Place name
In honour of Nipper (1884 – September 1895), the terrier dog, who was the inspiration for the painting His Master’s Voice by Francis Barraud. The painting, which showed Nipper staring into the speaker of a gramophone later become the trademark of HMV records. He was apparently named Nipper because he would nip the backs of visitors’ legs. He spent his earliest days in Bristol with his owner, Mark Henry Barraud, in the Prince’s Theatre where Barraud was a scenery designer. When Barraud died in 1887, his brothers Philip and Francis took care of the dog, then Francis took Nipper to Liverpool, and later Mark’s widow to Kingston-upon-Thames, where Nipper died of natural causes. He is buried nearby on Clarence Road. The alley was dedicated on March 10, 2010.
