Elizabeth Gaskell and Cats
Posted
11th February 2025
in blog, Blogs & News, Collection, People
Many people visiting Elizabeth Gaskell’s House with children will be familiar with our cat trail; spotting toy cats in every room, each one appropriately dressed for their surroundings, along with puzzles, jokes and crafty things to do. But what do we know of Elizabeth Gaskell’s relationship with cats?
Elizabeth Gaskell and Cats
We know that she wrote to her youngest daughter Julia in May 1853 to say, ‘We are to have a kitten all the way from Paris, called Cranford, with very long hair, and soft pretty eyes. I wonder if it will understand our English Pussy.‘
But she clearly knew a lot more about cats and their care, as witnessed by her own copy of Lady Mary Cust’s groundbreaking little book The cat, its history and diseases. (2nd edition, published by Groombridge & Sons, 1860.) which belongs in Manchester Central Library’s Special Collection.
This edition is 32 pages long and bound together with five pages of notes in Elizabeth’s own hand.
Lady Cust
Mary Anne Cust (1799-1882) was born in Over Peover, under four miles from Knutsford. Her first book on cat care was published in 1856 and praised by the Sydney Morning Herald thus: ‘At last the cat has been promoted to the literary honours which have so long been her due, and so long been delayed. She has had an entire book written about her, all to herself, by the Honourable Lady Cust.‘
Lady Cust emphasised that cleanliness made cats ‘nice household pets’, and includes advice on treating many common ailments and suggestions on how to administer medicine. Cats should be treated like a contemporary ‘human subject’ with similar medication, such as laudanum, and be made comfortable and warm by a fire.
Cust was grandmother to Aleen Cust, who is considered to be the first female trained veterinary surgeon in Britain. Aleen attributed her own love of animals to Cust and wrote of her grandmother: ‘She would go on an annual voyage to her villa in Madeira with her favourite Persian cat in a basket secured with 5 padlocks.’
Elizabeth’s Notes on Cats
Elizabeth’s detailed notes add a fair amount of extra information regarding diet and treatment of various diseases and conditions. These include chronic inflammation of the stomach,‘which often follows the administration of poison’ and recommends ‘one dose of 3/4 grain of Trisnitrate of Bismuth given to Kujasta did wonders, after her having vomited all night white froth, and being very ill and restless’. Elizabeth also listed her own remedies for bronchitis, fits and diarrhoea, which differ slightly from Lady Cust’s.
Cranford and other cats living at Plymouth Grove were certainly well looked after, judging by her notes;
‘A cat ought to be fed at least twice a day. Let her have a dish to herself. Oatmeal porridge and milk or white bread steeped in warm milk to which a little sugar has been added for breakfast – and for dinner she must have an allowance of flesh. Boiled lights are better for her than horse meat; and occasionally let her have fish. Treat her now and then to a sparse inch of fresh butter. Cats nearly always prefer fresh water to milk when thirsty. If a cat is seedy – been out all night, give her a saucer of nice creamy milk made warm with water, and slightly sweetened with sugar’.
Cats in Elizabeth’s Writing
Elizabeth also references cats in her writing, the most famous (or should we say notorious) being Mrs Forrester’s cat in the novel Cranford. In chapter 8, Mrs Forrester prides herself on taking care of her lace by soaking it in milk. To her horror, her cat steals the milk and swallows the lace. Having trapped
the cat by forcing its legs into a tall boot, she gives it medicine to make it vomit and, after suitable
cleaning, ‘Your ladyship would never guess that it had been in pussy’s inside’.
So I think we can confidently conclude that Elizabeth Gaskell knew (and liked!) her cats very well!
This blog was written by Lizzie Gent, Volunteer at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
The cat pictured here is Priscilla (Lizzie’s cat)
Have you ever wanted to read Cranford or wondered why it’s one of Elizabeth Gaskell’s most popular novels? This online talk offers an introduction to this well-loved classic of Victorian literature. With speaker Libby Tempest.
