Meat, Commerce and the City:
The London Food Market, 1800–1855
Robyn S Metcalfe
Perspectives in Economic and Social History
978 1 84893 290 6: 234x156mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 84893 291 3
In 1800 Smithfield Market was the largest cattle market in the world. But new concerns over sanitation, as well as changing views about the purpose of public space, meant that the market became an issue of contention, culminating in the Smithfield Removal Act of 1851. Metcalfe examines the struggle between the market's supporters and detractors and argues that this demonstrates a major shift in the way the urban landscape came to be used.
Sample pages
Readership
Nineteenth-Century London, Social and Political History and Urban Development
Contents
Introduction
1 The Smithfield System in the Nineteenth Century: A Grand Complexus
2 The Smithfield System in the Nineteenth Century: The Consumers
3 The Smithfield Battle Begins
4 Smithfield's Urban Landscape: Space in Transition
5 'A Grateful Odor Runneth Round': Public Health and Smithfield
6 Necessarily Cruel? Beef, Brutes and Women in Smithfield
7 The Final Act: 1840–55
Epilogue
Reviews
‘Meat, Commerce and the City is a highly readable social history of debates over the removal of the Smithfield cattle market from the centre of London, presenting a lively and accessible account of concerns about the place of both livestock and dead meat in the heart of the burgeoning metropolis. This book will contribute not only to the field of urban history but also to a growing interest in food studies.’ Nadja Durbach, University of Utah
'In this brilliantly-researched book, Metcalfe has finally written the definitive history of Smithfield. In her hands, the colourful, protracted battle to reform London’s giant cattle market becomes a lens through which to view early Victorian debates about modernization, diet and civilization. Meat, Commerce, and the City is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of London, food, animals or urban design.' Christopher Otter, The Ohio State University
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