Victorian Cat Ladies were a special breed. While humans kept cats for roughly ten thousand years, the cat-human connection blossomed ferociously during the 1800s. By the last decades of the century, cats had purred their way into homes and hearts.
Yes, men embraced cats too. But given recent mud slinging in the public arena, we are primarily celebrating Victorian Cat ladies.
Following are 7 tidbits everyone should know about the people who sprinkled the trails of catnip that led felines into 21st-century homes.
#1-How In The Name Of Kitty Litter Did The Phrase Begin?
“Cat Lady” is usually flung around as an insult for lonely, childless women who share their homes with one or more cats. Piling on the insult, the phrase has also come to imply unstable, even crazy – and possibly evil witchlike beings.
Is this all about the cats?
Cats were once hand-in-paw with female deities. In ancient Egypt, Bastet was half cat and half woman. In China, Li Shou was a cat goddess of fertility. And in Nordic countries, Freya, who rode a chariot pulled by cats, represented strength and beauty.
So how did cats become the bad guys?
Some historians think the good times shifted for these respected cat goddesses by the Middle Ages when the Roman Catholic Church set out to enlighten the world. Their first order of business was to overpower non-Christian gods.
In all fairness, cats can have some snarky, even murderous traits that undoubtedly were noted long before the Middle Ages. But this was most likely the beginning of bad publicity for cats, which became aligned with Satan.
And, of course, some of the women who loved them were considered witches.
#2-Queen Victoria Brought Animals Into The Home
Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria, May, 1819 – January, 1901) ushered in the Victorian Era, a time known for its stiff oppression.
Fortunately, Queen Victoria was also known for her great love of pets in general, and dogs in particular. During her reign, dogs became beloved companions — even valued family members who were brought into the home and often treated as well as children.
According to the Royal Collection Trust, this love of animals set a precedent for Britain to become a nation of animal lovers.
According to English Heritage:
“As a young princess, Victoria was notably supportive of animal charities, lending her patronage to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1835 at the age of 16, and granting them the prefix ‘Royal’ three years later.” (English Heritage)
At her Golden Jubilee in 1887, the Queen said that the ‘growth of more humane feelings towards the lower animals’ over her lifetime brought her real pleasure.
A Royal Influencer even by today’s standards, Queen Victoria started many trends from holiday celebrations to white wedding dresses and of course, caring for pets as a part of the family.
It is likely that she cared for thousands of animals over her lifetime, including horses, farm animals, exotic birds and an estimated 640 dogs. While cats were not her favorite, they were part of the royal menagerie. Among them was Snowdrop, Prince Leopold’s favored pet.
It was at Queen Victoria’s suggestion that a cat appeared on the RSPCA medal. When she adopted two Blue Persian which she treated as members of the court, newspapers published stories about the royal cats.
The Queen’s royal subjects followed her lead.
Thanks to improvements in photography, images of cats and their people became a new genre that contributed to the cat craze. (Read more about (Jump Photography)
#3- Social Roles Were In Massive Upheaval
Society underwent dramatic changes through the Industrial Revolution. Among them, ideas about marriage, family and women’s role in society were in flux.
Yes, it was difficult for unmarried women of a certain age to walk in respect in the Victorian Era. But that exact age was somewhat murky. Generally, shelf life lasted to the early or mid-twenties. By the later twenties, a woman slid the slippery slope into spinster-hood.
According to writer-historian John Simkin of Spartacus-Education, in the 19th century, cultural perceptions of women were dictated by Victorian ideals of womanhood.
“The idea was that upper and middle class women had to stay dependent on a man: first as a daughter and later as a wife. Once married, it was extremely difficult for a woman to obtain a divorce.”(Spartacus-Education)
Victorian women were expected to marry and have children.
When a woman married, her wealth was passed to her husband. If a woman worked after marriage, her earnings also belonged to her husband. It wasn’t until the passage of the passing of the Married Women’s Property Act 1882 that a wife could keep some wages, investments and inheritance independent of her husband.
For some women, the price of marriage was too high. An increasing number chose to remain single. As in today’s world, some people disapproved of this trend that threatened their world order. Childless, single women became Victorian Cat Ladies.
By the late 1800s, women were finding new freedoms both in their personal lives and outside the home. Typical male professions, such as Private Investigator for the Pinkertons, were opening up to women. Bicycles were offering new mobility. Lone lady travelers were striking out on their own, even climbing major mountains. And Trailblazers like Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland were showing the world just what a woman could do without a man at her side.
#4-Cat Ladies were in full swing.
In 1880, the Dundee Courier wrote: reported:
“There is nothing at all surprising in the old maid choosing a cat as a household pet or companion. Solitude is not congenial to human nature, and a poor forlorn female, shut up in a cheerless ‘garret,’ brooding all alone over her blighted hopes, would naturally centre her affections on some of the lower animals.”
The concept of Victorian Cat Ladies crossed the pond to America as well.
According to Messy Beast:
“These trendy house pets got a ton of popularity in the America’s too, as they were featured in Godey’s Ladies Book. Godey’s stated that cats were not solely for older women or monarchs and that anyone should feel comfortable in embracing the ‘love and virtue” of the cat.’” (Messy Beast)
#5-One Publication Found Gold In Spinster Replies
Tit-bits magazine held a competition in 1889. Entrants had to answer the question: Why are you still single? The tsunami of irreverent responses made it impossible to choose one winner. Instead, editors published a full page of hilarious retorts. Each winner received the equivalent of approximately $25 today.
Among the responses:
Annie Thompson’s submission was a favorite. “Because I do not care to enlarge my menagerie of pets, and I find the animal man less docile than a dog, less affectionate than a cat and less amusing than a monkey.”
Sarah Kennedy from Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire wrote: “Like the wild mustang of the prairie that roams unfettered, tossing his head in utter disdain at the approach of the lasso which, is once round his neck, proclaims him captive, so I find it more delightful to tread on the verge of freedom and captivity than to allow the snarer to cast around me the matrimonial lasso.”
Read More Replies Here
#6-Francis Simpson Forged An Impressive Career From Cats
Francis Simpson (1857 – 1926) was one of the driving forces behind Victorian Cat Ladies. A writer, journalist, cat breeder, frequent judge of cat shows and advocate for animal rights, she became a leading authority on cats in her time.
Her passion began at the age of 14 when she attended the Crystal Palace Cat Show in 1871. It is cited as the first cat show in history.
In contradiction to the scornful view of cat ladies, Messy Beast writes that Simpson shattered the stereotype.
“Her writing style shows that she was well-educated and industrious, no doubt adhering to the Victorian ethic, and her father’s religious ethic, of hard work. The early photos of her in her own books and in show reports in “Fur and Feather” and newspapers show an elegant, fashionable young woman.” (MessyBeast)
The daughter of a Reverend, she was well educated. Choosing to remain single, she became a journalist with a highly popular advice column in the weekly magazine Fur and Feather. She bred cats for herself as well as breeders in Britain and America where breeding was in its infancy.
Simpson was perhaps the most prolific writer on the subject of cats and cat breeding. She was the primary editor of the highly successful publication, “The Book of the Cat,” (1903)
Through her subject knowledge, stellar reputation and tireless dedication to her business, plus a talent for self-promotion, Francis Simpson became known as a leading expert in the world of cats, which was also a lucrative business.
“She was also well able to name-drop since the cat fancy was one of the pursuits of upper classes and some of the cats Simpson bred had gone to the catteries of aristocratic ladies.”
Not bad for a childless Victorian Cat Lady.
Racing Nellie Bly
Victorian Secrets From Footnotes In History
Know The Past To Invent The Future
