The original practice of kidnapping yeast came about shortly after home brewing was legalised in the UK. Initially, quality brewing yeasts were not readily available and people without access found ways to get their own.
There were certainly no liquid yeasts and not even the variey of dried yeasts available when I first started. Alot of the industry that built up to begin with was based on awful kits. The wines and beers were mostly undrinkable. I started with wines as a pre-teen and lost the kits and started searching around for alternatives pretty quickly.
Having parents who owned a health food shop - very mung bean I know - was rather handy as I could have all of the out of date frtuit juices I wanted and later could buy grits wholesale through their suppliers.
The choice of mail order yeast simply did not exist back then and whilst it seems you have more micro breweries prepared to give you a pail of yeast than you can shake a stick at these days this has not always been the case.
However, if you want to make a Hen's Tooth clone. The best place to start is with Hen's Tooth yeast.
