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Tip the dog posing for the camera after recovering from her heroic winter vigil

The memorial to Tip on the banks of Derwent reservoir

                                                   A WINTER’S TALE OF MAN'S BEST FRIEND       

THE DERBYSHIRE WINTER OF 1953-54 WAS SUCH A HARSH ONE THAT IT CLAIMED SEVERAL LIVES. HERE PETER SEDDON RECALLS A REMARKABLE INCIDENT WHICH WAS REPORTED AROUND THE WORLD AND IS STILL COMMEMORATED TO THIS DAY.

There can be few more glorious places for a summer ramble than the majestic moorland landscape of North Derbyshire. But that same dramatic terrain in the depths of winter can be far less forgiving to those who stray off the beaten track.

This has seldom been more tragically illustrated than in the harsh winter of 1953-54, when the Derbyshire shepherd Joseph Tagg lost his life in heart-rending circumstances on Howden Moor, in the Upper Derwent Valley. Yet out of the tragedy there emerged the uplifting tale of his loyal dog Tip, whose memory is perpetuated by a poignant stone memorial on the banks of the Derwent Reservoir. Here is the story of ‘Old Joe’ and his faithful friend.

Joseph Tagg was born in North Derbyshire in 1868. Steeped in country tradition from an early age, he grew up to be a shepherd. And a renowned one at that – for many years he served the XVth Duke of Norfolk at Derwent Hall, a magnificent long-lost mansion which was demolished in 1943 to facilitate the construction of the massive Ladybower Reservoir.

Joe Tagg became a well-known Derbyshire character. In 1905 he was a founder member of the Hope Valley sheepdog trials held close to his home. And he earned a reputation as one of the finest breeders around, once selling a sheepdog to a buyer in the United States for the then unprecedented sum of a £1,000. As his life progressed he came to be known locally as ‘Old Joe’, a popular character and true gentleman who lived with his niece Miss Helen Thorpe at Yorkshire Bridge, near Bamford.

Even in his twilight years ‘Old Joe’ was still active, enjoying wandering on the moors with his dog Tip exploring old haunts. It was one such jaunt just over fifty years ago which was to be his last. On the icy cold morning of Saturday 12 December 1953, the 86-year-old set off with Tip for the Upper Derwent valley to attend to some sheep.

Miss Thorpe wasn’t unduly worried about her uncle, for he knew the moors like the back of his hand and had walked far and wide with Tip at his side. Even when the pair failed to return as darkness fell, she felt sure they would appear at any moment, both eager for a warming winter supper. But the night passed and morning came with no sign of the pair – yet even then Helen thought they had perhaps sought refuge from the harsh wintry conditions by staying overnight with an acquaintance high on the bleak sparsely-populated moors.

But when the next morning failed to bring news, search parties were put out to comb the barns and derelict buildings of the locality. An RAF mountain rescue team was joined by gamekeepers and shepherds to scan the hillsides, and weekend ramblers joined in the hunt as news of the disappearance of ‘Old Joe’ and Tip began to spread.

Not a trace was found. The hours passed, and then the days. Then the weeks, as Christmas and New Year came and went. All hope of finding ‘Old Joe’ alive ceased, yet still the hunt for his body continued. Snow fell and lay deep on the ground, hampering the effort and keeping all but the hardiest souls off the wind-ravaged moors. Official searches were eventually halted, but still those who walked the area kept an eye out for remains of the lost pair in that most severe of winters.

Eventually the gruesome find came. It was on Saturday 27 March 1954 that two Water Board men, Sam Bingham and Joe Shepherd, were rounding up sheep high on Ronksley Moor. Sam Bingham stumbled across the frozen corpse of ‘Old Joe’ lying in a dip, exactly fifteen weeks to the day after the disappearance. Just a few feet away he noticed what he thought was a shaggy old coat. Indeed it was a shaggy old coat – but one which suddenly moved and feebly wagged its tail.

The eleven-year-old Tip had survived to keep vigil by her master’s body for 105 days and nights throughout one of the harshest winters Derbyshire had ever known. Even though dazed and emaciated, Tip still showed reluctance to leave the spot where ‘Old Joe’ had fallen, having to be coaxed and carried away in the arms of her rescuer.

She was taken home to Joe’s niece, nursed back to recovery, and revered as a minor miracle. News of the dog’s remarkable act of faith spread far and wide as the media learnt of the story – all concluded that she must have survived by foraging for dead rabbits and game which themselves had failed to last the winter.

People came from near and far to see Tip once she had made a full recovery. For almost another year she lived a life of comfort and honour, culminating in the presentation of the highest award able to be conferred on a dog in this country – the Bronze Medal of the Canine Defence League, equivalent to the Victoria Cross of the animal world. The ceremony took place on Whit Monday 1954 at the Bamford Sheepdog Trials, where Tip was accorded a special tent and enclosure all to herself. She was hugged and fussed all day long.

Not since the remarkable story of the Edinburgh pooch ‘Greyfriars Bobby’ had a doggie yarn so captured the nation’s attention, and like Scotland’s celebrated Skye Terrier, whose much-admired image sits atop a drinking fountain in the city, Derbyshire’s own canine hero is also remembered by a monument.

Time eventually caught up with Tip and she passed quietly away on 16 February 1955, but her story had touched so many people that a campaign was instituted to raise a memorial by public subscription. Contributions came in from all parts of the world, and several months later a modest but poignant memorial stone was unveiled by the banks of the Derwent Dam.

Thousands of visitors to the area each year take photographs of the simple tribute, which stands just a short walk from the Fairholmes Visitor Centre overlooking the water and hills beyond. It doesn’t mark the burial site of Tip – that is on the Howden Moor slopes opposite, in quiet solitude away from the tourist gaze.

As for Tip’s master Joseph Tagg, the inquest held into his death suggested he had probably been re-tracing a boyhood walk, conscious perhaps that his life was waning. It was thought that he had tried to reach Rooksley Farm, his former home, and return over the moors to round the north-east end of Howden Reservoir before crossing the River Derwent at Slippery Stones. It was a journey he never finished, but those who knew him best were all agreed that ‘it was the way he would have liked to go, in his beloved Derbyshire hills with faithful Tip at his side’. The old shepherd’s final resting place is in the Roman Catholic churchyard at Bamford.

Although there is sadness in such a winter’s tale, the story is still a heartening one. Tip’s loyalty and devotion went beyond that which any human might have offered. One writer on the subject suggested ‘it should be a lesson to us all, to be kind and loyal to our fellow men and family even in the face of the cruellest adversity’. Something to remember, perhaps, when the relatives arrive for Christmas!

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County:  Derbyshire

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