Where did John Gosdens father get the name Towser from?

It was a nickname stew because he was a big man.

Thanks glen, never heard the name anywhere else, what is the connection with being a big man! Towering something like that?

born in Nelson Mandela House

mouse is correct - he was named after his dad's dog.

The finest apprenticeship of all was, arguably, in that he grew up on the Sussex Downs, where his father, the memorably named ‘Towser’ Gosden, had a racing stables at Lewes either side of the Second World War. ‘He didn’t get on well with his father, who nicknamed him after their dog,’ smiles his son in recollection, ‘but he was a very diligent trainer. Everything had to be right for the horse.

OK.
But where did John Gosden's grandfather's dog get the name Towser from then?

john gosdens grandfather i imagine screaming

Just a one-time popular name for a dog, like Fido, or Spike.

From a review of the pantomime "Crusoe" at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith in Dec 1920...

"The part of Man Friday was well played by Mr Syd Franks, and the antics of the old favourite Towser the dog (Mr Teddy White), were very amusing."

But Towser (see plate 1, above) wasn't on the box until the 1980s.

Thanks, ged.

Should have waited one minute longer before posting.

Not many Sheps or Princes around these days either, although we are still a long way from Mohammed topping the dog name charts.

^^^^^^
decapitated

Not forgetting my grandmas dog which had the very common name, back then anyway, of Rover.

Called my first dog Lester after a well known jock , he was over 18 when he passed on .......

I was wondering whether the character featured in the original story of Robinson Crusoe, but I can't find out one way or the other.

I did find a reference in a book written in 1843 called "Robinson Crusoe's Own Book, or, The Voice of Adventure", by Charles Ellms, which mentions a large Newfoundland dog called Towser, who "alone kept the ship clear of the Indians". The original "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" were written in 1719, and Ellms book seems to be a collection of stories based, like Defoe's, on adventures of real people. Towser here crops up in a tale of John Nicol (1755 - 1825), like Alexander Selkirk a Scot, but born nearly 100 years later. Nicol's encounter with Towser took place in Prince William's Sound, on the South coast of Alaska, in around 1786.

He was named after the dog because of his size.hth

Pete Townshend's nickname is “Towser

From Townshend presumably? He resembled a canine somewhat less than Entwistle resembled an ox.

Probably right there moose.Btw finally got the eggs authorised but forgot how to put them up in a post mate?

insert photo button should appear below the reply box in the centre.

You are a genuise moose,takes me back to when I had to ask ilwab how to do an emoji!!!

Thanks GT, you're a good egg too.

Can confirm that's 25% larger than my Sainsbury's medium free range ones.

Had two more since a little bit bigger,she misses a day and then lays the big double yoke one,only happened since the new air con went in.

I used to think it was to do with his hair as in tousled.

Amazing how these threads develop isn't it, started about a dog, digressed about robinson crusoe, books in the 1700s and ends up with oldgit saying it was because of his hair, not sure where the eggs came into it, was his head egg shaped?