From Popularity to Suppression: Cockfighting and English Society c.1730 to the 1835 Cruelty to Animals Act

Abstract

ABSTRACT The reasons for cockfighting's relatively successful legal suppression by Act of Parliament in 1835 were complex, subtle and nuanced. This study begins by placing cockfighting's social and cultural functioning across the period from c. 1750 to 1835 in far clearer historical context, stressing the centrality of wagering. During this period, cocking had a key place in the cultural wars that increasingly focused on so called ‘blood sports' and animal-human relationships. Opposition to cockfighting came from two directions: concerns about animal suffering and the behaviour of attenders. There was a decline in plebeian cockfight reportage after 1800 but cockfighting continued to enjoy support amongst some groups, most importantly within the elite, up to and beyond 1835. There was increased humanitarian concern about cocks’ treatment, although such concerns were still not widely accepted. The success of reformers was less due to worries about cruelty to animals per se, than to their ability to link cockfighting to human behaviour and notions of moral degeneration such as gambling or drinking. Increased attacks on these aspects from the 1770s led by local magistrates, more pressure on Parliament from the 1820s, and wider social changes in the early 1830s, finally led to the Act.