Amongst the pioneers of whom we have already spoken, is Lord Harcourt, who developed his kennels from the issue of Guisachan ( Gaelic for pine plantation), under the affix "Culham", of lines which we find in almost all the pedigrees of todays dogs, although it takes a little perseverance to go back that far. It seems quite probable that he was the creator of the name "Golden Retriever".
Others have more or less disappeared from memory, no matter how great their input in the evolution of the Golden Retriever.

In effect, the first Goldens strongly resembled, at their origins, (see page The Mixture) the dog on this etching from the beginning of the XX Century. A task of selection and in-breeding allowed evolution to a type of dog much closer to our Goldens of today.

   Amongst forgotten at this time in the history of the Golden Retriever, figures M.D. MacDonald, affix "Ingestre", whose three dogs joined the "Noranby" kennels, and also Mrs Crawshaw, whose affix "Gosmore" dates from 1910 and whose dog "Gosmore Kestrel" was one of the first crowned champions in Great Britain. To be honest, it appears that in the period 1900 to 1920, there was only a very small group of Golden Retriever enthusiasts.

  The leader of this little group was most probably this lady in the photograph to the right: Mrs Charlesworth. She is accompanied by two of her more celebrated dogs, Noranby Sandy and Noranby Balfour. The photograph dates approximately to the end of the first world war. We can detect the difference in bone structure, the colour and its variations from our contemporary Goldens.

  The result of his action was extremely positive, since due to him, the first Golden Retriever Club was created, the breed was first recognised by the Kennel Club and above all, the breed standards were set.

  It must not be forgotten, that the first breed standard which dates back to 1911, is not that which is applied today, as it underwent a change, provoking a great revolution in 1936.