You could say that the history of the West Highland White Terrier’s name begins with a 6th-century Celtic monk named St. Modan.

Before Modan became canonized, he was a simple monk, and before he became a monk, he was the son of an Irish chieftain. Though a noble lineage provided Modan a privileged upbringing, he chose a monastic life and dedicated himself to missionary work. At that time, Irish monks were especially zealous about sharing their faith in places where Christianity hadn’t taken root, and Scotland was such a place. Modan is credited not only with bringing Christianity to the area but also with establishing a chapel on a peninsula whose name, Rosneath, is derived from the Gaelic Ros Neimhidh, meaning “promontory of consecrated ground” or “cape of the sanctuary.”

St. Modan’s chapel established Rosneath as a place of religious importance, but because the spot was surrounded by woods, hills, and deep water channels, it was ideal for military and strategic operations. This is how Rosneath Castle came to be built on a rock outcrop overlooking the bay in the 12th century (over time, the name “Rosneath’ would morph into “Roseneath”).

Three centuries later, the Campbells moved in.

King James IV granted the Rosneath estate to Colin Campbell, the 1st Earl of Argyll, and it was Colin’s great-grandson many times over, George, the 8th Duke of Argyll, who came to breed white terriers at the castle named for the peninsula where Modan had built his church. George’s terriers, bred to hunt small game and vermin, were known for their softer coat and longer head shape compared to other terriers.

While George was breeding his Roseneath terriers, a contemporary, Dr. Americ Edwin Flaxman, was also actively breeding his Scottish Terriers, but his breeding program took a detour.  No matter who the sire was, Flaxman’s Scottie bitch, “Tartan,” consistently produced white puppies. Sadly, white terriers were considered undesirable and often culled, but Flaxman came to believe that the white color was an old genetic trait attempting to resurface. One can almost picture Flaxman looking at Tartan, throwing up his arms and saying to her, “You win.” He decided to focus on breeding white terriers and called them Pittenweem Terriers.

Flaxman’s terriers were also named after a geographic spot, Pittenweem, a picturesque fishing village in Fife, Scotland.  The Pittenweem name came from the Pictish and Gaelic languages (“Pit-“ meaning “place” and “enweem” from the Gaelic na h-Uaimh meaning “of the caves”).  Both Flaxman and George Campbell had followed a common naming convention of the day which was to name their dogs after their estates, towns, or regions to indicate their origins. In time, this tradition would be tossed aside, but that story comes a little later because we haven’t yet gotten to Colonel Edward Malcolm’s Poltalloch Terriers.

Unlike the Campbells who had moved into their estate long after it had been built, the history of Poltalloch Estate in Argyllshire, Scotland was always deeply tied to the Malcolm family. They got the lands in 1562 and immediately established their seat there. Ironically, the Malcolms were a branch of the powerful Campbell clan, but Malcolms were also a family of wealth and influence, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Colonel Edward Malcolm’s older brother, Neill, oversaw construction of the grand Poltalloch House built between 1849 and 1853, and when Neill passed away, Edward moved in and became the 16th Laird of Poltalloch. There, Edward bred his own line of white terriers which, in keeping with convention, were named after the estate, Poltalloch.

To the regret of many a dog historian, there is no record of direct collaboration among these three breeders, but they were contemporaries, and they were breeding white terriers, so one does wonder. How did the Roseneath, Pittenweem, and Poltalloch Terriers come together?

Speculation is that it was fanciers of these different strains that interbred the terriers to refine traits such as coat texture, head shape, and working ability, but certainly, informal interbreeding contributed to unifying the lines into a single breed standard. By the early 20th century, interest had grown in the notion of standardizing white terriers that could excel as working dogs in Scotland’s rugged terrain.

In 1904, a breed club was formed for the Roseneath Terrier. It was at this point in our homework that we thought,  “Hang on, wait a minute.” Why was a breed club formed for the Roseneath Terrier, and not the Poltalloch Terrier or Pittenweem Terrier?

We have more speculation than evidence that the prominence and influence of George Campbell brought more attention to his Roseneath Terriers. Campbell held a significant position in society at a time when there was booming interest in pedigree dog shows and breeding. This was especially true in Victorian Britain, and influential figures like Campbell could promote their dogs in “all the right places.” This made the Roseneath Terrier the logical choice for organizing a breed club, and Campbell became president of the club named for his dogs.

After the Roseneath Terrier club was formed in 1904, a second club emerged under the Countess of Aberdeen, and when Edward Malcolm succeeded her as chairman, it leveraged his reputation as a breeder. More importantly, it breathed air into his vision for a cohesive breed identity between the three terriers. Under Edward, the club endeavored to broaden the scope beyond just Roseneath Terriers by including the other white terrier lines. Malcolm now had a platform to advocate for a unified breed standard.

Iit took about a year for the unified white terrier breed to be officially recognized and named, but here is where something different – and rather unselfish – happened. Edward Malcolm insisted that these “new” terriers not be named after him or his estate. He advocated for a broader regional identity for the breed, a name that would ensure that no single strain or breeder dominated the breed’s identity. After this, breed clubs were reorganized under the new name, West Highland White Terrier. When the breed made its first appearance at Crufts in 1907, it solidified its identity.

History doesn’t tell us if there were hard feelings between the three breeders. Our sense is that each man worked independently to develop their dogs for different reasons: Malcolm bred white dogs to be better seen while hunting, Flaxman’s goal was to revive an ancient genetic trait in Scottish Terriers, and George just liked how they looked. In the end, different goals may have actually complemented each other, but it was Edward who emerged as the person most closely associated with formalizing the breed.

Image: Westie with Daisies by Mary Sparrow – HangingtheMoonShelby
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