History & Origin
Your British Shorthair comes from a long line of working cats. Their ancestors are thought to be the domestic cats the Romans brought to Britain to keep rodents out of their grain stores. For the next couple of thousand years they were simply Britain's everyday cats, living on farms, in streets and in kitchens, and getting very good at the job. That's where the sturdy build and the weatherproof coat come from.
In the late 1800s, an artist and cat lover named Harrison Weir decided these everyday cats deserved a bit of glory. He wrote the first breed standards and organized the first big cat show, at London's Crystal Palace in 1871, where British Shorthairs were among the stars. The blue ones, known as 'British Blues', quickly became the favorites.
The breed had a rough twentieth century. Numbers crashed during both World Wars, and breeders rebuilt it partly by crossing in Persians, Russian Blues and other breeds. That outcrossing is where the extra roundness and plush coat came from, and it's also why longhaired kittens still turn up in British Shorthair litters today (see Looks & Colors).
Today the British Shorthair is one of the most popular pedigree cats in the world, and it's still the same calm, sturdy cat that once guarded Roman granaries. Just a lot less interested in the mice.