It ’s 1975 and traffic is backed up on London Road , which be given right through the shopping center ofCamberley , England . Motorists are impatient , honking their horns and leaning out windows to see why there is a delay . Somewhere ahead , a spritely womanwearing a beret atop her grey-headed hairis navigating a handmade two - roulette wheel go-cart down the center of the road , take at least two XII Canis familiaris on an jaunt . Most of the former stray are link to the fleeceable - painted cart with a second of string , while the infirm among them are induct in the handcart . A couple of thedogsbound let loose beside the adult female . Most of them are barking up a violent storm and wag their tails , living their best lives .
Meet Kate Ward , later known as " Camberley Kate , " who may well have been the U.K. ’s first dog rescuer . Near this small townspeople , with acurrent populationof less than 40,000 , about35 miles ( 56 kilometers ) SW of London , Camberley Kate single - handedly took in and cared for at least 600 andiron ( and several cats ) from 1943 untilher death Aug. 4 , 1979 , at historic period 84 .
" She would harness all the dogs up to her pushcart and congeal off for town to chew the fat the fumbler for bones , and quite often this would hold up all the dealings , but she ignored the honks from impatient drivers , " sound out Heather Driscoll - Woodford , curator of theRemembering Camberley KateFacebook page , in an electronic mail interview . " So it was quite a spectacle and became something that people associated with the town : the lady with all the dog . "
How It All Got Started
Camberley Kate may not have set out to become a pioneer in caring for undesirable dogs , but from the consequence she rescue her first little dog , there was no turn back .
" I grease one’s palms my cottage , my first home , and I went down the route and there on the veteran ’s doorstep was a small dog , pretty lame , and he was to be put to eternal sleep and I got him , " say an 80 - year - old Kate Ward inan audience filmed in 1975 by the BBCas she took her 24 cad for a walk . " And for eight - and - a - one-half old age , we were inseparable . Wherever I went , he last and when he die everybody order I ’d never keep another . It was then , in his memory only , that I started on and I ’ve now rescued over 500 [ stray dogs ] over the years . "
By the prison term of her death four years later , the number of rescued dog-iron had grown to 600 — and Camberley Kate could easily name them all . Duringthe 1975 BBC consultation , she could be heard not only enumerate the stray ' names , but explaining how they come into her care . There was Patch , who was " fling out of a car in the middle of London Road … among all the dealings . " Another dog , Daddy , was coldcock at the local police station . " They know their own names , " she say .
The local vet , Geoffrey Craddockwho provided pro bono care for Kate ’s pack , articulate during theBBC interviewthat the dogs are " regularly exercised and sensibly fed and highly fit . They reach , on middling , about 16 year of age . "
Camberley Kate Was a Fierce Champion for Dogs
Camberley Kate , who receive the nickname when historian Sir Arthur Bryant dub her such in his Bible , " The Lion and the Unicorn , " may have been kind and caring in her discussion of stray or abandon firedog , but she was not a funk violet . Not everyone who lived in or pass through the community was a fan of her oeuvre , but they presently encountered a woman who was ferociously protective of her dogs and her right field to own them .
While opponents cited concern over traffic hazards and prophylactic atmospheric condition , insisting the dogs were dangerous , Camberley Kate always rise to the dogs ' defense . When aleash practice of law was proposed by Camberley ’s metropolis council in 1969 , Camberley Kate was there to defend it , with the local newspaper quoting her as say , " The Council is nothing more than a collection of dog - hater . I think this will be rotten . It imply that dogs will be chained up all 24-hour interval . "
Camberley Kate would vocalise her outrage at any person or organization that assay to curb the click ' rights to care and exemption . Whether shewas rail at public opinionwhile pick up her mail at the local post office or ramming a young auto with her handcart when it was blocking her way , Camberley Kate fully inhabit her role as an counselor .
Frequently , Camberley Kate turn to her concerns directly to the country ’s top authorization , first writing toGeorge VI , the King of England from 1936 to 1952 , and afterward to his girl , Queen Elizabeth II , who reigned from 1952 to September 2022 . When the succeeding Queen Elizabethmarried Nov. 20 , 1947 , one of Camberley Kate ’s dogssent a wedding endowment — a wiener leash — to the newlywed , who was known for herlove of Welsh corgi .
" She was very set and individual - apt , " articulate Driscoll - Woodford , who also runs theLostPALSvolunteer organization , which supports owners of lost or stolen pets in Surrey Heath , the same area where Camberley Kate once deliver dogs . " A small , tough Yorkshire woman , she did n’t take any nonsense from anybody , and to be honest , I consider she scared a lot of citizenry . "
Camberley Kate’s Animal Rescue Legacy Lives On
While niggling is know about Camberley Kate ’s childhood , her life as a dog rescuer is well - document . Camberley Kate wasfrequently photographedfor the monetary value of a donation toward the dog ' care .
" She had a way with dogs I have never reckon before nor since ; pushing her carriage with all heel well under control , and we are not talking about one or two — Kate had dozens of them , " say Tony Crawford , a commentor on the BBC tale , recalling his encounters with Ward . " I would purchase dog-iron nutrient for her dogs , but she would not take anything for herself . "
Camberley Kate , who lived only on a meagerly pension , was so insistent on the dogs ' well - being that she fix upa reliance fundto benefit them after her death .
" Kate was really the harbinger to the independent dog and kat rescues that are everywhere today , " says Driscoll - Woodford . " In those day , unwanted animal were knock down out on the streets or often left with local vets or the police . There was no such matter as local rescues who would take them in . citizenry might take in the rummy stray for themselves to keep , there was n’t really a local organization as such that would take them all in . But Kate did . She take on them from the street , from the veterinarian and from the police , who also frequently monish her for breaching the peace in the morning and then bring her more dogs in the good afternoon ! "
