British Longhair
A semi-longhair version of British Shorthair.
Apart from fur, it is identical to the British Shorthair. Also
known as Lowlander (US) and Britanica (Europe), but not recognised
in the UK.
The rationale for this
breed is that the original longhaired British cat, through interbreeding
with imported longhairs, was developed into the Persian and
became increasingly massive and extreme in type and with longer,
thicker fur than the early Persians. During the late 19th Century
and early 20th Century, the Persian was considered the longhaired
analogue of the British Shorthair (Frances Simpson "The
Book of the Cat" depicts and describes the old type of
Persian). During the latter part of the 20th Century a shorthaired
vesion of the modern Persian was developed and was called the
Exotic Shorthair; this was very different from the British Shorthair.
It was therefore proposed that a longhaired cat of the British
type be reintroduced into the cat fancy.