The group was founded in November 1986 by Glenda Worthy (Sayonara), the late Julia May (Palantir) and others. It was originally called The Foreign Cinnamon and Fawn Group. At that time, all ‘self’ cats were deemed to be foreign and patterned cats were deemed to be ‘oriental’. It become the Oriental Cinnamon and Fawn Group at the AGM in 1990, when it also sought affiliation to the GCCF.
The Cinnamon Gene
The cinnamon colour has been known since the beginning of the century in the Sorrel (Abyssinian) breed though it was originally described as Red. The first cinnamons of oriental type in the 1960’s were known as Pavanes (Pale Havanas!) thanks to Pam Evely (Kernow).
Maureen Silson (Southview) continued breeding with some of Pam’s kittens, but found major problems with both the long hair and recessive white genes. Despite these problems the cinnamon gene was kept going by a few dedicated breeders. They have now managed to breed out both of these unwanted genes.
Cinnamon and Fawn In Other Breeds
British Shorthair
In January 1991 the secretary was approached by a breeder of British Shorthair cats seeking to introduce the cinnamon gene. Information was given and consequentially a British Shorthair was mated to an Oriental Cinnamon. This lead to today's cinnamon and fawn British Shorthair.
Siamese
The Secretary received a letter in January 1992 asking why cinnamon and fawn pointed Siamese could not be shown. Cinnamon points finally gained championship status in June 2009.mainly thanks to the tireless effort of the late Miss Elizabeth Mackenzie–Wood (Merescliff). Fawn point eventually gained championship status in 2013 and the first Champion was GrCh NIGHTQUEEN ROULETTE.
Asians
Finally Heather & Richard (Cagaran) are running a program to create cinnamon & fawn Asians. You can read about this on their website.
The Committee
The group are still fortunate to have one of the original committee members from its foundation in 1986. The Committee page has a full listing of Committee members.
Joining
We welcome new members with all breeds of cats who have these wonderful rich colours. See our Join page if you are interested.