The Cat's Meat Man: Feeding Felines in Victorian London

Summary

During the middle years of Victoria’s reign, the cat’s meat man, in his livery of blue apron, shiny black hat, and corduroy trousers, had become a gift to investigative journalists of an anthropological turn. In his London Labour and the London Poor (1851), Henry Mayhew plunges deep into their visible yet still mysterious world. According to Mayhew, there were a thousand such traders in London, serving about 300,000 cats, one for every house (allowing for multiple cats in some homes, plus strays). This sounds lucrative, but when Mayhew pumps his informants for details, he finds a story of dogged hard work. One carrier told him that he seldom went less than thirty, and frequently forty miles, through the streets every day.