While the recent designer hybrid has little standing in terms of a timeline, both parent breeds are well established in English history as working dogs. The Industrial Revolution brought many Scottish immigrants into England in search of work and with them, they brought several breeds of Terriers. While it is believed that the Yorkshire Terrier developed through mixing these varied breeds such as the Paisley, Tan Toy, Black English and Skye, there is little documented evidence to prove their exact lineage, since most of the breeding was done by mill workers whose sole aim was to produce a dog to keep the vermin population as low as possible.
By the late 1860s, a popular show dog had emerged named Huddersfield Ben, raising the desire for the breed thanks to his refined traits. After becoming a well-known stud in the following years, he was attributed the title "father of the breed" and is still known as such today. Americans got their first real taste of the Yorkshire during the Victorian era, as they embraced the breed as much as they did Victorian customs. Their popularity fell again in the 1940s, but during the war, a famous war dog named Smoky re-energized enthusiasm for the breed and carried their popularity into top-10 status in recent years.
Like the Yorkshire, much of the Jack Russell's lineage can be largely attributed to one dog, Trump, whose owner, Reverend John Russell, was a parson and hunting enthusiast who purchased him from a local milkman in 1819. Trump, at the time, was simply called a "fox terrier," a blanket term for any hunting Terrier used to force foxes from their holes. He was nearly pure white with touches of tan on his face and the base of his tail, the perfect coloring to help distinguish hunter from prey. Combined with stamina, courage, and a perfectly tempered aggressiveness that never resulted in the "unsporting" result of bitten prey, Trump made the perfect dog to refine the breed in its earliest years. While Russell himself did go through many dogs due to financial trouble, thus muddying the clarity of the breed's lineage, Trump is still held in high regard as one of the breed's signature studs. Russell himself had his name eventually attributed to the breed for his work, which was furthered by two other Englishmen who knew Russell and likely received at least some of his dogs before he passed. They formed the Parson Jack Russell Terrier Club and it is believed that their aim to hunt badgers instead of foxes led to the addition of Bull Terriers in the bloodline.
After World War II, demand for hunting dogs plummeted, but the public desire for the dogs only shifted into that of companion dogs, which was met with breeds like Welsh Corgis and Chihuahuas being interbred as well, known then as "Shortie Jacks" and "Russell Terriers." In 1976, the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America was formed, finally restricting the breeding lines into what we know today.
