The Stafford is a recent breed created in Britain during the late 1970s, primarily in the Staffordshire area of England, although groups of fanciers in Dorset, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, Essex, Scotland, Wales and other areas later corresponded with the club in order to produce the original show Standard. The idea for it originated when a small group of Colorbred fanciers, including Mr. George Fry, Mr. Steve Berrill and Mr. Peter Finn, among others, wished to experiment with something different in a Colorbred Type breed sporting a perfect crest equal
to that of any other English crested breed. They began with a foundation of red-factor Colorbred and Gloster pairings and made a few selective outcrosses to other breeds, very possibly German Cresteds and perhaps small Lancashires.

In 1985 the first examples of their Stafford were introduced at England's National held in Birmingham. By the late 1980s the written Standard and the official pictorial line drawing for the crested form had been developed, and in 1990 the Canary Council of Great Britain granted it recognition as a new breed. The Standard for the non-crested version, however, took several
years for final approval. Originally, their fanciers had intended the Plain heads to be shown as Colorbreds even though the Stafford has neither the precision of color and markings, nor the
type, to compete as such. This, coupled with back door attempts to bench them under that category anyway and to change the Colorbred standards to their favor generated a great
deal of heated controversy, squabbling and animosity within the fancy. English ratification as a

Plain head under Stafford classification was therefore delayed until 1995.

Currently, the Stafford hasn't been recognized by any of the world governing bodies and, in Britain at least, the numbers being bred and shown are on the decline, having lost their classes at the National and relegated to Any Other Variety there and in many local shows as well due to a general lack of interest. Heavily promoted in the U.S. since its 1993 debut at the National
Cage Bird Show, the Stafford has achieved far more acceptance and popularity in America than it ever knew in its native country, especially in the pet trade where the combination of crest and red-factor is thought to be adorable.

Australians also have a fairly strong appreciation for the breed. As their very restrictive animal importation laws have forced Australian fanciers to do with a number of other canary breeds,
they've deveIoped their own very similar version of the Stafford by using straight Gloster and red-factor Colorbred crosses, which are exhibited there as a Color variety. The breed is, however very uncommon elsewhere in the world with much of Europe, particularly Germany, viewing it as only a somewhat smaller version of the older German Crested. Moreover, American fanciers have made extensive outcrosses to Glosters to further develop the crest and these have lengthened the feather, degraded the color and altered the original type, turning many U.S. strains into little more than the red-factored Glosters the Stafford is sometimes dismissed as being, thus threatening it's identity as a separate and distinct breed.

The handsome little Stafford should be a bold and robust-bodied bird with a well-rounded breast and a broad back, the overall type similar to that of the Gloster but larger, not as cobby-bodied, and with a shorter, more helmet-like crest. It shouldn't be more than 5" in total length with a stance of about 45¡, the medium-length legs set well back from the center of the body,
the compact wings closely carried and folded neatly on the rump without crossing, the relatively short tail held tightly folded and in line with the back.

CRESTED - The crest must be neat and tidy, radiating out from a small point on the center of the crown and finishing level with the top of the eyes, not obscuring them in any way. There
shouldn't be an obvious break where the crest merges with the feathering at the nape of the neck.

NON-CRESTED (known as the Plainhead in the U.K.) - The head should be proportionally large and broad from every angle with a plushly feathered browy appearance. Because of this
heavy feathering, the beak appears to be proportionally small. In Great Britain they may be exhibited in either their own classes or in Colorbred classes.

COLORS AND PLUMAGE - The accepted ground colors are red or rose pink and they may be either clear, ticked, variegated, self, or foul wings or tail. The red ground color (the Stafford Societies would rather that the term red-factor not be used with their breed) should be bright and fiery, the rose a rich, bright pink, both evenly distributed throughout the plumage.

Feather type is non-frosted (intensive), frosted or mosaic (dimorphic). Non-frosted birds shouldn't show any frosting on their feathers at all. If any frosting is present it should be an
absolute minimum. In frosted feather each feather should show a distinct white frosted edge so that it's 50% frosting and 50% red or rose ground color. The frosting should be evenly
distributed throughout the entire plumage, major faults being an over-frosted back and an under-frosted breast. In mosaics the red or rose color points of face, shoulders, rump and breast
should show good contrast with the snow-white body plumage. Cocks should have a Goldfinch-type facial blaze and hens should have red eyebrows. Clear, ticked, variegated and self
mosaics may be shown.

Selfs include the four Classic Melanins (Black, Brown, Agate and Isabel) and the New Melanins of Pastel, Ino, Satinette and Opal. Clears and clear mosaics may have clear, dark or grizzled crests; in selfs, crests often have the same melanin coloring as the plumage.

In the U.S. at least, additional classes are provided to bench other melanin varieties in development, including those on grounds of recessive and dominant white and yellow, the only
provision that these birds be the offspring of red or rose ground parentage.
 

The silky plumage should be smooth, sleek and tight to the body's contours.

(Extracted from ColorbredCanaries101Genetics)