The Cator Cats

This tale appeared in a book of 1895 in the form of a letter sent to the editor of The Western Daily Mercury and originally it was written in the Devonshire Dialect. The translation goes:

THE CATOR CATS

(Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon)

To the editor of "The Western Daily Mercury.")

Sir,

I thought I would just drop you two or three lines, and if you'll be so good as to let me have a small space in your paper of next Friday or Saturday it will give me great pleasure to relate the particulars of a circumstance which happened in our parish a few days ago and which will no doubt please a few of your many readers. I, therefore do hope you will kindly insert it; for tell you the truth, these are exciting times here, just before the election, and everybody's head seems to be chock full of politics from the labouring man to the squire and the parson, who is as ready to rush into print to defend the Tories as to look after the cure of poor souls, while so much has come athwart his mind lately and almost drove him mad that folks say he has Harris on the brain.

Most of us have heard about the Tory Kittens becoming Liberal by having their eyes opened; but my story, which shall begin at once is about some cats. One day last week, a man in trade at Ashburton, having heard that all the cats at Cator Court were Conservatives and almost blind, so that they couldn't see to catch any mice. He said it was a thousand pities and he would send his own cat, which was a thumping young, black and White Liberal Tom, and make a present of it to the squire as he knew it would improve the breed. So a little after ten o'clock one morning that tradesman's son, who was keen to carry out the task, drove out of town in the trap taking the veritable Tommy with him, tied up in a bag so he wouldn't find his way back again, because they have a lot of Liberal cats at Ashburton.

He soon reached Buckland where he saw a farmer friend dragging a tree stump out of the hedge near to the moors, and who asked him "What are you going to do with that cat?" and he replied, "Father says I must take it up to Cator, to improve the breed of the Squire's cats, because we have been told they are all Tories and can hardly see." "You need not go any further with them my boy, because we have lots of such cats in this parish, and a Liberal strain would do them the world of good; but if you won't leave the cat please ask the Squire to send some of the kittens over to Buckland."

When passing Cockenford Mill a couple of labourers were curious as to what the boy was doing with the noisy cat; as soon as they found out they laughed enough to split their sides, and one of them said, "I warrant the boy is telling a straight forward tale because those cats at Cator are either blind in one eye or both and it is high time there was a fresh breed in that part of the parish, because up there I tell you, everything is Tory, never mind the cats and I haven't the patience with such rubbish."

When the boy got inside the grounds of Cator and passed by the great house, he turned round the gable end of the nearest  linhay (barn) to the pig's sty and saw somebody standing by the loft door, but he was afraid to speak to him, but as soon as he passed through the court he grabbed that fine cat and threw him stram-bang down, tossy-tail dead, yes I say he did, and said to his cat "There Tommy, now you have a crowd of sweet-hearts here and I hope you won't run into the nearby wood or the keeper will shoot you so as you won't catch the rabbits that the Squire send to market." Before the lad could returned to Widecombe he had to deliver a bed to another farm, here the farmer asked him, "Where have you come from? Where have you been? Have you left that cat behind?" Because such joyful news has spread like swaling and wild fire. And now to finish, Mr Editor, you know that cats are very good at finding their way back home but on Saturday last that same Ashburton tradesman was pleased to tell me that Tommy had not returned.

Leusdon, November 18th 1885.

The story loses quite a bit when the dialect words are removed and also seems a trifle pointless but when the undertones are noted it would have been fairly controversial. It admirably illustrates the social attitudes of the working classes and the town folk towards the dominant Tory gentry of the times. In the mid 1850's there were the large moorland farms run by the yeomen and gentry and then the labourers and smaller farmers of the moorland fringes. It could be considered a fairly radical idea that the euphemistic 'Liberal Tom Cat'  should be sent to breed out the genetically deformed 'Blind Tory Cats' of the Gentry. But has this not always been the basis of the whole class structure, the landed gentry of the upper classes do not lower themselves to mix with the tawdry working class oiks, in whose in the eyes the exclusivity of the gentry have led to a very small gene pool and in-breeding.

It is worth noting that in June 1885 Lord Salisbury was elected the Conservative Prime Minister so there may have been some Liberal sour-grapes hidden in the letter. They were not to last long because in the February of 1886 William Ewart Gladstone and his Liberal party were elected to govern the country. This however was also short lived because in the August of the same year Lord Salisbury and his conservative party were re-elected and they governed for the next six years.