John Kirkpatrick the Supreme Pigeon Fancier 1898 -1954 by Joe Murphy
PART TWO
I continue with John Kirkpatrick’s contribution from the 1938 homing world diary;
Late Breds
We hear some fanciers decrying late-breds; but the best pigeon I ever owned was a late bred; this was a cock bird and it won a 1st prize at every stage up to Bournemouth. Late breds as a class are generally despised; but I think this is the fancier’s fault and not the pigeons. If bred in July and trained 50 miles in September, then raced to 200 miles the following year with the old birds; they will on average show as good results as the birds bred in March and April. If I require a bird for stock I always like it to be bred in the end of July as I think the old birds produce young; stronger and truer to type; as at that time they are free from the worries of racing. All my youngsters are trained and raced right to the end of our club programme 186 miles. I have tried reserving half my youngsters after completing the training and although they seemed to develop into better looking birds than the others, I found the birds that had been raced as youngsters invariably proved much better racers. It would appear therefore, that race experience as youngsters is advisable. In regard to yearlings I am a confirmed exponent of racing yearlings across the channel; I do not believe that this is in any way harmful as the following will testify. With a yearling hen I was 5th open SNFC Rennes in 1931; with this same hen again 5th open SNFC Rennes in 1933. Another of my yearlings was my good red cock ‘900’; which as a yearling was 11th open SNFC Rennes in 1933; 18th open Rennes in 1934; 215th in 1935 (disqualified); 42nd open SNFC Nantes in 1936; 59th open Nantes in 1937 having flown the channel 7 times; Rennes thrice at 481 miles; Nantes 543 miles thrice and Dol once over 450 miles. As a yearling my champion ‘Coronation Express’ flew Dol in 1935 and was well up in the federation prize list.
'Coronation Express' 1st SNFC Rennes 1937
In 1936 he took part in the Rennes smash winning 72nd open. My good mealy ‘2376’ Rennes six times; 3rd; 17th and 129th open also flew Rennes as a yearling when he took 17th open position. I have won other good positions in the channel races with yearlings and as will be seen from the above all my best pigeons flew the channel as yearlings. The older birds must race from Rennes and Nantes as all my racers must face the music as only the best are worth keeping and how otherwise would you find them except by the basket test. These are my methods; but I should point out at this juncture; that as we have been repeatedly told by ‘Chairmen’ in the British Homing World; observation in the loft pays a big part in the success of pigeon racing.
Advice for Novices
A few don’ts will not come amiss to novices who may read this article;
Don’t overcrowd – Don’t over breed – Don’t let your racers feed too many youngsters – Don’t overfeed – Don’t under train – Don’t be afraid to give your birds too many tosses – Don’t forget pigeons require attention 365 days of the year.
I feel I cannot conclude this article without paying tribute to Mrs Kirkpatrick; without whose help I feel sure I would not have attained the success I have; as the mid day feed and the afternoon feed in the winter rest with her entirely and on occasions I have been detained at work she has always done what was required in the way of exercising and feeding the pigeons. We cannot all be successful always; I may be your turn in 1938 wishing you all a happy and successful season John Kirkpatrick.
Finest Achievement
In 1952 John Kirkpatrick was slowly dying of cancer first detected 3 years earlier and his health was not the best, however this did not prevent him from producing the six pigeons he sent to Rennes, according to one senior observer, they were the ‘best fettle’ pigeons he had seen in a lifetime. Prior to the ‘Gold Cup’ event the world class racehorse trainer and jockey Sir Gordon Richards came up to Annan to view the pigeons. After viewing and handling the pigeons he flapped his cheque book on the coal box where the pigeons were basketed and said to John ‘Name your price’. John Kirkpatrick replied “Man you couldn’t afford them, there is a life times work in that basket’ and the six pigeons were subsequently dispatched to Rennes for the National Gold Cup race. John said that he believed the six pigeons he had sent to France were the best he had ever owned; however he was disappointed with the end result, although “Galabank Prince” won 40th open position he was not a happy bunny.
Galabank Prince 1st SNFC Nantes 1952
John Smith says ‘He was a very competitive and never showed this in public however he was unsettled for a couple of days and blamed the poor Rennes result on a south wind and he claimed they needed a north east wind’. His family were shocked when he announced to everyone that ‘Galabank Prince’ & ‘Galabank Duke’ were to be sent to Nantes immediately after having flown from Rennes. John Smith continues ‘I will never forget the drama and excitement of John Kirkpatrick’s two pigeons in the Nantes race. By the way, John Kirkpatrick called John Smith (at 15 years of age) his ‘loft manager’”, but that was generous as he would say a better title would have been ‘message boy’, obtaining for him straw for the nest boxes and messages from the local stores.
Galabank Duke
The Nantes pigeons were released first thing on the Saturday morning in a North East wind. John Smith can recall a long nervous wait until dark at 11pm, No pigeon’s home on the day into Scotland. John Kirkpatrick told young John Smith as he was about to leave the Kirkpatrick home, ‘You would be better set his alarm for 3am as we will get something in the morning’ and he did as he was told. The Sunday morning turned out to be a cloudy morning and it remained that way until around 09.00 am and suddenly the sky went blue and a pleasant day lifted the spirits. John Kirkpatrick had gone into the house to obtain something for his wife and John Smith noticed a dot in the sky and seeing the pigeon pull its wings back it started to drop down towards the loft young John shouted ‘It’s Galabank Prince’. The great pigeon was duly clocked in and John Smith was dispatched on his bike to the secretary Jack MacKay to find out if anything else had been reported into Scotland, No pigeons reported and as young John returned around about 10.00am he did not get the message out to uncle John as he looked up and there was ‘Galabank Duke’ shutting his wings coming into to land. John Kirkpatrick was elated to have both his pigeons back and when he heard the news from young John he was even happier.
‘Galabank Prince’ won 1st open SNFC Nantes winning the Ellsworth Trophy (for the best average from Rennes & Nantes) on his own having won 40th Rennes a two weeks earlier, a fabulous performance by a pigeon and confirmed that John Kirkpatrick would become immortal as one of Scotland’s greatest racing pigeon fanciers of all time. Sire of ‘Prince’ was a red cock a grandson of ‘Coronation Express’ winner of 1st open SNFC Rennes in 1937 he was also a grand son of ‘900’ who flew the channel 11times his best wins being 11th & 18th SNFC Rennes; and a grandson of the old blue pied ‘Marriott Hen’; whose sister won twice from Nantes for E Cumberland.
Dam of ‘Price’ was a red hen from ‘Galabank Supreme’ and the ‘Logan Hen’ bred by Summer of Wrexham. ‘Galabank Duke’ John’s only other entry in the Nantes race won 2nd open in what John Smith said was ‘The most wonderful day in John Kirkpatrick’s life’. After this event John Smith remembers the press announcing that Roy Rogers, the famous American cowboy and icon, was to visit Galabank lofts, the kids of Annan ensured a noisy and hectic period of time.
Galabank Supreme
The racing career and breeding of ‘Galabank Duke’ is interesting in the fact that he also flew Rennes as a yearling and again the following year where he won 13th south section 205th open. He went to Rennes in 1952 and like ‘Prince’ was doubled back into Nantes. He was kept on the road and flew Rennes again the following year winning 70th open. The breeding of the ‘Duke’ was as follows; his sire was an inbred grandson of ‘Supreme’; being from a half brother and sister mating. The dam of ‘Duke’ was a red hen a daughter of 2nd Guernsey open; 1st section SNFC 1948 cock paired to a blue hen which was from a son of ‘Coronation Express’ and a daughter of ‘900’ and the ‘Marriot blue pied hen’. As said earlier the ‘Duke’ was a brother to ‘Johnny’ 3rd open Rennes for Wull Robertson. At stock the ‘Duke’ was to prove a valuable asset to the Kirkpatrick family.
Stud Book of 1953
John Kirkpatrick wrote; ‘At the outset; my advice to all novice fanciers and also to fanciers of experience is to read intently, read and observe; because it is by observation that success in pigeon racing comes. Observe the condition and bloom on the birds of your club champion when he brings his birds to the race marking and it follows that you will then realise that condition counts in racing or for that matter in showing; breeding or any other aspect of the pigeon game.
Now how does that condition come about? Not by haphazard methods or should I say ‘lack of method’. Even good food given carelessly or at any old time does not give proper results; which mean simply that regularity in all things is essential in pigeon practice. Regular attention; regular food; regular changes of water; in fact; I repeat ‘regularity’ is the ‘must’ we have never to forget.
Then next point to settle is the loft inmates; you must start right with good stock and what better than the stuff which is winning locally; although it may be difficult to persuade the local champion to part with birds which may eventually be competing against him or herself. If you wish to purchase out of your district; don’t be misled by advertisements in which the fanciers quote the hundreds of pounds they win as they may be the case of the long pocket enabling those fanciers to pool heavily and thus taking large cash prizes, even though well down the prize list. Much better to go to the man who has been winning for years and continues to do so; because he must have a family of pigeons; produced by himself; in which the will to win has been long imbued (instilled). He may not be able to give you a newspaper of pedigree proving that the birds you are purchasing have had a big winner in the family way back in the dim 1900’s; but what he will be able to give you is winners in the family within two or three generations at latest which is what counts; because I believe the winning genes must be kept alive and what better than by everlasting trial in which the weaklings rapidly disappear. One last word on this aspect; if your birds are coming from a district far removed from you own; please give the protégé of these birds at least 3 seasons in which to prove themselves as the new introductions have to become properly acclimatised and used with your methods. Yes; even if bred in your own loft; the first and second generation can have the habits and methods of the previous owners bred into them; strange but true!
During the period of old bird races is when observation pays dividends; study each individual race for each bird has its own favourite condition when it will do its utmost to break all records to get home. For instance; my old red cock; ‘Galabank Supreme’ a real champion and winner of over 40 prizes never failed to win when feeding a big hen youngster. Needless to say; I did not let him impair his fitness by feeding the big youngster which; was done for him by other birds or failing anything suitable; by myself. Study your birds; therefore; if you want your name at the top of the prize list’. (This still applies to the present time and I have preached this for a number of years in my Joe Murphy Column).
Nearing the end
The following year 1953 John Kirkpatrick was very ill and in the Rennes race of that time his friend Wull J Robertson won 3rd open Rennes with a 4 year old red chequer cock called ‘Johnny’ bred by John Kirkpatrick and in fact ‘Johnny’ was the nest mate of ‘Galabank Duke’; and he was to prove very momentous at stock. This was a great boost for John whom I have said was not a well man and was approaching the end of his life. However he received another ‘feel good’ factor when he timed in a 2 year old red hen ‘Galabank Queen’ to win 1st section 3rd open Nantes. She was bred direct from ‘Galabank King’ when paired to a grand daughter of ‘Coronation Express’ and the red cock ‘Galabank Lad’. To round off the old bird season his dear friend Wull Robertson timed in to win 65th open Nantes and won the best average for the two SNFC race. Wull had achieved some outstanding performances in the SNFC from as early as 1923; he won 5th open in 1925; 2nd open in 1927; this hen produced a notable pair of pigeons; the cock won 2nd open while the hen arrived a few minutes after him to win 3rd open from Rennes in 1931. At this time Wull Robertson raced to a modest back garden loft and many famous fanciers visited his home as he was considered by many as one of Scotland’s finest flyers from that pre war period. He was also a very adventurous fancier; and had pigeons home from San Sebastian a distance of over 800 miles to Annan on two occasions. One of these pigeons was called ‘Carnera’ named after a famous boxer of that time; and this pigeon was the only bird recorded in to Scotland from this event. So you could see how a friendship was established as John Kirkpatrick had the greatest of respect for Wull Robertson’s achievements and he had set the standard that Kirkpatrick wanted to achieve.
Galabank Queen
After a four year illness John Kirkpatrick who was ill and in bed sent for young John Smith; when he went into see Uncle Johnny; Kirkpatrick asked his wife Carrie to give him £20 (a lot of money in those days in 1954). He said to young John ‘I want you to go out and buy some fishing tackle’ in those days you did what you were told by your elders and John carried out his wishes. He says ‘This was typical of the man Joe he was a giant in every sense of the word’. John Smith became a very good fisherman and on the 55th anniversary his aunt Carrie’s passing he arranged to have a special Salmon Fly created by the famous Borders ‘Gun Room’, owned by Shaun Twight at St Boswells in the Scottish Borders. The fly was created by Iain Wilson and matches the colours of “Galabank Prince”. The first fly to be tested on the famous River Tweed by a gentleman from Warrington, produced a 21 pound salmon. The name of the salmon fly is ‘Kirkpatrick’s Fancy’ and I have enclosed a photograph of this fly to let fanciers see it; John Smith has the original and he kindly gave me one of the last batch he had made which is a wonderful gesture by this man. I’m not a fisherman but I have placed this ‘fly’ in the unit in my living room and I will show this off to any fishermen friends who visit our home.
Kirkpatrick Fancy
Passing of a Legend
John Kirkpatrick passed away a few months after the old bird season of 1953 and his good friend Wull Robertson died the same year. Kirkpatrick’s wife Carrie decided to race the Kirkpatrick pigeons for one more season. The pigeons were managed by the families’ great friend Wullie Graham who had helped her husband during his later years. Competing from Rennes in 1954 the final season of the famous Kirkpatrick Galabank Lofts; Mrs Kirkpatrick timed in a 3 year old blue chequer cock to win 3rd open Rennes and the pigeon was aptly named ‘Galabank Remembrance’; which had flown Dol as a yearling; then Rennes as a 2 year old. He was bred out of a Barker hen purchased from Barker; and his sire was from the famous Hill of St Just grizzle hen ‘6498’ crossed with the immortal ‘Galabank Supreme’.
The Kirkpatrick birds were sold by auction on Saturday 11th December 1954 the world famous Galabank champions were convoyed to the ZION Institute, Hulme Manchester for the sale by John Smith’s father Frederick Anderson Smith, who was a top footballer in his day and generous Scottish Tenor supervised the day.
The late Lou Massarella purchased the top four famous Kirkpatrick champions. On studying the Kirkpatrick sales list ‘Galabank Prince’ 1st open Nantes went for £125; ‘Duke’ 2nd open Nantes went for £200; ‘Galabank Queen’3rd open Nantes went for £105; ‘Galabank Remembrance’ 3rd open Rennes £145. Two other pigeons made upwards of £100 lot 5 a brother to 1290 ‘Galabank Remembrance’; lot 6 a full sister to ‘Remembrance’ made £100. Like the present day auction sales there were some bargains to be had and on in particular that caught my eye was Lot 22 sire ‘Galabank Remembrance’ dam ‘4041’ sold for £20 while other children from ‘Remembrance’ like Lot 21 made £37.10s.
Conclusion
I hope I have done some justice to the great man John Kirkpatrick and to John Smith; it has indeed been a great pleasure for me to go over the memorabilia that John Smith left with me and I will photocopy this and retain as a keepsake of this wonderful area in Scottish Pigeon folklore. I have tried to obtain a loan of some pictures to go with this article however the source who has some would not loan these out which is a pity as it would have made a difference to the story. I have endeavoured to enhance the pictures John Smith gave me by scanning them and touching them up in the hope they will reproduce and show you the readers the quality of pigeons John Kirkpatrick had and more importantly WON with. While spending time with John Smith in the hotel listening to his stories he told Margaret and I about his Aunt Carrie timing in ‘Galabank Remembrance’ the year after John’s death and this man was overcome with emotion and apologised to us. We told him not to worry as I believe this is a reflection of how John Smith loved his uncle Johnny, thus proving what a very genuine person he was. To have been in the company of John Smith and listen to him narrative about a legend like John Kirkpatrick was one of highlights of my life as a fancier and journalist for the pigeon press.
When you consider that John Kirkpatrick was deprived of channel racing during the second World War from 1939 till 1945 when his team were without doubt in their ‘prime’ plus the fact the man passed away at the tender age of 56 years; one wonders what he would have achieved had he lived say another 10 to 15 years. The comments of John Kirkpatrick in the years books of 1938 and 1953 are not far of the mark for pigeon fanciers at this present time; ok feeding; training; racing has changed; but observation; loft management; hard work and obtaining quality stock has not. Kirkpatrick kept it simple and tested out his pigeons, only the best survived and maybe the present day fanciers should apply this method.
I did the above with my yearlings as I sent Mystical Rose to the Fife Federation open Sartilly (515 miles) race as a yearling and she won 1st club 8th open. The following year I sent her to Rennes and she took 3 weeks to return home. While talking to my good friend Wilf Flockhart of Tranent he asked me ‘What happened to the good chequer hen you timed from Sartilly?’ I told him the above and he said ‘Send her back to Sartilly’. The following year she won 1st club 1st Fife Federation 1st Region C 20th East Section 83rd open from an entry of 3180 birds. 3 weeks later I sent her back to Sartilly 2 and she won 144th East Section 236th open from an entry of 3673 birds. Then in 1992 she was set up for Sartilly (1) and won 1st Fife Federation 1st Region C; 1st East Section & 1st open SNFC with an entry of 3293 birds. I then stopped her for stock and did not go for a Gold Award; she meant more to me as she had fulfilled my dream of becoming a SNFC winner just like John Kirkpatrick—The same year as Mystical Rose won the 1st open from Sartilly we won 4th open SNFC Sartilly 2 with a 2 year old but I also sent a late bred cock to this same race. The night before basketting for the Sartilly 2 I went out to lock up the loft and noticed this late bred red cock sitting on the perc. He was in immaculate condition but was only a late bred so never thought anymore about it. The following morning when I went out to open the loft at the back of 5am he was still sitting on the perch and the down feathers were all around his feet and he looked like he had a V neck jumper on. His condition was so good I handled him and decided I might not ever get him in this condition again in his life, so sent him to the race. Jimmy & Gary Peggie came to see our birds return from the nationals and when I told them I had sent the late bred, they jokingly said they were going to report me to the ‘cruelty officer’ . Low and behold we timed him in to win 18th east section 30th open 2915 birds, thus proving John Kirkpatrick theory correct. As a matter of interest Jim & Garry won the SNFC in 2021 which gave me great pleasure as we have been friends for a long long time. Joe Murphy)
(Fanciers in the north of Scotland send their yearlings to Hastings on the south coast and this is the corresponding distance as John Kirkpatrick flew from Rennes all those years ago. They also nowadays send their birds over to France with the nationals.)
Back to my original story;
To John Smith both Margaret and I thank you for a wonderful day; it was indeed a day we will both never forget; and we thank you for the gift of the Westminster clock won by the ‘great man’ himself. I will cherish this for the remainder of my life and hopefully one of our grandchildren will become pigeon fanciers. This was indeed a great honour to receive such a ‘gift’ and I am without a doubt humbled by the generosity shown by John Smith and I hope he is happy with my above contribution and may I wish John and his family all the very best in health and happiness for years to come.
© Compiled by Joe Murphy December 2009; with some additions added in 2022
