The HMV Dog - How a Stray Puppy Became an Icon

Nipper, the Symbol of His Master's Voice, Painted by Francis Barraud

Nov 25, 2009 Jan Toms

When in 1900 artist Francis Barraud sold his painting of a dog called Nipper, he did not know that he had created an international symbol lasting a hundred years.

Nipper’s Life

Nipper, a stray fox terrier cross had been born in Bristol UK in about 1884 and was taken in by Marc Barraud, a scenery designer for the then Prince’s Theatre in Park Row. He named the dog Nipper because of its habit of biting ankles. In 1887, Barraud died and his brother Francis, then living in Liverpool, initially took the dog in.

Francis had acquired a phonograph and was amused when Nipper, mystified by the disembodied voice, would study the machine with his ears pricked. Nipper was returned to Marc Barraud’s widow at Kingston upon Thames where in 1895, he died. She buried him under a willow tree.

Francis Barraud’s Painting

Some three years after Nipper’s death Francis Barraud recorded the dog’s fascination with the phonograph, painting it from memory and hoping that he might be able to sell the image but in this he was unsuccessful. His application to exhibit it at the Royal Academy was also turned down. Finally, he showed it to William Owen, Director of the Gramophone Company who said that if Barraud replaced the phonograph with a gramophone, then he would buy it. Barraud obliged and sold the work for one hundred pounds, to include the copyright.

In 1900 Emile Berliner, the American inventor of discs for reproducing music on the gramophone visited England and acquired the image where it became the trademark for the American market. It was not until 1907 that the painting was finally entitled His Master’s Voice and Barraud was commissioned to make copies. When he died in 1924 he had painted twenty-four replicas. The original hangs in the EMI headquarters in Gloucester Place. The first HMV shop was opened in London in 1921 by Sir Edward Elgar.

Francis Barraud

Francis Barraud and his brother Marc were the sons of Henry Barraud (1811-74) who along with their uncle, William made their living painting sporting scenes. Their maternal grandfather Thomas Hull was a well-known miniaturist. Francis studied at the Royal Academy Schools, Heatherby’s Art School in London and the Beaux Arts in Antwerp. He mainly painted rural scenes and famously illustrated the Every Girls' Annual for 1883. He died on August 29 1924 and is buried in Hampstead Cemetery, London.

Where Nipper is Buried

Nipper’s burial ground became a car park for Lloyd’s Bank at Kingston upon Thames and in 1984 permission was given to erect two plaques, one inside and one in the bank's car park recording his last resting-place. A blue plaque on the wall of Bristol University celebrates his birth. He is the only known dog to earn a blue plaque.

Sources:

The Story of Nipper and His Master's Voice - Ruth Edge and Leonard Petts, Pub Manson Group 1997

The Rise and Fall of EMI Records - Brian Southall, Omnibus Press 2009

The copyright of the article The HMV Dog - How a Stray Puppy Became an Icon in Historical Biographies is owned by Jan Toms. Permission to republish The HMV Dog - How a Stray Puppy Became an Icon in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Bristol University plaque to Nipper

Statue to Nipper Bristol