City of beasts: How animals shaped Georgian London

by Thomas Almeroth-Williams

This book explores the role of animals – horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs – in shaping Georgian London. Moving away from the philosophical, fictional and humanitarian sources used by previous animal studies, it focuses on evidence of tangible, dung-bespattered interactions between real people and animals, drawn from legal, parish, commercial, newspaper and private records.This approach opens up new perspectives on unfamiliar or misunderstood metropolitan spaces, activities, social types, relationships and cultural developments. Ultimately, the book challenges traditional assumptions about the industrial, agricultural and consumer revolutions, as well as key aspects of the city’s culture, social relations and physical development. It will be stimulating reading for students and professional scholars of urban, social, economic, agricultural, industrial, architectural and environmental history.

328 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2020

Reviews

[Lucienne Boyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant study of the role of animals in Georgian London which challenges many assumptions, questioning, for example, ideas of the speed and impact of the Industrial Revolution, the distinction between urban and rural, and attitudes to cruelty and sentimentality. It looks at the life, work and experience of people who rarely appear in the history books, such as drovers, milk maids, grooms and pig keepers. Few books I’ve read, fact or fiction, have given me such a vivid impression of the city in all its noisy, smelly, busy, everyday, and down-to-earth life.