Nelson () was a cat who served as the
chief mouser to the Cabinet Office
Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office is the title of the official resident cat at 10 Downing Street, the residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in London. There has been a resident cat in the British government employed ...
during the
wartime coalition government as a pet of
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
. In the summer of 1940, after Churchill became the prime minister, Nelson moved from
Admiralty House to
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...
, where he had a rivalry with his predecessor:
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
's cat, the
Munich Mouser.
Life and career
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
decided to adopt Nelson, a black stray, when he witnessed him chasing off a "huge dog" from
Admiralty House, London.
Impressed by his bravery, Churchill named the cat after the British admiral
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...
.
Following Churchill's appointment as prime minister in 1940, Nelson moved into
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...
from Admiralty House sometime during the summer.
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". Commenters also wondered whether Nelson and the previous prime minister
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
's cat, nicknamed the ''
Munich Mouser'', would get along:
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
Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names.
Larry may refer to the following:
People Arts and entertainment
* Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer
* Larry Boo ...
and
Palmerston.
Churchill would reportedly regularly entertain guests with stories of Nelson's bravery.
During the Christmas season of 1941 the United States gifted Churchill a large number of items, including
catnip
''Nepeta cataria'', commonly known as catnip and catmint, is a species of the genus ''Nepeta'' in the mint family, native plant, native to southern and eastern Europe, northern parts of the Middle East, and Central Asia. It is widely naturalis ...
for Nelson. In February 1942
Quentin Reynolds
Quentin James Reynolds (April 11, 1902 – March 17, 1965) was an American journalist and World War II war correspondent. He also played American football for one season in the National Football League (NFL) with the Brooklyn Lions.
Early life ...
, an American journalist, reported that Nelson had demonstrated his "faithfulness" to Churchill by jumping into his lap when called; Churchill's daughter
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religion
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
claimed that "Nelson isn't really that faithful", and "he
asonly being nice" to Churchill because they were to have salmon for lunch. 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
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
''. On 2 May 1944, at the
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences were biennial meetings of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominion members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Seventeen Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences were held betwe ...
, Nelson was trapped in a
fridge whilst attempting to get "an extra helping of milk", but was soon released unharmed.
During meetings with Churchill's
war cabinet, Nelson would sit close to Churchill, acting as a "prime ministerial
hot water bottle
A hot-water bottle is a bottle filled with hot water and sealed with a Bung, stopper, used to provide warmth, typically while in bed, but also for the application of heat to a specific part of the body.
Early history
Containers for warmth in b ...
";
the prime minister was reported to have mentioned this fact to
Rab Butler
Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politici ...
, stating that through his acts Nelson "save
fuel and power", and thereby aided the war effort.
See also
*
List of individual cats
This is a list of individual cats who have achieved some degree of popularity or notability.
Before the modern era
* Nedjem or Nojem (Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''nḏm'' "Sweet One" or "Sweetie"), 15th century BC. The cat of Puimre, second p ...
*
Winston Churchill's pets
References
Notes
Citations
{{Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office
Individual cats in the United Kingdom
Individual cats in England
Individual cats in politics
Chief mousers to the Cabinet Office