This Article first appeared in the December 2007 Newsletter of The Finnish Spitz Club (UK) :  

From "Southampton Echo" around October 1936

This is the story of our 'search' for a Finnish Spitz who lived in the 1930s and 1940s.  We obviously didn't know any of the people or dogs mentioned here and are aware that some people in the Club know far more about them than we do, but here is our story anyway….

Before we even got our first Finnish Spitz puppy (Hilla) in April 2000, I remember coming across a picture on the internet of a dog called Ch. Hammon Irmas.  A couple of things intrigued me about this picture and the accompanying description.  The picture was from a cigarette card issued in 1939 by John Sinclair Ltd.   The description said that he was owned by "Mrs JB de la Poer Beresford, Rodmell, near Lewes" and that he had been born in quarantine in 1934.  So he was living in Lewes and was born to Finnish parents – the same as me (although I was born in Helsinki, not in quarantine!) 

Some time later, we bought one of the cigarette cards at a dog show and made another interesting discovery.  The picture we had seen on the internet had been a little blurry and we hadn't noticed the writing towards the bottom right of the picture.  The card itself though was very sharp and we could clearly read the words "Reeves Lewes".  We knew this was Edward Reeves Photographers, a shop and photographic studio near the castle in Lewes High Street.  When Hilla had her first litter of six puppies with Parri in October 2002 we decided to take the whole Valokki family to the Reeves studio for a photo session.

Hilla's puppies were then over seven weeks old and were very lively to say the least!  On the day I was getting quite nervous.  I remember thinking maybe I should phone them and make sure it was OK to bring 2 adult dogs and 6 puppies to the studio.   Anyway, we packed the car with the dogs and drove to the great event.  As soon as we stopped the car in front of Edward Reeves shop in the High Street and opened the car boot we were surrounded by several people wanting to stroke them.  Tom Reeves came out of his photo shop and gave a helping hand to carry in the puppy cages.  It felt like we were going back in time as we walked through the shop along a narrow corridor with a very low ceiling to the back room studio where the photos are taken.  It seemed to me that nothing much had been changed in this studio over the years.  Edward Reeves was Tom's great-grandfather and he started the business in 1855.  It has even been in this same building since 1858 and is thought to be world's oldest continuously run photo studio.  Tom and his partner Tania suggested that we should first let the puppies loose so that they could play and investigate. He is obviously a photographer who likes great challenges!  After we had rounded up the puppies, he pointed his delicate camera with huge lights towards the table and threw a rather well-worn cloth on it.   Tom said that this may well be the same table used by his father to photograph Hammon Irmas.  The whole atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful.  He'd intended to have a black screen as background.  Unfortunately Parri, who was still coming to terms with both his young family and the unfamiliar surroundings, knocked it over! - so we had the wood panelling as a background instead.  Tom managed to catch some very good shots during those few seconds when the dogs were relatively quiet and still on the table -  and a few like this when they weren't! (I'm not quite sure where the 6^th puppy had got to at the time). 

 Valokki Family 2002 - Photo by Edward Reeves Photographers of Lewes

A large framed print from the photo session of all six puppies was displayed in the shop window for several months and Tom and Tania told us that many people came in asking about the puppies – including the usual quota of "are they foxes …" questions!  Very often there are also displays of old photos of Lewes in the window.  They have an incredible archive of many thousands of glass and other negatives going right back to the 1850s. 

Well one day we decided to ask Tom if he thought there was any possibility of finding the negative of the picture of Hammon Irmas that had been printed on the cigarette card.  Fully expecting him to say "no", his answer was instead "probably …. but it may take some time… I'll give you a ring if I find anything".  A few weeks went by until one day we got a call to say that he had found negatives from some photo sessions arranged by Mrs Beresford in the 1930s and 1940s, although not the one we had asked about.  We went along to have a look at them.  The first session from 1938 was an informal one of several dogs in a garden, presumably Mrs Beresford's garden in Rodmell.  Almost certainly Hammon Irmas was one of the dogs in those photos.  The second session from 1949 was taken in the studio and showed a Finnish Spitz (on that same table!) which I have since seen pictured in breed adverts and believe to be Kingmak Petula – a great-great granddaughter of Hammon Irmas.  We asked Tom to do us prints from a number of the negatives from both sessions.  As we were leaving, Tom said "I probably will find that other picture sometime and give you a ring".

 Whiteway dogs, Rodmell nr. Lewes 1938 - Photo by Edward Reeves Photographers of Lewes

Our next link to the story of Hammon Irmas came totally unexpectedly when Linda Byrne very kindly lent me some photos and articles from the collection of the late Jean Seel.  This proved to be a real treasure trove.  As I am sure many members of the Club will already know, Jean had been kennel maid for Mrs. Beresford and the collection also contained many of her photos and papers.  In the files were original letters from Dr. Multamäki of Helsinki (breeder of Hammon Irmas and owner of his mother and father) to Lady Kitty Ritson (who with Mrs Beresford imported his mother Hammon Ary); articles, show reports, and clippings from the local press, dog magazines, and other publications; many photographs; and dog show prize cards and rosettes from the 1930s and 1940s.

I'd like to mention just a few of the dozens of references to Hammon Irmas that we found in those papers:

1. - A letter from Dr. Multamäki to Lady Kitty Ritson dated 15^th May 1935 commented that "Hammon Irmas will be No. 1 in a year most certainly."
2. - A full page article from The Hippodrome Magazine of Summer 1936 was about Mrs Beresford's Whiteway kennels in Rodmell and had a couple of pictures of him and her other dogs.
3. - From the Southampton Echo in around October 1936 came this article and photo.  "The Finnish animals were Finsk spets, and their rich brown colouring and thick coats made them objects of interest".  As a Finn, I find it curious that up to this point they were still being referred to by the Swedish language name of "Finsk Spets", although I suppose it's not surprising that the Finnish name of "suomenpystykorva" never caught on in Britain!  However, just a couple of months later in December 1936, the familiar name of "Finnish Spitz" was already being used. In her regular column in "Dog World" from that month, Lady Kitty Ritson said "I think Irmas is the most beautiful dog in England".  By that time he had won his first CC.
4. - He won a second CC at the LKA Show in May 1937 and became Champion with his third at Richmond in July 1937.  Lady Ritson wrote "I am very pleased, personally that Irmas is a champion, as I like champions to breed them … and Ary being one herself I am pleased that her son should be one."  Mrs Moulton the judge at Richmond wrote "He is a lovely dog and well worthy of his title."
5. - At Crufts in February 1938 he won a 5^th CC and was Best of Breed  A couple of months later he was awarded the Coronation cup for most wins in breed and variety classes during 1937 as well as the Perpetual Challenge cup for most dog CCs in the year.
6. - He won reserve CC at the last pre-war Crufts in February 1939.  The last mention I can see is of his win at Edinburgh Caledonian open show in July 1939.
7. - The start of the War obviously put paid to his show career.  Throughout the 1940s, he is mentioned only by reference to his offspring until his 'obituary' appeared in "Dog World" on 20^th May 1949.  This says that he was 16 years old although I make it 14½ years – still a very good age!

Finally, and although he is not mentioned by name, I particularly enjoyed a short column dated May 13^th 1941 which is presumably from a local Lewes newspaper.  The column reports on three people who had been fined £1 for failing to immobilise their cars in Lewes High Street.  One of these is Mrs. Beresford and she is reported as saying "There were four dogs left in the car and I thought they would obstruct any one from getting into the car".  I'd like to think that Hammon Irmas was one of those four dogs and that maybe, just maybe, Mrs Beresford had been into Reeves Photographers across the street …..

I'd particularly like to thank the following people :

Linda Byrne and her family for the loan of the late Jean Seel's archive

Tom and Tania of Reeves Photographers for their help and patience as our puppies caused havoc in their studio!

Written by Irene Slater (Valokki)

Ch Hammon Irmas, Breed Winner at Crufts 1938