Boglin Marsh:William Sheldon of Jarrow

If you have ever seen the Up North Combine Handbook, you will see that it was founded during 1905 but, if you look through the recorded history of past winners, then you will see that our records only begin in (1921) nineteen hundred and twenty one. The first years are missing and they rob the 'stars' of that era of their their just place in history and perhaps the defect should be rectified for the true validity and and accuracy.

The very first race organised by the Up North Combine was flown from Jersey on the 17th July, 1905: when, 1029 birds were liberated at 05-00 hrs. into a light North Wind. There were 122 entries in the one-shilling pools, split into 13 prizes and 41 entries in the two-shillings and sixpence pools, split into five prizes, plus four 'R.P.' Specials. The race was an absolute 'triumph' for William Sheldon of Jarrow-on -Tyne who won 1st Open, velocity 1039 yards per minute, pooled to 2 shillings and six pence, following up with 9th Open , velocity 975 yards per minute, 24th Open, velocity 931 yards per minute, pooled to two shillings and sixpence and also 61st Open, velocity 734 yards per minute.

My records for those years are very scarce and I pick him up again in 1909, in the race from Bournemouth, flown that year on the 26th June, when nine federations sent 9,047 birds, which were liberated by Goodwin, Metcalfe and Potts at 06-06 hrs. into a North Wind. The Combine winner was to the loft of Moffatt of Tynemouth making a velocity of 923 yards per minute and Sheldon's first pigeon returned 908 yards per minute for 17th Open and a second bird doing 875 yards per minute for 64th Open.. However, in between those years from 1905 until 1909, William Sheldon had set a series of absolutely unique records, which startled the British pigeon fanciers as a whole and brought himself world wide fame.

In the year 1906, with no Combine racing, William Sheldon was tempted to try Marennes with the National Flying Club: the distance to his loft being 635 miles. He recorded an arrival in race time but out of the prizes. He won 6th and 7th in the North-east Counties Federation 'smash' from Jersey, being the only pigeon fancier to time pool pigeons from this race.
An advertisement for an Open Race from San Sebastian in 1907 caught his attention and he pondered over the subject. His blue chequered hen No. 3319 had successfully flown St. Lo in 1904, Rennes in 1905 and Marennes during 1906: to quote her owner - "She was a grand finisher and had never shown the least bit of fatigue, being always in good trim after a hard race."
This logic was to put his name into the record book, for she won 31st. Open in the Market Harboro promotion, flying 806 miles to become the first ever 800 miles racing pigeon in Britain. His faith in her and his assessment of her capabilities never wavered and the pigeon was an absolute sensation, having beaten many, many more racing pigeons that were flying more than 200 miles shorter in distance. With this experience under his belt, he sent her to Mirande the next year and recorded her time, but just out of the prizes. This race made him the first man and racing pigeon to succeed at 800 miles twice and more astoundingly for - two years in succession!
The icing was put on the cake during 1909 when he sent two racing pigeons away to Mirande, which turned out to be a very hard race against a North-west Wind. William Sheldon timed his famous mealy hen 'Mealy Mirande' to win 55th Open National Flying Club from a field of 1,113 pigeons. The National Winner was clocked by W. Saunders of Cradley, recording a velocity of 860 yards per minute. The racing pigeons were liberated on the 20th July, midday by Conveyers - Dodge and Barnard after a one day holdover. William Sheldon also recorded his 1908 Mirande pigeon, the Blue Chequered Hen '86', to create a record of almost unbelievable achievements at this distance, which in full reads as follows : 1) First man to record a racing pigeon at 800 miles. 2) First British pigeon fancier to do it twice. 3) First pigeon fancier to do it three times and 4) the First British pigeon fancier to do it twice with the same racing pigeon. Add the fact that he did it in consecutive seasons with 100% ratio of returns against pigeons sent, winning 31st. and 55th Open, giving away hundreds of miles to the opposition and one will understand why I used the word 'UNIQUE' in my title.
I can add that he was the first man to win 1st Up North Combine, a very considerable pigeon fancier by any standards that one may care to set. These performances shook the British pigeon fancy and he, the man, received the accolades due to him and his 'Mealy Mirande' Hen, became one of the most legendary racing pigeons in the history of the pigeon racing sport. The acclaims this racing pigeon received for her 55th Open in the National Flying Club was absolutely enormous and her bloodlines in later years were spread far and wide throughout the pigeon Fancy.

There is no doubt in my mind that he was 'the' man of his times, a baker and confectioner by profession, he had his own shop and bakery in Jarrow and raced his pigeons from the rear offshoot which ran down the back yard. Jimmy McKay could look down from his school classroom window and get a birds eye view of the Sheldon pigeons and his boyhood view of those thoroughbreds is quite clear. It was his view of the the man that I was interested in. William Sheldon was a man of medium height, fairly stocky build and a strong purposeful character. He was a man with decided views and not afraid to express them. His knowledge of racing pigeons was quite considerable when one reads how he worked with and conditioned his birds. I have a beautiful article written by him in 1910 when he was at the very height of his fame and I shall refer directly to his methods in due course.

From his writings it is quite apparent that his 800 milers were chosen with great care and he ran a team of some fifteen pairs, doing everything required himself. Apart from his ultra long - distance racing pigeons, he produced several Marennes pigeons to succeed at 635 miles, 500 plus milers at Rennes and near 500 milers from Jersey etc. He was much more leisurely in his approach to ultra long - distance pigeon racing, each candidate being well schooled in Channel experience and he, of course was our pioneer, the very first - and what a first! His 100% record still stands in my book as being unequalled, for I don't know of anyone, even to this day, who even approaches his achievements and results.

This then is William Sheldon as he appears to me, a 'GIANT' racing pigeon fancier, even by today's standards, and that isn't something that we can say about many record setters from the past. During the same period; he won the Tyneside Club Challenge Bowl four times for the Best Average - their radius covered the whole of Durham and Northumberland. In fact, he won it outright and it was in the hands of his 95 years old son at the time of first writing this article, whilst his granddaughter wore one of his beautiful Gold medals upon a chain around her neck.
My quest to uncover this great man has taken me to Hartlepool, Hexham, Easington, Blackball and of course his home town. Two men have been significant with help, firstly Ken Harriman of Easington, whose name will be familiar as the top fancier he is and, Geoffrey Sheldon, a great-nephew of William Sheldon.

It was Geoffrey who eventually produced the address and telephone number of William's granddaughter. However her father was not well enough to visit. I discovered that there had been oil paintings of the Champion racing pigeons hanging in William Sheldon's home, magnificent silver mounted Emu eggs with pigeons engraved upon them and many other artefacts to celebrate his fame.

Unlike the television detective stories, the pieces have not fitted together like the proverbial jigsaw. I have searched in vain for the paintings and even had difficulty in finding a photograph of William Sheldon, but no one can accuse me of not trying.

His first 800 miler was the Blue Chequered Hen '3319' which was bred during 1902 and which flew Worcester as a youngster and Oxford as a yearling. In 1904 this hen pigeon flew St. Lo, Rennes in 1905 and Marennes, 635 miles in 1906: to quote Sheldon, he says - "She was always a grand finisher and I never saw her home from a difficult race when she wasn't in good trim, and that was the reason that I selected her for San Sebastion, a distance of 807 miles. She had the necessary experience for a long journey like that, where a few nights in the fields was a certainty and I told several pals that, barring an accident, she would come back. I never lost faith in her. she reared a pair of young birds in April and was sitting eggs for 14 days when she went to San Sebastian. I sent her to Doncaster 100 miles in four training stages and found that she had one of her longest flights missing after she returned. I rested her until the flight was about three-quarters grown, then sent her to a 50 mile training flight a few days before she was due to go. It was a 'sneezer' of a day, strong North-east winds and which gave her a bit of a pipe-opener. She was growing her second flight when sent and returned with a full wing."

Her 31st Open in this difficult race, plus the winning of 1st Up North Combine in 1905 set William Sheldon firmly on the road to fame and glory. However, once accomplished, his mind moved on to 1908 and Mirande with the National Flying Club. For this race he chose another Blue Chequered Hen '86' which had been bred during 1904, flown as a young bird and Oxford as a yearling, then Jersey in 1906, Rennes in 1907 and onto Mirande in 1908, but out of the prizes. However her verification caused another stir in the sport, but the big one was yet to come in 1909, when Sheldon prepared '86' again, along with a new 800 miles candidate, the Mealy Hen '87', which was also bred in 1904, but not closely related to '86' the chequer. The mealy '87' flew Jersey as a yearling and Rennes in 1905, 1906, 1907, and she was 2nd Yorkshire Combine in one of those races. Then she was only flown from 7 miles, 22 miles, 45 miles, 100 miles, and 143 miles before being lifted into Mirande. To quote Sheldon's own words again - "This was the bird which several of my friends, who saw her during the few days before she was sent away, declared would beat the Chequer Hen. Some of them must know when a bird is fit!"

She was liberated at Mirande at noon on Tuesday and homed at 18-00hrs. on the Thursday, against a very strong North-west wind, to win 55th Open National Flying Club, beating every other 800 miler by a clear three days. When he recorded '86' again for her dual performance - his cup was full! However, Sheldon's 'Mealy Mirande' became the 'star' of the loft and the Sheldon bloodlines became very popular as a cross and figured in the breeding of many great long distance winners.

My library of Up North Combine Handbooks only go back to the 1928 season and the results only figure the first 50 in each race. In the Amiens race of 1928 with 12,560 birds competing, William Sheldon won 44th Open. The Melun National race was won by Lothian & Embleton of Newbiggin with a Sheldon cross bred pigeon when 1,486 racing pigeons were competing. The Blue Pied Hen, NEHU.26.H.6475 won £70-00d (equivalent to approximately £560-00p today) - in 1929 from Nevers, 3,569 pigeons competing, he won 34th Open, velocity 927 yards per minute, with NEHU.21.4522 and this was followed in 1930 with 35th Open Melun, 8,456 pigeons, velocity 988.5 yards per minute with NEHU.28.M.1288, then 3rd Open Le Puy, 433 birds, 724 miles, velocity 294 yards per minute. The Combine winner was to Lothian & Embleton, which I am sure had a Sheldon cross in its bloodline. His only show in the Combine during 1931 was 14th Section in the Young Bird National. The 1934 Le Puy race brought 47th Combine at 724 miles, with NEHU.26.M.3983 and 11th Section Newhaven Young Bird National with NEHU.34.M.96. These few Combine positions miss the William Sheldon halcyon years which, were the years before 1928; but they prove the validity of this family.

William Sheldon wasn't a fussy man as far as his pigeons were concerned and common sense was paramount to his management. He liked the pigeon loft to be dry and airy with no overcrowding. He did not like pigeons that were returned as strays in a box, because he never had a good one that did, nor did he like the unlucky one that always went off form, just when he needed it. His preference as expressed, was for racing pigeons of medium cast and he had a strong dislike for big pigeons or deep-keeled birds and he didn't believe in keeping 'feeders'. He believed that only the strong could produce and rear the strong. He watched the droppings in his loft continually and after the moult was completed he fed the pigeons on a diet of Barley until the middle of February. On frosty nights he would give them their Barley, as much as they could eat and then give them as many Peas or mixture as they would take on top of it.

He turned the birds out early mornings except in fog or blizzards and normally got at least one hour of exercise from them, without any forcing, during which time he cleaned out the loft and then fed the pigeons in. After dinner they were turned out again in fine weather and they would sometimes fly for two or up to three hours without being driven. In bad weather they did not fly as long and it was with this kind of regime that they were kept fit.
In the middle of February he separated the sexes and put them onto a good mixture of food. The cocks were flown each day. whilst the hens, being more troublesome were flown out approximately twice per week. After mating up, in mid March, the birds were allowed the 'open-hole' and the diet gradually changed to one of all peas. They got plenty of exercise driving the hens, then off to the fields as soon as the youngsters hatched. As the races approached he turned all of pigeons out at night - after the youngsters had been fed - then made them exercise for half-hour. This was built up to one hour, which they took easily after a while and then the diet was gradually changed to a 50/50 mixture of peas and beans and he said that if the diet was right, then the birds felt like India-rubber and were ready for their meals. Bright eyes, clear as crystals, wattles white as chalk and tight glossy plumage, were his yardsticks.

His recommendations on feeding was to state that the pigeons were not for the table, therefore do not over feed. He actually fed them three times per day, with a few hands full of seed at night following their last exercise flight but, only now and again was his way (feeding seed). The drinkers were cleaned and recharged twice each day, as he said, "Don't buy big drinkers to hold a weeks supply of water - place the drinker in full view and clean and refill them every time that the birds are fed.

He generally found that his young cocks flew well to their first youngsters of the season or when driving the hen to nest. His hens flew well to their first round of eggs as they approached hatching time or had small squabs in the nest. A light feed only given prior to basketting for racing kept the pigeons in better condition. In his loft the nest boxes were 5 inches up off the floor and thereby any youngsters which got out could escape and avoid being pecked or scalped. Young bird racing was used to sort out any duffers, but he liked as many single-up training flights as he could give them. They were fed upon Maple peas, with an occasional feed of mixture now and again, just for a change.

These superb racing pigeons were bred down through two main strains which were Gits and Jurion, his foundation coming from Mr. W. Carlin of Haswell, County Durham, where he was the village cobbler. Carlin imported the birds direct from both Gits and Jurion but added old crosses here and there fro the usual reason i.e. improved performance. Sheldon's 1905 very first - 1st Up North Combine winner was a Red Chequered cock '46', a line - bred Jurion, and Sheldon mated him to a Janssen Hen from Hartning, to breed the immortal 'Mealy Mirande' The Janssens were from the equally immortal Jules Janssen, who was one of the founding fathers of the sport in Belgium.

It is now over 93 years since William Sheldon produced his 800 miles record setter. That year will celebrate his double and the year after his treble. My attempts to piece the/ his full story together has been a frustrating affair. I now know that an Australian ship's captain took the strain to the Antipodes and sent him the silver mounted Emu's eggs as a gesture of thanks, and the oil paintings have escaped me. His son detested pigeons because they took up his time, when he would rather have been doing other things. Likewise Mr. Carlin's son, who lives in Hartlepool, is a non fancier but he told me that one of his fathers birds is reputed to have won the very first Pigeon Victoria Cross during the 1914 - 18 War. I wonder if anybody can confirm this?

His close family were obviously not interested in racing pigeons and had no idea of William Sheldon's superb records or claims to fame in his chosen sport. Most stories of this man have been brief and sketchy affairs, and all of my running about and digging, I am far from satisfied with my attempt to do justice to a pigeon fancier whom I consider to be 'UNIQUE'. I would love to produce pictures of his three 'Record Setting Hens' and the very first ever Up North Combine Winner, plus a complete record of all his Up North Combine positions. Putting all my disappointments to one side, I hope that this retrospective report will let the younger men of the Racing Pigeon Fancy see what has been achieved at the long-distance, and by whom it was achieved! In my own area, not one fancier I spoke to, could name the very first-ever Combine winner ---- at least it is on record now!

For those who are interested, Bond & Richardson of Murton, won 1st Up North Combine Bournemouth in 1908, Moffatt of Tynemouth 1st Up North Combine in 1909, Sheldon 1st Up North Combine Jersey in 1905, Reay Bros. of Murton won !st Up North Combine Rennes 1907, Johnson of Behnont 1st Up North Combine Rennes in 1908 and Crossley of Redcar 1st Up North Combine in 1909 ------ the next time you read of how much better the pigeons are today, then I ask you to go and reflect a while, then try to find one equal of William Sheldons of over 93 years ago, then look for another two, all from the same fifteen pairs of racing pigeons loft! ------ GOOD HUNTING!

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A POSTHUMOUS LOFT REPORT UPON A BRILLIANT AND UNIQUE UP-NORTH 'STAR' PIGEON FANCIER - THE LATE AND TRULY GREAT......

WILLIAM SHELDON
OF
JARROW