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Gandy, RJ

A Grin Without A Cat http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/11836/

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Gandy, RJ (2019) A Grin Without A Cat. Fortean Times. ISSN 0308-5899

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A grin without a cat

LEFT: Tenniel’s famous illustration ROB GANDY offers up a of the cat from ’s Adventures in . FACING long-cherished theory PAGE BOTTOM: The grinning, cat- about the origin of a like face in St Nicholas’s church, familiar phrase Cranleigh. FACING PAGE TOP: What happens when you superimpose a grinning mouth on a map of Cheshire. ne of the most popular characters in Alice’s Adventures potential candidates for inspiring in Wonderland is the Carroll, including at the 13th Cheshire Cat, who century St Christopher’s in Pott Oacts as Alice’s companion. He has Shrigley, Cheshire, where the a habit of suddenly disappearing crest of the local Pott family was and so Alice asks if he could a wild cat. There is a stone effigy disappear more slowly. The cat of a cat in Brimstage Hall, on does as he is asked, disappearing the Wirral, where the Domville bit by bit until all that is left is his family, who lived there during the smile, causing Alice to say “I’ve early 1300s, had a coat-of-arms seen a cat without a grin, but of a red lion rampant. And a never a grin without a cat!” carving of a grinning cat peeks The origins of the phrase ‘to in the village of Daresbury in out from above the main entrance grin like a Cheshire Cat’ have On the chancel’s Cheshire, he would be familiar to St Wilfrid’s in Grappenhall, often been queried, particularly with the local practice of Cheshire, where Carroll’s father, as the saying was not, and never east wall was producing cheeses in the shape a vicar, used to preach. had been, a very common one of a grinning cat. Apparently, a Interestingly, when Joel in the County of Cheshire, 1 and a carving of a John Catheral of Chester, whose Birenbaum (of The there is no actual feline breed coat of arms from 1304 included Society of North America) visited of this name. Lewis Carroll, aka cat’s head a cat, always bared his teeth in a St Peter’s Church, in Croft-on- Reverend Charles Lutwidge grin when angry; he was killed in Tees, North Yorkshire, where Dodgson, certainly did not defence of the city, and literally Carroll’s father was rector, he create the phrase; it had been Cheshire?’”. died with a smile on his face. It noticed on the chancel’s east wall cited many times before Alice’s There have been several was in his honour that Cheshire a stone carving of a cat’s head, was theories as to the origins cheese-makers traditionally which appeared to be floating in published in 1865. Possibly its of the phrase, and these moulded their cheeses into the the air a few feet above the floor. first appearance in literature have been discussed on the shape of cats with a wide grin on When he got on his knees for was in A Classical Dictionary of Internet,3 including by FT’s their faces. closer inspection and looked up, the Vulgar Tongue, compiled by own Karl Shuker. 4 They can be the image of the cat was rendered Francis Grose (1788), where summarised as follows: HERALDRY invisible – except, that is, for its the phrase is attributed to The first Earl of Chester’s coat of carved smile, stretching virtually “someone who reveals his/her BRITISH BLUE CATS arms was inscribed with the Lions from ear to ear, which lingered in teeth and gums wide open while A breed of cat known for a of England, animals common precisely the manner of Carroll’s laughing.”2 It is mentioned ‘smiling’ expression, because of in heraldic designs. Mediæval Cheshire Cat! It is considered in The Works of Peter Pindar, its broad cheeks and upturned artists would never have seen a that much of Alice was set in and by John Walcot, the poet and mouth. There is conjecture that lion but were required to depict around the church and rectory satirist, where it is stated: “Lo! they moved to Cheshire over them as snarling, with the result at Croft, but even if Carroll were like a Cheshire cat our court time with their people. However, that their efforts resembled inspired by the optical illusion will grin” (c. 1794/1801). Also, this breed is grinning cats. of the St Peter’s figure, this does William Makepeace Thackeray pretty ubiquitous, and it would not answer the question of why in The Newcomes; memoirs of a be surprising if it was ever closely PUB SIGNS he referred to a Cheshire Cat, or most respectable family (1855) associated with the county. The same argument is made for why Cheshire cats are supposed has Mr Newcome say to Mr sign painters when they painted to grin. Pendennis, “That woman grins CHEESE lions on inn signboards in the like a Cheshire cat”; which is Cheshire cheeses were once county. There are other speculations, then followed by the apparently moulded in the shape of a which may or may not be fairly sarcastic question, “Who was the grinning cat. The county is CARVINGS tenuous, such as: a cat-like naturalist who first discovered famous for its dairy production There are several church carvings gargoyle on a pillar in St that peculiarity of the cats in and cheese. As Carroll grew up of lions/cats that are deemed Nicholas’s church, Cranleigh,

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near Guildford, where Carroll lived at one point; a jester named Cat Kaitlin, a Cheshire native, who had a wide smile; a peg-board game; folk memories of the former existence in Cheshire of an ancient cat- venerating tribe called the Khatti; a parable bespeaking the limits of mathematics; the abundance of milk and cream in Cheshire, meaning all local cats were happy, possibly because this enticed rats and mice from ships moored in the docks when Chester was a port; or the wandering Moon, which slowly turns into a fi ngernail crescent, resembling a grin, before it fi nally disappears. Which of these is correct? Well, perhaps none of them – because I would like to offer my own theory, which I have held since my early days (which as I am no spring chicken is a long time ago). When looking into this question I was very surprised to fi nd that my personal theory was nowhere It is unlikely that there will to be found, because I was sure ever be a defi nitive answer to the that someone else would have question, and no doubt people had thoughts along similar lines will disagree with my theory. But over the years. And my theory my response is to refer to occam’s is simple: it is that the ‘smile’ razor: the outline shape of the actually refers to the shape of the traditional county of Cheshire county of Cheshire itself. simply does look like a smile/grin/ Of course, I am referring grimace. I rest my case. to the traditional county of Cheshire, which existed before NOTES the reorganisation of local 1 https://english.stackexchange. authorities that took place in com/questions/225170/why-does-a- 5 cheshire-cat-grin-and-how-long-has-it- 1974 and would have been what been-doing-so th everyone referred to in the 18 2 www.catster.com/lifestyle/cheshire- th and 19 centuries. If you look at cat-lewis-carroll a map of Cheshire, you will see 3 www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/ that it has its eastern and western grinning-like-a-cheshire-cat.html; www. extremities ‘curling upwards’, purr-n-fur.org.uk/fabled/cheshirecat. with Hyde, Stalybridge and html; www.quora.com/What-is-the- origin-of-the-Cheshire-Cat Woodhead in the East and the boundaries superimposed on a be used would be the cat, given Wirral peninsula in the West. The map of Cheshire. Admittedly, the that this animal is used in very 4 https://karlshuker.blogspot. 6 co.uk/2010/12/smile-on-face-of- wide, central part of the ‘smile’ county boundary makes for the many idiomatic phrases. One cheshire-cat.html?m=1 is then from Stockton Heath in smile of someone that has just of these is ‘looks like the cat that 5 www.legislation.gov.uk/ the north to Audlem in the south. had a punch in the mouth, but I got the cream’, which means ukpga/1972/70/contents th The northern boundary of the speculate that people in the 17 someone who looks very satisfi ed 6 https://idioms.thefreedictionary. th county was the River Mersey, and 18 centuries were likely to or pleased with themselves com/cat and following the northern bank, have made the same connection because they have been 7 I tried to track down the origin of or even the centre of the river, as I did in my youth. I then see a successful or done something this phrase but cannot fi nd one. It creates a straighter ‘upper lip’ saying that someone ‘has a smile they are proud of, which links is almost certain that it has a long than if looking at the southern like Cheshire’ quickly evolving cats with smiles in the popular history and predates ‘To grin like a Cheshire Cat’ bank, because of where the into that person having a ‘grin imagination. 7 ‘Cheshire Cat’ also river signifi cantly widens north like a Cheshire Cat’, because has an alliterative element, which ✒ ROB GANDY is a visiting of Ince. The picture at top right people like to personify sayings would not be the case with other professor at the Liverpool Business shows a smile that broadly and attach them to creatures. commonplace contemporary School, John Moores University, matches the traditional county And the creature most likely to animals, such as dogs. and a regular contributor to FT.

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