London Cats

Alfred Salter was born in Greenwich in 1873. At 16 he won a scholarship to study medicine at Guy’s hospital. As a student, he visited many working-class homes in Bermondsey, which developed in him a committed social conscience.

Shortly after qualifying in 1896, Dr Salter met Ada Brown, who shared his compassionate attitude towards the poor.

They had a daughter, Joyce. When Joyce was eight she contracted Scarlet Fever. The local community were greatly concerned for her health and followed updates which the Salters pinned to their front door. Sadly Joyce died and the couple never overcame their grief.

Collectively titled ‘Dr Salter’s Daydream’, these sculptures remember the greatly-loved Salters who brought so much to their local community. The family cat sits on the river wall.

The name of this cafe pre-dates the 2016 internet meme of mean cat owners scaring their cats with cucumbers.

Closed at the weekends unfortunately.

Richard Whittington lived locally. One of his earlier philanthropic acts was to pay for the rebuilding and extension of St Michael Paternoster Royal after a vacant plot of land was acquired.

On the south wall, a stained glass window depicts Dick Whittington with his cat.

Sir Richard was buried in St Michael’s in 1422. His grave has since been lost. An attempt to find his grave in 1949 did uncover a mummified cat, but no Lord Mayor.

Faith, the church cat, gained fame after the air raid which destroyed St Augustine’s in 1941. Days before she was seen moving her kitten, Panda, to a basement area. Despite being brought back several times, Faith insisted on returning Panda to her refuge.

On the morning after the air raid the rector searched through the ruins and eventually found Faith, surrounded by smouldering rubble and debris but still guarding the kitten in the spot she had selected three days earlier.

Four Templar cats decorate a column at Temple Church, located between Fleet Street and the River Thames. The church—built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters—dates to the 12th century, and although much of the building is restored, the cat heads are original. Each cat head faces one of the four cardinal directions. Between the heads, a shoot springs vertically upwards from a seed.

The two topiary cats outside The Savoy hotel are in the shape of the hotel’s wooden scultpure, Kaspar the cat.

Since 1926, whenever there is a booking for a table of 13 at the Savoy, the wooden Kaspar sculpture is seated at the table at a full place-setting to bring the number to 14.

Cleopatra’s needle is one of a pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks originally located in Heliopolis around 1450 BC and moved via a trecherous journey to London in 1877-1878. It’s twin is in New York.

The four monumental bronze lions in Trafalgar Square were added in 1867, guarding Nelson’s column which had been erected 24 years earlier.

The first sculptor to be commissioned for the work produced four stone lions. These were deemed not grand enough and were removed.

Bizarrely, the commission for the sculptures was then given to a painter, Sir Edwin Landseer. He took nine years to complete the project. The first four years were spent visiting London zoo and making sketches.

He asked for a lion that had died at the zoo to be brought to his studio. He took so long to complete sketches that it began to decompose and some parts had to be improvised. Hence the statues have paws that resemble cats more than lions.

The hotel’s lobby has a 10ft bronze sculpture of a cat by sculptor Fernando Botero. His signature style, also known as “Boterismo”, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume.

Whittington Park features a large cat made of plants and flowers at its Holloway Road entrance, and has a nice looking community-run cafe.

The Whittington Stone is a monumental stone at the foot of Highgate Hill which marks the spot where Dick Whittington is said to have heard Bow Bells prophesying his good fortune: “Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London!”. The cat is sat facing away from London but with its head turned back towards London.

The current hospital, named after Richard Whittington, has its origins in the Small Pox and Vaccination Hospital, built in 1848. In addition to a cat featuring on the sign at the front of the building, two cat statues can be found in a garden within the grounds.

The Smithfield cat is located inside the south transept, just above and across from the bookstall. Much of St. Bartholomew’s interior predates the tradition of corbel heads on arches and pillars, so the cat is an unusual and unexplained ornament.

Lady Dinah’s is London’s first Cat Cafe. It is a calm and quiet tea house and home to around 9 rescue cats.

The graffiti in Cheshire Street in London’s East End frequently has a cat theme.