A London dustman is forced by noise abatement legislation to change his trade: he becomes a vendor of cat's meat. Coloured lithograph, 1839.

The interlocutors are a street sweeper and a catsmeat-man who was formerly a dustman. "Traditionally, dustmen rang a bell to warn of their arrival, and to accompany their cry of "Dust-O!", but the ringing of the bell was banned by the Metropolitan Police Act of 1839, a piece of legislation which restricted many areas of street life affecting mainly poor people" (Hounsell, op. cit.,p. 28) . "Dustmen [in the early 1800s] began their rounds early morning ... announcing their presence with the loud toll of a handbell or a hearty shout of "dust ho!'". The 1839 Act forbade the handbell but permitted the "dust ho!' call (Jackson, op. cit., pp. 7, 244-245)

In the background is a street gas lamp

London (377, Strand) : Published by William Spooner, [1839?] (London (22 Denmark St. Soho) : Printed by W. Kohler)

1 print : lithograph, with watercolour ; image 24 x 18 cm

Hallo Jem! Vot are you turned cat's meat perweyor? Vy, yes, now the beaks have done avay vith the bell; and as my woice aint wery strong my phersician thought it adwisable to cut the perfession at vonce! The substitution of V for W and vice versa in the spoken language of London dustmen, as shown here, was noted by Henry Mayhew and others (Hounsell, op. cit., p. 30)

Peter Hounsell, London's rubbish: two centuries of dirt, dust and disease in the metropolis, Stroud 2013

Lee Jackson, Dirty old London, New Haven 2014

Wellcome Collection 2491042i