The First Cat Show: Victorian time capsule by Jacob Hofman

 

  The first (recognized) cat show was in Victorian England circa 1871 at the Crystal Palace. This was the first event of its kind to successfully enthrall the British public and indeed the Queen herself. Organized by Harrison Weir and the naturalist Fred Wilson it soon became a public sensation. Even though the show was thrown together on rather short notice, the two men managed to bring together over 170 exhibits. These feline specimens came from a mix of middle-class and aristocratic can’t fanciers. These exhibits included the first Siamese cats ever recorded at Show as well as African, long-haired varieties of both French and Persian bloodlines, English domestic short-hair cats, and a manx. The idea was to develop standards on which to judge the domestic cat. Almost to the cat fanciers’ consternation, the exhibition was an almost overwhelming success! The public was so entranced with the idea that over 20,000 showed up to view the event. Crowd control became a real issue and transportation needs were quickly ramped up by scheduling more trains to accommodate the crowds. The second day was even better attended than the first. So much so, two cat shows were held yearly until the blip of eighteen seventy three.

Besides being a historic event for cat fanciers worldwide, here are some other interesting tidbits.

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• • Pedigrees did not exist: This is deeply ironic, my non purebred Siamese could have been a contender back then! It was only in 1887 that pedigrees began to emerge.
  • ·       Frustrating portraiture: The winners of the first Crystal Palace cat show were not photographed, they got portraits. I do not envy the poor souls who had to paint the kitties.
  • ·       Joke categories: Once upon a time in a land far, far away there was a “prize” for the fattest cat who came in at twenty pounds.
  • ·       Great PR: Before cat shows came into vogue cats were valued for one reason only, pest control. So much so that we have this deeply disheartening quote from Charles Baker."The Cat must be considered as a faithless friend, brought to oppose a still more insidious enemy. The domestic cat is the only animal of the tribe to which it belongs, whose services can more than recompense the trouble of its education."
     
  
   
  
      And that is the cat show that started it all; kitty mania has come so far. It’s hard to think that cats were once regarded as a “necessary evil”, a change in thinking made possible by cat shows. Not since Egyptian times have cats had it so good.
   
      In the nineteen sixties it was Beatles mania, in the eighteen sixties it was exhibition mania. This was indeed what the crystal palace was well known for; in addition to cat shows it showcased inventions, industrial products, and anything else that would draw crowds.