Britain is a nation of pet lovers – and it has the Victorians to thank
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Jane Hamlett, Royal Holloway
Britain was the first country in the world to start a welfare charity for animals, as early as 1824. Now, almost 20m cats and dogs have a loving place in the country’s homes, and almost one in two households is accompanied by a furry, scaly, or feathered friend.
As a historian of family and home life in 19th- and 20th-century Britain, I’ve been trying to find out how this came about. With Julie-Marie Strange and our research team, Luke Kelly, Lesley Hoskins and Rebecca Preston, we’ve been exploring archives from the Victorian era and beyond to figure out how and when pets became so prominent in family life.
Humans have interacted and engaged with animals for thousands of years, but pet-keeping didn’t become socially acceptable in Britain until the 18th century. Until then, pets were often seen as an elite extravagance, and small dogs frequently appeared in satirical prints of aristocratic ladies, symbolising frivolity and indulgence.
By the late 18th and...
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