ABSTRACT
Integral to the Smithfield market system, the buyers and consumers of animals and meat were at the terminus of the supply chain. They directly influenced both the quantity and quality of animals available for purchase. Farmers, graziers, salesmen and butchers were also keenly aware of changes in consumer buying habits. As fashion turned, so did the public taste for mutton, pork and beef. The more labourers from the countryside saw themselves as modern urban dwellers, Londoners, the more meat sold in Smithfield. The same individuals that shaped the debate in the various select committees in Parliament also ate the barons of beef and tucked into saddles of mutton. Of these consumers, the butchers were on the front line of London’s meat provisioning system and had practiced their profession for at least 800 years before their presence in Smithfield became a public concern. This fiercely independent group had the most to lose by the removal of the cattle market and their protests continued up to and after the removal of the market to Islington.
