Nipper
Nipper (1884 – September 1895), also known as the RCA Victor dog, was a dog from Bristol, England. Bred as a terrier mix, he served as the model for a 1898 painting by British painter Francis Barraud titled His Master's Voice. This image became one of the world's best known trademarks, the famous dog-and-gramophone pairing that was used by several record companies and their associated company brands, including Berliner Gramophone and its various affiliates and successors, among them Berliner's German subsidiary Deutsche Grammophon; Berliner's American successor the Victor Talking Machine Co. (later known as RCA Victor and then RCA Records); Zonophone; Berliner's (and later Victor's) British affiliate the Gramophone Co. Ltd. (informally known as His Master's Voice) and its successors EMI and HMV Retail Ltd.; the Gramophone Co.'s German subsidiary Electrola; and onetime Victor subsidiary the Japan Victor Company (JVC).
For other uses, see Nipper (disambiguation).Biography[edit]
Nipper was born in 1884 in Bristol, England, and died in September 1895.[1] He was likely a mixed-breed dog, although most early sources suggest that he was a Smooth Fox Terrier, or perhaps a Jack Russell Terrier,[2][3][4] or possibly "part Bull Terrier".[5] He was named Nipper because he would often "nip" at the backs of visitors' legs.[6]
Nipper originally lived with his owner, Mark Henry Barraud, in the Prince's Theatre where Barraud was a scenery designer.[7] When Barraud died in 1887, his brothers Philip and Francis took care of the dog, then Francis took Nipper to Liverpool, and later to Mark's widow in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. Nipper died of natural causes in 1895 and was buried in Kingston upon Thames at Clarence Street, in a small park surrounded by magnolia trees. As time progressed, the area was built upon, and a branch of Lloyds Bank now occupies the site. On the wall of the bank, just inside the entrance, a brass plaque commemorates the terrier that lies beneath the building.[8]
On 10 March 2010, a small road near to the dog's final resting place in Kingston upon Thames was officially named Nipper Alley in commemoration of this well-known resident.[8]