Nelson (cat)

Nelson (fl. May 1940 – May 1944) was a cat who served as the chief mouser to the Cabinet Office during the wartime coalition government as a pet of Winston Churchill. In the summer of 1940, after Churchill became the prime minister, Nelson moved from Admiralty House to 10 Downing Street, where he had a rivalry with his predecessor: Neville Chamberlain's cat, the Munich Mouser.

Nelson
Cartoon of Nelson from Edwin Cox's Private Lives comic, 1941[note 1]
Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office
In role
c. July 1940 – ?
Serving with the Munich Mouser (1940–1943)
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime Minister
Preceded byMunich Mouser
Succeeded byPeter II
Personal details
Residences
OccupationMouser

Life and career

Nelson is the bravest cat I ever knew ... I decided to adopt him and name him after our great Admiral.[2]

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill decided to adopt Nelson, a black[3] stray, when he witnessed him chasing off a "huge dog" from Admiralty House, London.[4] Impressed by his bravery, Churchill named the cat after the British admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson.[5] Following Churchill's appointment as prime minister in 1940, Nelson moved into 10 Downing Street from Admiralty House sometime during the summer.[6][7][8] Opponents of Churchill speculated that he would not bring Nelson to Downing Street, suggesting that Churchill did not like cats; this was refuted by Churchill's friends as a "gross aspersion".[9] Commenters also wondered whether Nelson and the previous prime minister Neville Chamberlain's cat, nicknamed the Munich Mouser, would get along:

How, it is asked, will the "Munich" cat react to "Nelson"? Will it follow Mr. Chamberlain next door to his new home at No. 11, leaving the field at No. 10 to "Nelson"? Or will it refuse to abdicate and call for a showdown in his majesty's court of justice?[6]

The cats did not take a liking to one another, with the rivalry between the pair later compared with that of the 21st-century mousers Larry and Palmerston.[4][10] Churchill would reportedly regularly entertain guests with stories of Nelson's bravery.[5]

During the Christmas season of 1941, the United States gifted Churchill a large number of items, including catnip for Nelson.[11][12][13] In February 1942, Quentin Reynolds, an American journalist, reported that Nelson had demonstrated his "faithfulness" to Churchill by jumping into his lap when called; Churchill's daughter Mary claimed that "Nelson isn't really that faithful", and "he [was] only being nice" to Churchill because they were to have salmon for lunch.[14] Reynolds also described a dinner with the Churchills and Nelson in a book published that year, at which Churchill recited parts of Shakespeare's Hamlet.[15][16] On 2 May 1944, at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference, Nelson was trapped in a fridge whilst attempting to get "an extra helping of milk",[17] but was soon released unharmed.[18] During meetings with Churchill's war cabinet, Nelson would sit close to Churchill, acting as a "prime ministerial hot water bottle".[2] The dates of the end of Nelson's term and of his death are not known.

See also

References

Notes
  1. No photographs of Nelson are known to exist.[1]

Citations
  1. Kennedy, Maev (13 July 2006). "Museum honours dogs – and ferrets – of war". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  2. Craig, Jon (28 December 2016). "Political cats: Who really runs the country?". Sky News. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  3. "Feline protocol". The Montgomery Advertiser. The Washington Post. 24 June 1940. p. 4. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  4. Riley-Smith, Ben (27 December 2016). "Forget Larry and Palmerston, the original Number 10 cat rivalry revealed: Nelson vs The Munich Mouser". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 March 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  5. Dockter, Warren (27 January 2015). "Pigs, poodles, and African lions – meet Churchill the animal-lover". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  6. "Mr. Churchill's cats". The Birmingham Mail. 13 June 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  7. "Downing Street ponders knotty feline problem". The Miami News. 16 June 1940. p. 12. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  8. Robinson, Amelia (21 July 1940). "This is Mrs. Winston". Sunday Sun. p. 8. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  9. "Downing Street worried about its official cats". The Windsor Star. 7 June 1940. p. 26. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  10. Day, Christopher. "Churchill's feline dynasties". The History Press. Archived from the original on 4 March 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  11. Bolles, Blair (13 January 1942). "Gifts for Churchill rain on White House". The Buffalo News. p. 15. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  12. "Bundles for Briton". Star Tribune. Time Magazine. 21 January 1942. p. 4. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  13. "Gifts for Churchill". Didsbury Pioneer. 22 July 1943. p. 2. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  14. Lyons, Leonard (17 February 1942). "Why Churchill's cat is so faithful?". The Sun Times. New York Post. p. 4. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  15. "Premier 'Hamlet': Cosy family dinner at the Churchill's". Liverpool Echo. 6 July 1942. p. 4. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  16. Glueckstein, Fred (20 June 2013). ""Cats look down on you…" Churchill's feline menagerie". International Churchill Society. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  17. "Appetite traps Churchill's cat". The Philadelphia Inquirer. UP. 3 May 1944. p. 1. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  18. "Churchill's cat out of picture". Tampa Bay Times. 3 May 1944. p. 18. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
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