Born Bristol (and/or found as a stray, sources differ). Mixed breed with a reputation for nipping visitor's legs, hence the name. His owner, Mark Barraud (1848-1887) worked as a scenery designer in the Bristol Prince's Theatre in Park Row and would often have his dog with him. No longer a theatre, the building boasts a plaque and a statue of Nipper.
On Mark's death his brother Francis, living in Liverpool, took care of the dog. Meanwhile Mark's widow moved from Bristol to Kingston upon Thames and then asked to have the dog back, to keep her company. That's where Nipper spent the rest of life and where he was he was buried.
See Francis Barraud for Nipper's afterlife.
A Hound and a Horn has: "There being no garden to her {Mark's widow's} residence a teenage nephew buried Nipper beneath a mulberry tree in a grassy public area known as Durham Gardens, 77 Clarence Street. In the early years of the 20th century, the town of Kingston upon Thames was further developed and Clarence Street became a main thorough fare, with that grassy plot built over. ... the nephew who had buried him could recall the site and establish the precise location, which is now the car park at the rear of Lloyds Bank. On the 100th anniversary of Nipper's birthday in 1984, Mr D. F. Johnson, the chairman of HMV Shops Ltd, visited the area and placed two commemorative plaques to Nipper, one at the entrance to the bank and one in the car park." Elsewhere we have read that Mark's widow lived in Fife Road but that would not contradict the 'Durham Gardens' location.
We checked an 1895 Ordnance Survey map and no park is shown at or behind what is now the Lloyds Bank in Clarence Street. There is, however, a plot of land not connected to any road, which is now a car park.
2017: The HQ of HMV used to be at what is now the Old Vinyl Factory in Blyth Road, Hayes. On 29 September as part of a celebration of the site’s heritage, a 5.5m statue of Nipper was unveiled at the Record Store there (another visit needed).
