{"id":30896,"date":"2023-11-28T17:51:19","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T16:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=252956"},"modified":"2023-11-28T23:11:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T22:11:40","slug":"pet-cemeteries-where-have-beloved-animals-been-laid-to-rest-through-the-centuries","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/pet-cemeteries-where-have-beloved-animals-been-laid-to-rest-through-the-centuries\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet cemeteries: where have beloved animals been laid to rest through the centuries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eugene Byrne explores the moving history of resting places for beloved pets\u2026 <\/p>

By Eugene Byrne\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 16:51 PM<\/p>

\n\n

\u201cHer dogs are her greatest interest and amusement, and she has at least forty of various kinds. She is delighted when anybody gives her a dog\u201d.<\/p>\n

This was how Regency-era diarist Charles Greville described Frederica Charlotte (1767\u00ac\u20131820), the Duchess of York and Albany, and estranged wife of Prince Frederick, second son of George III.<\/p>\n

Following the royal couple\u2019s separation around 1794, Frederica retired to Oatlands Park in Surrey, where she lived surrounded by cats and dogs.<\/p>\n

More than 60 animals were buried at Oatlands, all with headstones. Whether or not she started the fashion, the eccentric duchess certainly had one of the first British pet cemeteries.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unceremonial\u2019 burials<\/h3>\n
Burial of animals owned by humans is unusual before the late 18th century. Some cats were buried in Egypt, and there\u2019s an ancient dog cemetery at Ashkelon in Israel, but the burial of what we might call \u2018pets\u2019 was rare.<\/p>\n
One notable exception: Alexander the Great<\/a> is believed to have had a lavish funeral for his favourite dog, Peritas \u2013 and named a city in his honour\u2013 but this animal was prized at least as much for its ferocity as its companionship.<\/p>\n
For most of history, relationships between humans and domestic animals were mostly utilitarian. Dogs fulfilled various roles, and cats were for keeping vermin at bay.<\/p>\n
Aside from lapdogs and \u2018exotic\u2019 creatures such as monkeys and parrots, few were kept as pets. Once they died, they were either \u2018unceremonially\u2019 buried, flung on the bonfire, or dumped somewhere \u2013 unless money could be earned from selling the skin, meat, fur, or feathers.<\/p>\n
When and why people in Britain started treating animals as pets is open to debate, but a more certain fashion for keeping animals in the home emerged in the later 18th century, the age of \u2018sensibility\u2019.<\/p>\n

By the end of Queen Victoria\u2019s reign, even working-class households were keeping animals at least partly as pets, or for leisure and sport <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
By Victorian times, domestic pets had arrived, and were no longer just for the middle- and upper-classes. By the end of Queen Victoria\u2019s reign, even working-class households were keeping animals at least partly as pets, or for leisure and sport. Dog shows were a regular feature of British life by late 1800s, and the prizes were often carried off by working-class breeders from urban homes.<\/p>\n
$\"A$ \n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>