History
It is said that Parson John Russell, vicar of Swimbridge, acquired his first terrier from a milkman in the village of Marston in Oxfordshire while studying at Oxford. The dates of this alleged purchase vary between 1815 and 1819. The fox terrier type bitch, roughly 14 inches at the shoulder, rough of coat and predominately white was called Trump. She was to be the ancestor to Parson's legendary strain of terriers. A painting of Trump was commissioned for the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII and still hangs at Sandringham today. It was from this painting that the reproduction was made for the sign of the Jack Russell Inn.
Russell used his terriers to flush quarry for his hounds. He was adamant that his terriers would not maim or kill the fox but rather to nip and worry it to the point that it would bolt its den and take its chances above ground. The great fad during the nineteenth century was to cross bulldogs with various strains of terriers to produce an extremely tough and hard terrier. However, Russell strongly disapproved of this practice since the inclusion of the bulldog blood ruined what Russell called 'the gentlemanly characteristics' of his strain.
Few of Russell's terriers were docked (half the tail removed at birth) and the "squirrel tails" that characterised his terriers were sometimes regarded with distaste by his fellow hunters. But Russell insisted that the natural, undocked tail enabled him to grab the dog by its stern and draw it from the earth whenever it was locked on to its quarry.
John Russell died in 1883, was buried in the cemetery opposite the pub and his kennels were dispersed, some reputedly to Squire Nicholas Snow of Oare. These became the foundation stock of Arthur Hernemann who is often cited as the last of the breeders of the true Jack Russell terrier.