those true fanciers.
Well that is enough of the past, what does the new Millennium hold for the Fantail fraternity of the future? Sadly such great fanciers such as Eddie Swan, Harry Lovell, Bill Rodgers, David Blackadder, Tom Scott, Ti Scott, Norman Brown, Jim Roper, Billy Cooke and most recently Harry Zamur have passed on and will no longer be able to advise future fanciers of tomorrow of avoiding the many pit falls of breeding Exhibition Fantails and reliving with enthusiasm the shows of yesterday but it will be down to us the fanciers of to-day to get more youngsters involved in breeding and exhibiting the true Queen of the pigeon kingdom.
When asked what do I think the future holds for our feathered friends I do honestly think that though time is at a premium in this fast improving technically minded world I do think that more people will begin to feel the necessity to make more quiet time for themselves and I still see that though the numbers of fanciers over the last 20 years have declined dramatically there is hope for the future in the fact that the old fancier of the past is being replaced by much younger fanciers who are taking the art of Fantail breeding & exhibiting to a higher level in there quest for perfection in both the way they are producing quality birds and the way they can exquisitely prepare their birds for the show pen. We have in our hands the technical innovations of passed decade of the Internet where we as fanciers will be able to share our knowledge and display our finished product and other interesting facts of our hobby with our friends throughout the World and through the use of some super web pages and future Chat Nights, possibly increase the popularity of our chosen variety of hobby.
Our Fantail’s future in Great Britain is in good hands with young fanciers such as Martin Adair, Mike Richardson, Ian Jackson, John Gray and Gary McGowan breeding Whites, Rob Davidson, Gary McGowan, Roger Goode and Roy Baker breeding the now most popular Blacks, Nigel Wycherley and Andrew Gray breeding some excellent Saddles, Graham Taylor breeding Lace & Tail mark, Roger Goode with Yellows, Alan Tate with the A.O.Cs and Blacks, Martin Adair and Morris Heggie with Blues and Gary McGowan who has cleaned up this year at both the Club shows with Checkers & Mismarks. But they will have to keep on their toes because the old brigade of fancier will be ever present pushing them hard for the near future with Jim MacCallum, Neil Newman and myself competing with Blacks, Paddy Griffin and myself in the Bars, Conrad Birch, Tom Wycherley, Neil Newman, Colin Ufton competing with the Saddles and Bob Hall and Colin Ufton also breeding some very competitive Whites.
Yes! The Fantail is still thriving here in Great Britain because we have a thriving following due to the exhibition at the shows being so competitive in all colours hence the entries are forever on the increase and this can only go towards promoting our Queen of the fancy to the youngsters who will be to-morrows' established fanciers.
May I on behalf of all Fantail fanciers here in the U.K. wish all breeders throughout the world best wishes for the New Millennium and may all your dreams and aspirations for your Fantails come true.


JOHN.V.BRAGG