Following Doran was Cruachan of Ifold, bred by Ralph Montagu Scott, by Michael out of Ferb, and born 26th July, 1922.
Cruachan of Ifold Winner of the Height Cup at the IWC Show, 1924 |
Cruachan's official portrait was painted by Mrs. Horace Colemore. He wore a silver collar that is now in the Guards Museum in London. He was apparently a hound with very strong ideas of his own, as the following newspaper report shows:
MASCOT DESERTS THE IRISH GUARDS |
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AND JOINS UP WITH THE COLDSTREAMERS |
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BY THE CULPRIT |
I had a rare bit of fun to-day. I am a wolf-hound, and, though I say it myself, as fine a wolf-hound as you'll find anywhere. The Irish Guards have adopted me as their mascot. I go on parade with them and behave very solemnly. You know what parades are, and how fussy the Guards are about them. To-day a drummer boy who often takes me out said, "Come along, Tiny" (I am so big that of course I have to be called Tiny), and took me in what I think you call the dickey seat of a motor-car. |
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Just as we got to Buckingham Palace I heard a
band. The Changing of the Guard. I wanted to have a look, to see if the Coldstreamers are as smart as our fellows. (Our fellows always swear they're not) But the car wouldn't stop. So out I jumped, dragging the drummer boy with me. I soon shook him off, and, dodging sentries and policemen, ran into the Courtyard of the Palace and started to watch the Coldstreamers. The crowd at the Palace gates who had also come to watch the Coldstreamers stopped watching them to watch ME! Just as I was getting interested in the "Old Guard, Present Hipe!" "New Guard, Present Hipe!" stuff I noticed the drummer boy and several policemen approaching. I bolted. |
Here I am, bolting through the gates of the Palace |
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Into the Green Park, round the Victoria Fountain,
up The Mall I went. By this time lots of ordinary people were after me, and just as I was wondering what to do I saw a batch of Coldstreamers marching down The Mall and had an IDEA. As they reached me I fell in with them and solemnly marched along at their head, just as though they were my own mob. I was enjoying the situation thoroughly when that pesky little drummer boy stole up at my back, grabbed my collar, and yanked me back to barracks. Bad cess to him! Still, I'd had my fun. |
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REFLECTION: Lucky for me I'm a mascot, not an "other rank". What a charge-sheet there'd be to face in the morning - "Absent from parade," "Unsoldierly conduct," and goodness only knows what. |
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Here are two more photographs of Cruachan on the day he charged off after the Coldstream Guards:- |
©TopFoto |
"Irish Guards' mascot jumps from car to follow the Colours" |
©TopFoto |
and caught by the Drummer Boy |
©TopFoto |
Cruachan leading the Band on parade |
Gale & Polden postcard |
Newspaper item c. 1925 The Irish Guards with their Irish wolfhound mascot passing the saluting base in the Mall. |
Cruachan, it seemed, was inclined to attack other dogs when being exercised
in Hyde Park and had several set-tos. One story about him on one of the
regimental websites is that he actually killed a dog belonging to the Italian
Ambassador. He died on November 2nd, 1929 from peritonitis. However, in the
book "Irish Guards: The First Hundred Years", it states that,
after the killing of the Italian Ambassador's poodle, Cruachan was retired
prematurely. Although it also states that "no replacement was sought until
1942", when officially the next mascot did not appear until 1951.
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Updated 7/11/2007