Bill George (dog dealer)

[2] He was indirectly part of an incident in 1825, sponsored by Sam Wedgbury, who had bought a dog from White, and a menagerie owner called George Wombwell, involving lion-baiting by Bulldogs.

Aware that for the business to continue, a new clientele would have to be cultivated, George shifted the focus onto the Bulldog as a companion animal, giving the breed a fresh impetus.

Then by some freak of fashion the Toy Bulldog became all the rage in Paris, with the result that the celebrated Bill George, of Canine Castle, Kensal New Town, the most eminent dog dealer of his or any other day, received carte blanche commissions from French customers to procure them light-weight Bulldogs, and by this means England was denuded of all the best specimens.

George's famous white dog Dan, which weighed 65 lbs, and was sold for the extraordinary sum of £100, was a grandson of Big Headed Billy.

Earlier than that, he had begun to branch out into Mastiffs, selling John Wigglesworth Thompson the brindle bitch Juno, who would be the foundation of his line.

Apparently Charles Dickens paid him visits when researching Bill Sikes’ dog, Bull’s Eye (portrayed by illustrator Fred Barnard as a Bulldog) in Oliver Twist (1837-39).

In 1884 the publication made this appeal, "During the last few years of his life, Bill George was jilted to some extent by Dame Fortune, and hence his widow, who is paralysed, is totally unprovided for, and has no resources.