Queen Victoria loved dogs from a young age, and by 1839 she had too many "dog dolls" that when she wanted to add another dog, Lord Melbourne had to advise her that she might be in danger of being "suffocated" by dog dolls. But few people know that Queen Victoria also loves cats, and she has a cat named "White Heather". Before her death, the Queen was most worried about her cat, and she specifically ordered that the cat continue to live in Buckingham Palace to live the life of a "royal cat". In the 19th century, the fate of cats changed dramatically, cats and women became more closely related, and of course, men who loved cats more than women appeared.
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Cats were kept as pets for a long time, but it wasn't until the 19th century that "pet cats" began to become more popular. Because keeping pets became a symbol of the modern family at that time, the Victorian home would not be complete without flowers, pets, and even fish. So, as one of the candidates for pets, cats received more attention. Why are Victorians keen on pets? Some scholars have analyzed that pet ownership represents the ability to control seemingly uncontrollable groups. To compensate for the inability of the aristocracy and the rich to control the psychology of the dangerous working class, the upper and middle classes argued that they could vent their emotions and establish and perpetuate their values by owning pets.
However, cats are not so easy to control, which is probably an important reason why cats were far less popular as pets than dogs at that time, and people often described cats as less friendly. The role of the cat is more of a rat catcher than a companion of a person. But this does not affect the cuteness of the cat - in the 19th century, both in England and France, there were many beautiful photos of women or children holding cats (Figures 1, 2, 3).
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
At this time, regardless of the sex of the cat, men often compare cats to women because they are both domestic "animals", and these reviews are mostly negative. For example, the French naturalist and writer Alphonse Toursnell wrote in his 1855 book Zoologies Passionelle: "An animal so keen to maintain its appearance, so silky, so petite, so eager to caress, so passionate, so responsive, so elegant, so ... An animal that takes night as day and alarms decent people with the noise of revelry, there is only one class in this world that can be compared to it, and that is women. He went on to add: "Lazy and frivolous, meditating all day, sleeping all day, pretending to catch mice... Encounter disgusting things and don't care, but encounter happy things, fun things, sex, night lovers, and are tireless. Who are we writing about, is it a (female) cat or someone else? ”
Cats are described as cunning women, and women are often compared to cats. Moreover, one thing in common between the two is that they both desire to be free from the shackles of the family. It seemed that with very little seduction, a cat could run out of the house and become a free cat, and the society at that time generally held the stereotype of women: women were easily seduced and easily depraved. To become a woman with a noble soul, then you need to be purified? Interestingly, women and cats often appeared in soap advertisements of the time (Figures 4, 5, 6), and both seem to have become synonymous with "purification". Of course, maybe advertisers don't think about it so much, but they just think that cats are cute and will attract housewives to buy them.
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Because of people's love for pets, a new movement has emerged. People demand the protection of pets and recognition of their rights. In 1840, under the authority of Queen Victoria, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) was established, and shortly thereafter, the British Parliament passed several acts to protect animals. In 1850, France enacted the loi Grammont Act, which prohibited the abuse of all animals. Celebrities such as the French writer Victor Hugo spoke out against the use of animals for medical experimentation, pointing out that it was a crime. Women of that era were even more advocating for animal rights, and many women were busy saving cats and dogs, using all their savings to build animal shelters. At the end of the 19th century, cat shelters abounded, such as the "Cat House" in Battersea, the Gordon Cottage (1895) in Hammersmith's "Hungry and Abandoned Cat", and the "Royal Hunger Cat Almshouse" in Camden Town, among others.
In addition to hosting homeless cats, these places also offer cat boarding services. Because at that time, the servant's salary did not include the cost of feeding the cat, if the master went out for a long time, the cat would be driven out of the house by the servant, or the servant would eat the food left by the master for the cat, or simply forget to feed the cat. Therefore, sending the cat to foster care is the best option. There are similar foster care agencies in France. A French writer described the feeling of sending a cat into foster care in the 1896 issue of Temple Bar magazine: "It is inconceivable to travel with such a timid, lively little animal. With many regrets and concerns, she was left by me at a cat boarding place. I paid her foster fee at the price of a foster Saint Bernard. Every day, in addition to feeding her a few pounds of meat, they had to take her for a walk, 'because,' someone told me, 'kittens are so hard to manage.' I heard she was haggard at first, but when she found out she had playmates and a tree to climb, she was happy. ”
With more and more abandoned cats on the streets, skinny and pitiful, and cat shelters overcrowded, some avant-garde women came forward and proposed euthanasia for these embarrassed cats. As reported in the June 24, 1889 issue of the Citizen of Gloucester: In a large town in the west of England lived a female executioner - she specialized in killing cats. She announced to all her friends and related people that she could use chloroform (note: anesthetic) to make the cat die quickly and painlessly. She welcomes people who go out for the summer or leave empty houses to send their cats to her, because it's a kinder solution than leaving them alone and starving. Today, veterinarians usually only euthanize some cats and dogs whose health is too bad, and if one owner goes out, he has to "euthanize" his fur child, is this considered murder?
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The relationship between people and cats is deepening, and some people have come to see cats as family. During the Victorian era, more and more people held more formal funerals for their cats. The cat owner will customize the elaborate cat coffin for the cat, the stonemasons will engrave the cat's name on the cat's tombstone, and the priest will also officiate the funeral for the cat. The owner can express his condolences for the cat at the funeral and thank him for the joy and comfort it has brought to him. Such a way of commemoration can also ease the grief of the owner. But some people think that such funerals are nothing more than a hobby of the rich or the quirks of old virgins, and some people are offended by giving cats the same funerals as people.
In March 1894, the British " Cheltenham Chronicle " reported that a woman in Kensington had held a funeral for her beloved cat Paul, writing that " apart from the lack of approval by the church , this event was like burying an important person. " A respected undertaker was invited and he was asked to conduct the funeral in the form of a regular funeral. The cat's carcass was sealed and placed in a fine oak coffin with common ornaments, including a plaque inscribed with the statement: "For seventeen years Paul has been Miss's beloved and faithful cat..." The 1897 Hull Daily Mail reported the story of a priest holding a funeral for his cat. The cat's remains were placed in a brass and oak coffin that sat in the living room for three days, the report said. After the funeral, the priest hired a taxi and took the coffin to the station and took the train to the north.
However, some cat funerals also invite trouble. The September 1885 edition of the Edinburgh Evening News tells the story of an elderly woman who lives on Abercromby Street and gives her cat Tom a "decent funeral". Who would have thought that this funeral would be ruined by a group of people. They shouted, protested, and shouted that it was a shame to bury a cat with Christian rituals. They smashed Tom's coffin and pulled out his body, while the old woman clings to the cat... Fortunately, the police arrived in time to help the elderly woman and her recently deceased loved ones hide in a nearby house. In order to protect the old woman, the police had to be on duty late that day.
What's wrong with burying cats like humans? Isn't it stated in the biblical psalms that animals live in harmony with humans and share God's grace together? Because some Christian believers believe that Christianity is a human-centered religion that focuses on human salvation rather than animal salvation. Animals, unlike humans, cannot be buried in the same way. But perhaps it's just the burial of cats in human cemeteries. For this reason, many cemeteries do not allow pets to be buried there. Thus, the pet cemetery came into being. For example, in 1881, the dog cemetery in Hyde Park was built, making it the oldest pet cemetery in the UK. It is said that in addition to dogs, three monkeys and two cats are also buried in the cemetery.
Of course, the most suitable cemetery must be the "own compound". Max Gate, located in the eastern suburbs of Dorchester, is a mansion designed and built for himself by the British writer Thomas Hardy (Figure 7). Thomas Hardy built a pet cemetery in the garden behind the house (fig. 8), most of which were also carved by the famous novelist. Thomas Hardy loves cats very much. However, the cemetery may not have buried his cat. Because he loved his first cat so much that after that cat died, he refused to get any other cats, saying, "I'll never have a cat again!" Keep your spot empty all the time. He kept his word until his later years, when he started raising a Persian cat, Cobby, with orange eyes. When Thomas Hardy died, Bryant was still alive, but inexplicably disappeared.
Figure 7
Figure 8
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During the Victorian era, influenced by religious morality, people paid more and more attention to family and family life, and also paid more attention to the moral education of children. At that time, parents were asked to raise moral children, and one of the ways to raise children to be ethical was to have pets. From the mid-19th century, parents often received pamphlets advising them to keep pets. Children can play with pets, no longer lonely, and pets will cultivate children's compassion, patience, teach children to learn to be responsible, etc. This is seen as a character-building exercise. Even poor working-class families have pets, such as birds caught in the wild. Wealthy families, on the other hand, tend to have expensive pets, such as purebred dogs. Purebred dogs are seen as a symbol of class and status.
In the 80s of the 19th century, cats became increasingly popular as pets. According to the 1882 issue of Gentleman's Magazine, the number of London domestic cats reached 300,000 (this figure does not include stray cats on the street). To feed the tsundere pets, Victorian Londoners reportedly spent £100,000 a year on horse meat from Cat's Meat Men. In fact, cat butchers have been on the streets of London since the mid-19th century. They go door-to-door selling "cat food." However, the raw materials of these cat foods are not chicken and beef, but horse meat. Traders buy horse meat from horse slaughterhouses – because horse meat is old and hard and no one buys it, and cat food seems appropriate. It is said that about 26,000 injured or old horses are slaughtered, cut into pieces of meat and fed to cats every year... The career seemed limitless, with around 1,000 cat butchers in London alone at the time.
These cat butchers walk the streets and alleys, like cats, with their own territories. And, miraculously, cats can identify who their "special" vendors are. Cat owner A.W. Buckland describes how his cat distinguishes between a cat butcher who comes to his house and other vendors on the street. "Tom sat there quietly napping as one person after another walked by, uttering the familiar cry 'meat, meat'. After a while, he jumped up and rushed to the window, maintaining a very excited state, and soon after, there was a shout in the distance, probably "meat". We knew Tom back in our ... Before hearing who he was, he had already heard that he was his own cat butcher. As the shouts got closer, Tom grew more and more excited and almost flew to the door. ”
It didn't cost much money for a cat butcher to build his "business empire," just buying half a pound of horsemeat for about two pennies, and, of course, a basket for horse meat and a pegboard to display the skewers. Instead of using pegboards and baskets, some well-funded vendors push small wheelbarrows filled with horse meat (Figure 9). As soon as the cat butcher appeared, the cats were all kinds of uncalm, and the owners quickly spent half a penny to give the heart and liver baby a delicacy. There are also cat slaves who are regular customers of cat butchers and they pay on a weekly basis. Cat butchers must be happy messengers for cats – but not everyone likes them. The smell of horse meat often causes complaints from surrounding neighbors, who describe the smell as "foul-smelling" or "unpleasant." It is estimated that these neighbors definitely do not have cats.
Figure 9
Official cat food was also born during the Victorian period. In the 1880s, Spratt Patent Ltd., founded by American entrepreneur James Spratt, sold the first "Spratt's Patent Cat Food" in London. The cat food ad (Figure 10) states that the cat food is made from other healthy ingredients such as fresh beef, not horse meat or other harmful substances; It helps the health of cats, can enhance the physique of cats, and prolong the life of cats.
Figure 10
Unknowingly, cat butchers selling horse meat withdrew from the stage of history. After all, horse meat is too hard and tastes bad, and for most people, horse meat is really not delicious. Have the cats who have eaten horse meat for nearly a century complained? Do they really love horse meat?
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In the 19th century, two English men made a huge contribution to changing the fate of cats, Harrison Weir and Louis Wain.
In the 1860s, cats were despised in Britain, where they were often underfed and abused. And there is a person who loves cats so wildly, his actions have forever shocked the cat world. He is Harrison Weir, the organiser of the first British Cat Show and the founder of the British Cat Club, who is known as the "father of cat fans".
Will was not originally a cat slave, and he admitted to being prejudiced against cats in his 1889 book Our Cats and All About Them. As a result, one day, he suddenly changed his attitude towards cats, believing that cats "may be the most perfect, and certainly the most domestic" animal. He noted that "chronic neglect, abuse, and absolute cruelty, with little or no gentle, benevolent treatment or training, make cats become compelled to fend for themselves." "His love for cats motivated him to do something.
In order to increase people's interest in cats, especially among the aristocracy, Will designed a new form of competitive entertainment: the cat show. He took this event seriously, such as drafting a series of criteria for evaluation and asking highly respected people to be judges. On July 13, 1871, the first British Cat Show was held at the Crystal Palace. The exhibition was a great success, with cats of all breeds and sizes participating in the cat show, and the judging process was very satisfactory to the aristocratic friends. Local newspapers also published portraits of the award-winning cats (Figure 11). Will hopes that through this cat show, people can understand the charm of cats and discover the potential of cats. Undoubtedly, this cat show is an unprecedented "cat PR" event in the UK. It has influenced Victorian perceptions of cats, with cat shows popping up across the country. In 1887, Will founded the British Cat Club, and as its president, again held the first official cat show hosted by the club at the Crystal Palace.
Figure 11
The exhibition was a success, but Will fell into reflection. He found that some cat owners are narcissistic and only care about winning prizes, regardless of the cat's welfare. Moreover, the issue of class is prevalent in all kinds of cat exhibitions, because the judges are divided according to the class of the cat owner. Ordinary people's cats simply cannot win, and cat medals are mostly for members of cat clubs - cat shows are more like games for people with money and status.
Fortunately, these shadows did not prevent the cat from turning over. Frances Simpson, a 14-year-old writer who watched the first British Cat Show, said in her 1903 book The Book of Cats that cats had become popular with her own feelings and observations. The British magazine "Lady's Realm" published in 1900 also recognized Will's efforts to change the status of cats in society.
Louis Wayne was arguably the most Victorian English man who could draw cats. He is obsessed with cats and presents this obsession through his own works. In his paintings, cats are cute and playful, and he often paints cats as adults, and the world of cats as adults - cats get together for afternoon tea, golf, lessons, walks... (Figures 12, 13) These paintings move people's hearts and make people who don't like cats start to like cats, and people who like cats like cats more.
Figure 12
Figure 13
Wayne's obsession with drawing cats is his wife's encouragement. In 1883, Wayne and Emily were married. The two adopted a stray cat and named him Peter. Unfortunately, Emily fell ill shortly after marrying Wayne. Wayne drew various Peter drawings to please his wife, and Emily encouraged her husband to publish them. Unexpectedly, these witty and cute "cat paintings" were very popular. Wayne became famous for a 1890 painting of a cat published in the Illustrated London News, showing a cat wearing a monocle dancing and smoking a cigar. British author Rodney Dale wrote in his 1968 biography of Wayne: "I think it is not far-fetched to speculate that Louis Wayne's encounter with Peter changed the course of the history of the domestic cat. ”
Moreover, Wayne not only used his paintings to change the public's perception of cats, but also wrote articles calling on people to treat cats well. In 1911, Wayne published a letter in the Daily Mail writing: "The Society dedicated to the cause of animal redemption has made and is making great efforts to alleviate the suffering of the animal world; But there is much more unnecessary suffering caused by unthinking than one might think. ”
He predicted that one day, "people will find cats to be gentle and affectionate, and cats with average intelligence superior to dogs." Dog lovers would probably object to this last sentence. Or are cat behaviorists smart, who point out: "Cats are actually just as smart as dogs, they just have different types of intelligence." In any case, two British men used their power to eventually make cats as beloved family pets as dogs.