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THE IMPACT OF QUADRUPEDS IN HANOVERIAN LONDON THOMAS ALMEROTH-WILLIAMS MA BY RESEARCH THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY SEPTEMBER 2010 2 ABSTRACT In his classic study, Man and the Natural World, Keith Thomas assumed and asserted that by 1800 the inhabitants of English cities, and particularly London, had become largely alienated from animal life.1 This study challenges this assumption by exploring the scale and impact of quadruped mammalian life in London during the period, 1714–1837. My research represents a deliberate shift in historical enquiry away from debates centred on the rise of kindness and humanitarianism, and towards the integration of animals into wider urban historiographies and a demonstration of how their presence shaped urban existence. My central aim is to highlight the power of animals to make profound and far-reaching changes in society, and specifically in the British metropolis. Much recent historiography has given particular attention to human cruelty to animals. Yet, the tendency to consider human-animal histories solely as narratives of abuse threatens not just to over-simplify complex phenomena but also to seriously underestimate the role of animals in society. I seek to redress this imbalance by re-asserting the significance of animal technologies and by placing animals at the centre of eighteenth-century urban, social and cultural histories. I begin by considering the scale and contribution of cattle and horses to the social and commercial life of the metropolis as well as their impact on the construction and use of the built environment. I then turn to the disruptive influence of animals and the challenge of ‘commanding’ the recalcitrant beast, by examining the problem of the ‘over-drove’ ox and of equine traffic accidents. 1 K. Thomas, Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England, 1500-1800 (2nd edn, Harmondsworth, 1984). 3 CONTENTS LIST OF MAPS & ILLUSTRATIONS page 4 BIBLIOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS 8 INTRODUCTION 9 I. PRODUCTION & COMMERCE: THE URBAN BEAST AT WORK 15 i. Smithfield Livestock 16 ii. The Horse 40 iii. Impact on the Built Environment 72 II. COMMANDING THE RECALCITRANT BEAST 97 i. The ‘Over-Drove’ Ox 104 ii. Equine Traffic Accidents 131 CONCLUSION 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY 160 4 MAPS, PLATES, FIGURES & TABLES MAPS 1 Plan of London around 1300 indicating situation page 25 of Smithfield market 2 Wencesclas Hollar and others, Map of London (after 1688), 26 indicating situation of Smithfield market 3 John Rocque’s Plan of London (1746) indicating the 26 & 110 main drovers routes into Smithfield. 4 John Rocque’s Plan of London (1746) showing Smithfield, 27 Hatton Gardens and the principle metropolitan markets to which livestock were driven. 5 John Rocque’s Plan of London (1746) showing section of the 79 Grosvenor Estate. 6 Richard Horwood’s Map of London (3rd edn, 1813): detail 80 indicating the location of No.4 Grosvenor Square. 7 Richard Horwood’s Map of London (3rd edn, 1813), 91 detail of the Cavendish-Harley Estate. 8 Peter Potter’s Plan of the Parish of St Marylebone (2nd edn, 1832): 92 detail showing the key mews developments serving Portland Place, Harley Street and Wimpole Street on the Cavendish-Harley Estate. 9 A Plan of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, 116 London Magazine, 1756. PLATES 1 William Hogarth, O the Roast Beef of Old England page 30 (‘The Gate of Calais’) (Oil on canvas, 1748) [detail]. Tate. 2 James Gilray, French Liberty, British Slavery 32 (Etching with Hand Colouring, London, 1792). Fitzwilliam Museum 3 James Gilray, Fat Cattle (Hand-coloured engraving, London, 1802). 32 4 The Newbus Ox, engraved by William Ward after 32 Thomas Weaver (colour mezzotint, 1812). Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading. 5 5 George Garrard, A Holderness Cow (Oil on Canvas, 1798). 32 Private Collection. 6 Old Smithfield Market, after Pugin and Rowlandson, 35 engraved by Buck (Hand-coloured aquatint, London, 1811). Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading. 7 Trade Card for Robert Stone, Nightman and Rubbish Carter (1745). 46 London Metropolitan Archives, Prints and Drawings. 8 Trade Card for Robert Stone, Nightman and Rubbish Carter (c.1750). 46 London Metropolitan Archives, Prints and Drawings. 9 William Henry Toms after Hubert François Gravelot, 48 A Perspective View of the Engine, now made use of for Driving the Piles of the New Bridge at Westminster (engraving, 1738). The Royal Society. 10 The High Mettled Racer. By the Late Charles Dibdin (1831); 53 ‘Blind, old, lean, and feeble, he tugs round a mill’. Wood engraving by G. W. Bonner from a design by Robert Cruikshank. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven. 11 Anon, The horse wheel of a Brewery (engraving, 1763). 53 B. Spiller, ‘The Georgian Brewery’, Architectural Review, 122 (1957), pp.314. 12 George Garrard, View of the East End of Whitbread’s Brewery in 56 Chiswell St (Painted engraving, London 1792). 13 George Stubbs, Hambletonian (Oil on canvas, c.1800). 56 Mount Stewart, The Londonderry Collection (National Trust). 14 Old Brown aged 35, a Dray-Horse in a Brewery Yard by 58 John Nost Sartorius (Oil on canvas, 1798). Private Collection. 15 Pirate and Outlaw after J.C. Zeitter, engraved by J.Egan (c.1818). 59 Lawes Agricultural Trust, Rothamsted Experimental Station. 16 George Scharf the elder, Draymen and Horse (drawing, c.1820– 30). 60 Bridgeman Art Library / Private Collection. 17 Truman Hanbury Buxton & Co Brewery 65 (Mezzotint, published by J. Moore, 1842). 18 Photograph of Young’s Brewery Yard (1896). 65 H. Osborn, Britain’s Oldest Brewery: The Story Behind Young’s of Wandsworth (Guildford, 1999), p.148. 19 Plan of Thrale’s Anchor Brewery, 1774 (not to scale) 75 based on LMA, ACC/2305/01/834, ‘Thrale’s Estate, 1774.’ 20 A coach waits outside a house in Portland Place, 77 Robert and James Adam, c.1777-80, View from Thomas Malton, A Picturesque Tour, vol.1 (1792), plate 88. 6 21 Sutton Nicholl, View of Grosvenor Square (engraving, 1754) [detail]. 80 22 Ground & first floor plan of coach house and stables at 81 Derby House, 26 Grosvenor Square (1773– 74) from Robert & James Adam, The Works in Architecture, vol. 2 (1779), plate I. 23 William Hogarth, The Second Stage of Cruelty 99 (Etching & engraving, London, 1st February, 1751). The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester. 24 Thomas Rowlandson, Miseries of London [traffic] 100 (Hand-coloured etching, London, 1 February, 1807). Lewis Walpole Collection. 25 James Gilray, Promis’d Horrors of the French Invasion 101 -or- Forcible Reasons for Negociating a Regicide Peace (London, 1796). British Museum, London. 26 George Woodward, Miseries of Human Life (engraving, c.1800). 101 London Metropolitan Archives, Satirical Prints Collection. 27 View of Soho Square from The Repository of Arts, 116 Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions, and Politics, printed for R. Ackermann, vol. 8 (1812), plate 22. 28 Thomas Rowlandson, The Overdrove Ox 122 (Hand-coloured engraving, London 1790). London Metropolitan Archives, Satirical Prints Collection. 29 Anon, The Horse America Throwing his Master 138 (Etching, Westminster, 1779). Library of Congress, Washington. FIGURE 1 Population of London compared with head of livestock page 39 brought to Smithfield Market, 1700– 1831. 2 Truman Brewery Horse Stock (1790– 1813). 67 3 Courage Barclay & Simonds Horse Stock, Sept 1827– April 1839. 69 4 Dray Delivery Destinations from the White Hart Brewery, 70 Chiswell Street in 1800. 7 TABLES 1 Sheep and Black Cattle brought for sale to Smithfield market, page 38 1732– 94. 2 Smithfield Livestock per head of population, 1700– 1831. 39 3 Truman Brewery Dray- and Mill-Horse Stock, 66 1759– 1780 & 1790– 1813. 4 Barrelage and Number of Dray-Horses employed by the eight largest 67 breweries in London, 1780-1805. 5 Orders Placed for Steam Engines by London’s Breweries. 68 6 Average six-monthly stock of dray-horses at Courage, Barclay 69 and Simonds Brewery, September 1827– April 1839. 7 Dray Delivery Destinations from the White Hart Brewery, Chiswell 70 Street in 1800. 8 List of workers at Courage, Barclay & Simonds Brewery (CBS). 71 9 Ratio of mews units : houses in key streets on Cavendish-Harley 93 Estate (north of Queen Ann Street). 10 Newspaper adverts for rent & sale of properties with coach 94 houses & stables (1775– 90). 11 Coach and horse capacity in mews serving Cavendish-Harley Estate, 95 North of Queen Ann Street (1775– 1790). 12 List of taxable servants at Grosvenor Square, 4 May 1782. 95 13 Approximate Density of Equine Servants living and working in Mews on 96 the Cavendish-Harley Estate, North of Queen Ann Street (1775– 90). 14 ‘Over-drove’ ox accidents reported by London’s newspapers, 129 January 1750– December 1769. 15 Geographical breakdown of fatal & near fatal bullock attacks reported in 130 London newspapers, January 1760– December 1769. 16 Vehicle type and basic summary of cause of death recorded for Coroners 155 Records of City of London and Southwark, 1790– 1830. 17 Accidents involving carts, drays and waggons reported by London’s 156 newspapers, January 1740– December 1769. 8 BIBLIOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS GL Guildhall Archives, Guildhall Library, London LMA London Metropolitan Archives OBSP Old Bailey Sessions Papers (www.oldbaileyonline.org/) PAL Parliamentary Archives, London PRO Public Record Office RAW Royal Archives, Windsor SA Sheffield Archives WCA Westminster City Archives AHR Agricultural History Review EcHR Economic History Review TAPS Transactions of the American Philosophical Society TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society Getrude Savile, Diaries A. Savile (ed.), Secret Comment, The Diaries of Getrude Savile, 1721-1759, Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Record Series, vol. 41 (Nottingham, 1997). D. Donald, “Beastly Sights” (1999) D. Donald, “Beastly Sights’: the treatment of animals as a moral theme in representations of London c.1820- 1850’ in D. Arnold (ed.), The Metropolis and its Image: Constructing Identities for London, c.1750 – 1950 (Oxford, 1999), pp.48-78.