Very close to the wonderful Bunhill Fields (previously bone hill) is the pub that was in Victorian times as The Blue Anchor but which is now the Artillery Arms. The 1835 Cruelty to Animals Act prohibited pastimes such as bull baiting, cock fighting and dog fighting but no mention was made of rats – a loophole that many an enterprising publican exploited to the full but none more so than the landlord here, Jeremy Shaw.
Rat baiting was a cruel sport that might have been more widely vilified had it victimised cuter animals.
Hundreds of unsuspecting rats would be rounded up from the surrounding fields and thrown to the dogs, quite literally. Pub-goers would then place bets on how many rats their dogs could slaughter in a minute. Any rats thought to be left alive after this would be laid on a table and struck three times with a stick by the referee. A rat that managed to crawl out of the circle after this ordeal would be declared "alive" and Round Two would begin against the clock. So, not good news for the rat either way.
So popular a venue for Rat Baiting did The Blue Anchor become that Jeremy Shaw brought in rats from Essex for the rat pits under the pub, as they were healthier than London sewer rats, and kept as many as 2,000 rats there.
Tiny was so small that he wore a woman's bracelet instead of a collar. He once held the rat killing record, with 300 dead in just under 55 minutes.
Tiny appears in a c. 1850–1852 oil painting, Rat-Catching at the Blue Anchor Tavern, Bunhill Row, Finsbury, where he is depicted trying to kill 200 rats in an hour. Tiny succeeded twice, on 28th March 1848 and 27th March 1849, "having on both occasions time to spare".
It's just amazing what would go on in Victorian London sometimes isn't it? If yucky Victorian history is your thing there is much to see on my blog including Dancing on the Dead at Enon Chapel – The Victorian Sensation! or if you are visiting London, try out my Great Crimes & Punishment Tour
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