Tonkinese – A Short History
by Linda Vousden
Burmese and Siamese cats are sometimes referred to as the ‘parent’ breeds of the modern Tonkinese; but the history and breeding of these three glamorous cats have been intricately woven through the history of the Cat Fancy The three breeds are genetic cousins, the differences between them are the colour of the eyes and how the colour appears on the coat, they were even similar in shape until the 1970s. The Tonkinese is unique because although the mink coat-pattern exists there is not actually a gene for it. It is a combination of the 'solid' (Burmese restriction) coat-pattern and the 'pointed' (Siamese restriction) coat-pattern. This unique genetic behaviour also results in blue-green eyes instead of yellow/green or clear blue eyes. Tonkinese kittens with the solid or pointed coat-patterns are not Burmese or Siamese, as it incorrectly says in so many books, they are Tonkinese - they have two Tonkinese parents!
In the East, cats were revered because they were believed to carry a pious person's soul before it ascended to Paradise. Distinct breeds of cat were first recorded in South East Asia and are known to have been present in Siam (Thailand) around 400 CE. Ancient Thai manuscripts in the Bangkok Museum show many cats, including very pale cats with distinctly darker points like the Siamese and cats with bright copper coats - the Tonkinese.
When cats were brought to England from Thailand, in the late 1880’s, they were called Siamese because of the area they came from, but they included cats with the coat-patterns and eye colours of Tonkinese, Burmese and Siamese. The Tonkinese has been seen in the West for over a hundred years now. In 1889, Harrison Weir (known as the 'Father of the Cat Fancy') wrote about a cat belonging to Mr Young's, which had come from Singapore, he described it as a "chocolate variety of the royal Siamese cat", and said that it was very beautiful and scarce. Mr Young described his own cat as having a dun coloured body with nose, ears, face, feet and tail of a very dark chocolate brown, and it had eyes of beautiful blue. Mr Young's other prize cat was a very rich seal with darker face, ears and tail, the legs darker toward the feet and eyes of rich amber colour (today's Burmese). He mated his 'Chocolate Siamese’ (not chocolate-point Siamese) with a 'Royal Siamese', three of the kittens had the Royal coat-pattern and the fourth kitten had the Chocolate coat-pattern.
In her Book of the Cat (1903), Frances Simpson mentions both the Chocolate and the Royal Siamese. The Royal is described as "cream coloured in body with sharply defined seal brown markings on head, ears, legs, feet and tail; eyes a decided blue"; the Chocolate is described as "deep brown in colour showing hardly any markings and have blue eyes". There are certainly plenty of references to the Chocolates by early cat fanciers who described it as having less contrast between point and body colour than the Royal Siamese and having eye colour of varying shades of blue. Although the Royal Siamese was the preferred variety, the Chocolate did have its followers including Mrs Sutherland who bred them from her Chocolate stud, Prince of Siam. Unfortunately, the Chocolates were not as popular with the public as the Royal Siamese so very few breeders were interested in breeding them. Selective breeding with only the Royal coat-pattern gradually resulted in the apparent disappearance of the Chocolates.
Wong Mau, the ancestress of the modern Burmese cats, was the first cat genetically proven to be Tonkinese. She was imported to the USA in 1930 and was described as a brown hybrid with darker points on her face, legs, feet and tail. Her owner, Dr Joseph C Thompson, was interested in finding out what the genetic difference was between Wong Mau and his Siamese. In 1932 he mated Wong Mau with a Siamese stud called Tai Mau; he then bred her back to one of her sons. The resulting kittens had two different coat-patterns, a uniformly brown coat and a medium brown coat with darker points. After a number of test matings Dr Thompson and his geneticist colleagues were satisfied that Wong Mau was genetically a Burmese/Siamese cross.
So, selective breeding for the solid or pointed coat-patterns ensured that Burmese and Siamese emerged as distinct breeds. Even so, it cannot be doubted that Burmese and Siamese were being bred from cats that were regarded as having less typical coat-patterns for their breed – in fact they were genetically Tonkinese. The Chocolates kept appearing over the years in litters of kittens supposedly bred from Siamese or Burmese.
The Tonkinese has had a significant role in the foundation of the Burmese breed and the pedigree of many imported Burmese would look very different if those cats were registered today. USA Champion Chango of the Farm, a direct descendant of Wong Mau, is seen in nearly all of the Burmese foundation pedigrees; he was born in 1941 and was described as “a dark Siamese with aquamarine eyes”. One of the UK's most famous Burmese was Mrs Lillian France's Casa Gatos Da Foong (imported from the USA in 1949) had a pedigree that was a complex mixture of cats with Burmese, Siamese and Tonkinese coat-patterns. In the UK, the first registered Burmese/Siamese cross was Chira Tan Tockseng, imported from the USA in 1958 by Mrs RJ Grove-White to use as a foundation for her Burmese breeding programme.
Today’s Tonkinese is a regeneration of the cat painted in the ancient Thai manuscripts, and was once known in England as the 'Chocolate Siamese'. The Tonkinese is not a hybrid but it may be called a cross-breed in terms of its deliberate revival. Breeders of several new cat breeds today have sought to take characteristics from two completely different breeds to create a third; Tonkinese breeders are crossing genetic cousins to re-create an ancient intermediate coat-pattern.
In the mid 1950’s a New York pet shop owner, Milan Greer, began to breed Siamese with Burmese to produce the cats with the intermediate coat-pattern. He bred them as pets for several generations. He called them 'Golden Siamese', but he eventually gave up his project to breed Burmese for competition. Then in the mid-1960's, Jane Barletta in New Jersey, and Margaret Conroy in Canada, independently began to breed the Burmese with Siamese. Each breeder produced a line of brown cats, with darker brown points and aquamarine-coloured eyes. Margaret Conroy bred her English female Burmese to a seal-point Siamese; she dubbed the breed 'Tonkanese'. Jane Barletta placed an advertisement in 'Cat Fancy' magazine, which led to contact with Margaret Conroy and with Mary Swanson in California. Jane worked with Margaret on the first standard for the Tonkinese breed. The breed was accepted for registration by Canadian Cat Association (CCA) in 1965, and granted championship status by the same association in 1971. The breed name was officially changed from 'Tonkanese' to 'Tonkinese'. By 1970, there were several West Coast Tonkinese breeders and by 1975, the Tonkinese had been accepted in the USA by the Independent Cat Federation and the Cat Fanciers Federation.
In 1978 the CFA approved Tonkinese registration. Jane Barletta’s work led to the founding of the Tonkinese Breed Club (USA) which marked the beginning of the Tonkinese community to advance the breed and to achieve show status in all associations. Joan Bernstein, should also be acknowledged as the driving force that eventually led to the CFA accepting the Tonkinese.
In the UK in 1990, a group of breeders, who had previously registered their Tonkinese with the Cat Association of Great Britain, formed the Tonkinese Breed Club (UK). Their objective was to have the Tonkinese accepted by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF), the world's oldest body for the registration of cats. After much hard work the Tonkinese were recognised by the GCCF in 1991. The work continued to promote the Tonkinese in the UK. And eventually, in June 2001, the Tonkinese became a championship breed. The Tonkinese Breed Club was the first Tonkinese club in the world to hold show for only Tonkinese. The UK Tonkinese is now represented by both the Tonkinese Breed Club and the Tonkinese Cat Club, who work together to promote the breed.