Bloodhound History

VI   The Talbot

Like the Sleuth-hound, the Talbot has been regarded as an ancestor of the Bloodhound.  It appears as the name of some English pubs, and is depicted on the signs as a large white hound with long ears, sometimes with spots.

It has been suggested that this was the white St Hubert, and that it has given rise to the white markings to be found on some Bloodhounds.

The sources suggest there is far too much assumption here.  Du Fouilloux only 'presumes' that St Huberts could be white; there were other white French hounds, even supposing the origin of the Talbot was in France.

In fact the origin of the name, and the animal, is quite uncertain.  The Earls of Shrewsbury, whose family name is Talbot, have as their family crest a white, short-legged hound.  References to this heraldic Talbot seem to be earlier than any references to a real dog.  And all references to the dog are later than those to Bloodhounds.

'Talbot' was, in Medieval times a common name for a hound, a sort of 'Fido' of its day.  In a quotation from about 1449, the king referred to John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury as 'Talbott, oure good dogge', perhaps as a play on his name, or in allusion to the family badge.

It is quite a plausible idea that from this starting point the name 'Talbot' was extended to any large heavy white scent hound, and from there helped to establish a breed or type.

The Talbot remained a distinct type until the beginning of the 19th Century, when it disappeared.
There is however some evidence of variation in in the way people thought of these breeds or types.  Perhaps for some a hound used as a Bloodhound could be called a Bloodhound, and this could have included the Talbot.  Likewise, a large heavy hound which was 'Talbot-like' in general type, though not in colour, including the Bloodhound, could be called a Talbot, though the white hound remained the 'true Talbot'.

For instance, Gervaise Markham, in Country Contentments (1615) says the larger, heavier 'Talbot-like' hounds of whatever colour (probably including Bloodhounds) make the best leash hounds, because they 'delight in bood' and are best for following the foot scent (hunting 'dry-foot').

Sydenham Edwards, in Cynographia Britannica (1800), has this to say, comparing the Talbot and the Bloodhound: