Hello all,
Readng my way through a dictionary of Victorian slang (as one does) I came across the following definition of cat's meat shop. "cat's meat shop - an eating house". Up until now I have accepted that Mrs Hardman sold meat for cats, but on the face of it, that does seem unlikely - up until at least fifty years ago cats were expected to live on whatever mice they could catch plus a few table scraps. The poor of Whitechapel had a hard time finding meat for themselves. Would they really have bought meat for their cats?
Was Mrs Hardman in fact running a greasy spoon/Victorian takeaway in the front room in Hanbury street? Couldn't see any reference to this on the site, but perhaps this has been debated before?
Best wishes,
C4
Readng my way through a dictionary of Victorian slang (as one does) I came across the following definition of cat's meat shop. "cat's meat shop - an eating house". Up until now I have accepted that Mrs Hardman sold meat for cats, but on the face of it, that does seem unlikely - up until at least fifty years ago cats were expected to live on whatever mice they could catch plus a few table scraps. The poor of Whitechapel had a hard time finding meat for themselves. Would they really have bought meat for their cats?
Was Mrs Hardman in fact running a greasy spoon/Victorian takeaway in the front room in Hanbury street? Couldn't see any reference to this on the site, but perhaps this has been debated before?
Best wishes,
C4
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