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Peter III (cat)

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Peter III
Peter, c. 1962
Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office
In role
27 August 1947 – 9 March 1964
Monarchs
Prime Minister
Preceded byPeter II
Succeeded byPeta
Personal details
Bornc. 1947
Died (aged 16)
Resting placeIlford, Essex, England
ResidenceHome Office
OccupationMouser

Peter III (c. 1947 – 9 March 1964) was a cat who served as the chief mouser to the Cabinet Office from 1947 to 1964. He was the successor to Peter II, who died after being hit by a car in Whitehall. He served under five prime ministers: Clement Attlee, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, and Alec Douglas-Home. He was euthanised after suffering a liver infection, aged 16, and was succeeded by Peta, a Manx cat. He was buried in Ilford, Essex.

Life and career

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Peter became the chief mouser to the Cabinet Office on 27 August 1947 following the death of Peter II, who had been hit by a car in Whitehall.[1][2] He was still a kitten when he assumed the role and wore a tartan cat collar with a medallion bearing his name.[3] Peter attracted widespread public attention following an appearance on the BBC current affairs programme Tonight in 1958;[4][5] he also had a large fanbase in both Italy and the United States and received letters and gifts from Australia.[5][6] In 1958 a worker at the Home Office, in response to a letter complaining that Peter's food allowance was too low, noted that he had left the chewed body of a pigeon inside his desk, and, as he had not fully eaten it, was therefore "not suffering from starvation".[4]

In October 1958 it was reported that Peter's living allowance had been raised due to rising costs; a Home Office spokesman said that "everyone seems satisfied that he does his job well".[7] However, Peter did not receive a pay increase in 1962, during the chancellor of the Exchequer Selwyn Lloyd's "Pay Pause".[3][8] In 1960 Peter defecated on a doormat near the Cenotaph shortly before the Remembrance Day ceremony; it was disposed of by a civil servant before the Queen arrived.[6] Peter appeared on the home secretary's official 1958 Christmas card,[9] and in an October 1962 issue of the magazine Women's Realm.[4] Throughout his life, Peter made a number of appearances in media, including in television and film.[10] Speaking in 2017, Chris Day, the head of Modern Domestic Records at the National Archives, called Peter "the first superstar cat of Whitehall".[5]

Death and burial

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The procession immediately preceding the burial

Peter was euthanised on 9 March 1964 after suffering an incurable liver infection, aged 16.[11][12] Two days after his death Ronald Garvey, the lieutenant governor of the Isle of Man, offered the Home Office a Manx cat;[13] on 8 May he was replaced by that cat, called Peta.[14] Peter's burial was held "with full honours" on 13 March 1964 at the PDSA pet cemetery in Ilford, Essex, at a plot of land that had been "reserved for Peter for several years".[10] It was immediately preceded by a procession including a donkey, two women from the Home Office staff and various journalists and photographers.[15][16] He was buried in a brass-handled veneered oak coffin,[note 1] on which a nosegay of daffodils and anemones had been placed, along with a card which read "To Peter, from an animal lover";[10] this was lowered into the grave from "a purple-draped wheelbarrow".[18][19] At the burial, Amy Gough, a civil servant, said:[19]

We'll miss him. He was the friendliest cat ... he slept in in-trays, and on copies of The Times, and he was particularly fond of liver.

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ The Daily Herald states instead that the handles were made of gold.[17]

Citations

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  1. ^ "Whiskers in the workplace: More cats with careers". BBC News. 3 February 2018. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  2. ^ Coke, Hope (4 November 2022). "A Prime Minister's best friend!". Tatler. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Poor Peter". Liverpool Daily Post. 28 June 1962. p. 8. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Day, Chris (7 June 2016). "The bureaucats at the heart of government". The National Archives. Archived from the original on 6 July 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Day, Chris; Whitworth, Carriane (29 March 2017). "Bureau-cats: A short history of Whitehall's official felines". The National Archives. Archived from the original on 6 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  6. ^ a b Fenton, Ben (4 January 2005). "Cats that left a mark in the corridors of power". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  7. ^ "British raise allowance of official mouser". The Bellingham Herald. Associated Press. 19 October 1958. p. 19. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Bureaucratic cat". Londoner's Diary. Evening Standard. 30 June 1962. p. 4. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  9. ^ Adams, Penny (27 May 1964). "Fan letters for Home Office cat". Coventry Evening Telegraph. p. 16. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  10. ^ a b c "Full honours at funeral of Home Office cat". Birmingham Post. 14 March 1964. p. 18. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  11. ^ "Home Office lose a hired killer.". Daily Mirror. 10 March 1964. p. 3. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Happened over 'ome". The Windsor Star. 14 March 1964. p. 31. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  13. ^ "Whitehall hires a Manx cat". Daily Mirror. 13 March 1964. p. 3. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  14. ^ "Home Office cat history revealed". BBC News. 4 January 2005. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Burial of government cat". The La Crosse Tribune. 14 March 1964. p. 1. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  16. ^ "Home Office cat laid to rest in British ceremony". Hartford Courant. Associated Press. 14 March 1964. p. 5. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  17. ^ Dawes, Frank (9 May 1964). "New Manx cat-in Manx". Daily Herald. p. 8. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  18. ^ "No mice attend: British bury 'Home Office' cat". The Decatur Daily Review. Associated Press. 14 March 1964. p. 8. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  19. ^ a b "A top cat is buried". Daily Mirror. 14 March 1964. p. 2. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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