Updated 1/6/2008

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Take a look at any slickly presented top show springer in any country today. Whether he is winning BIS at an Australian Royal or Westminster in the States, it is fascinating to find that his ancestors can be traced back as far as 17 AD. 
Many other breeds, for example the majority of the sighthound breeds, have changed very little since their beginnings, but the English Springer Spaniel is virtually unrecognisable.  There are several reasons to explain this, the main one being that between 17 AD and 1902 the Spaniel family has evolved into eight different Spaniel breeds.

It is assumed, but not proven, that the Spaniel had his origins in Spain, as the name is certainly from the Roman name for that country (Hispania) and that in all probability, they were spread around Europe by the Roman soldiers in their travels.

At the same time,  history shows that land and water spaniels were not only present in that country, but had been settled long enough to have gone their separate ways. Across the water,  Welsh history makes  mention of the Spaniel in 300 AD.  The evolution of the variety from this time up to the 1300s is apparently unrecorded. However, in 1387, the French author of the book 'Livre de Chasse': Gaston de Foix, describes in detail how his dogs flushed and retrieved game, and it is in much the same  manner as today's working Spaniels.

In the mid 1550s, a publication by Dr Caius a noted Canine authority  mentions Springers by name and describes them as the land spaniels that flushed game.  Their markings were almost all white with red or black  patches.  A description of the breed a century later mentions floppy ears with a white chest, belly and feet and a black body.  History gives no solid foundation for the modem idea that the colour black indicates impure ancestry!  

By the 1800s, the variety had been sorted out into the Cockers (25  pounds and under) and Field Spaniels or English Spaniels (35 to 45 pounds, and 17 to 18 inches high).  It can be imagined that the latter  category carried great variation and it was fortunate for the modern Springer that a Shropshire family by the name of Boughey saw fit to keep  their own strain of English Spaniels pure, even to the extent of keeping their own Stud book.  This was in 1812 and was of benefit when in  eventually in 1902, each type of Spaniel was registered separately.  However, because they were classified by looks and weight rather than  parentage it was possible to have for example, the progeny of two cockers registered as a Springer because it was over 25 pounds. 

With the advent of both bench and Field competition there was for the first time a great incentive to have stock that came from as pure a strain as possible and was able to breed true.  It must be said that the quest for success on the bench probably accelerated this as did the realisation that a good typical Springer

A Springer Postcard dated 1932

was in demand in other countries.  

In 1921 the English Springer Spaniel finally came of age when the first  British breed club was formed at the prestigious Crufts Dog Show.