All the Irish Water Spaniels of today can be traced back to the kennel of Irishman Justin McCarthy, who claimed to have resuscitated a dying breed but has been accused of manufacturing it. (texaswestveterinarian.com)
In the mid-1800s, Lord Tweedmouth of Guisachan bought his first yellow retriever, a male, whom he bred to a Tweed Water Spaniel in hopes of developing an even better bird dog. (dogbreedstandards.com)
I usually prefer to call the TWS the «Tweed water dog,» because its characteristics were more similar to the St. John's water dog and retrievers than other breeds of water spaniel. (retrieverman.net)