Cowman in London

[Chilton]

Is the occupation of cowman in Central London a common one?One of my ancestors was one, admittedly he lived not far from Smithfield market. Did dairies in Central London keep milking cows as well as the market buying and selling cattle?
I am talking around 1870 here. ?

[Biker]

Hello,

I don't think it is that unusual at that time as milk was often sold from door-to-door sometimes with the cow in tow sometimes by container depending on the locality and type of neighbourhood.

Hope that helps
Jonathan

[suttontrust]

In my part of the country at least it was known as a cow keeper.  Sometimes he kept a cow or cows for milking alongside some other occupation (I've got one who was also a publican) but it could be a job in itself, well into the 20th century.  As Jonathan says, the cow could be taken around and milked to order, or the milk could be sold in a more conventional way.

[joboy]

Just found this topic after so long ....... I have just found a letter written in 1856 from an ancestor in Reading Berks which says,in part,;
"My brother James is living in Chelsea at present and managing a large herd of dairy cows".
Interesting!! ........ Chelsea!! .......... could'nt happen there today eh?
joboy   

[julieann1]

I have 3 generations of my family keeping cows in Marylebone. On the 1861 they are described as 'cowkeeper' and on the 1901 as 'dairyman'.  This is quite a mind boggling concept until you look at a 19th century map of London, and see how much more rural it was back then.  Julie

[stockman fred]

hi, I think in the 19th century, it was considered normal to keep cows tied in stalls in the city .
Today, we tend to keep milk cows in sheds on farms over the winter and turn them out to graze in the summer as it is cheaper to let them eat grass. In the winter they eat expensive food which has to be conserved over the summer, and also the manure has to be carried away and dealt with.
Back then, before refrigeration, there was a premium on fresh milk in town so it paid to bring in feed, carry away the manure, and pay milk maids to milk them. I think they stayed in their stalls all year round in street cowhouses.
The economics changed with the arrival of railways and refrigeration. Suddenly it became possible to produce cheaper grass fed milk miles from the city and get it to the town in an hour or two. The Milk Marketing board of 1933 ensured that transport costs were averaged out no matter where the milk was produced, so producers in remote areas were no longer at a disadvantage.
Cows would have been milked by hand, certainly up to the 1920s.
Fred

[stockman fred]

Just a few more thoughts on bygone cows- In the 19th century, the cows would not have been the big black & white holstein/friesians we milk today. The 1880 ag. notebook gives the common breeds as Shorthorn, Devon, Red Poll and Ayrshire as well as Guernseys and Jerseys for higher cream. Yields were around 3000 litres each per year or less than a half of what we get today.
The dangers of germs were not understood so city milk was advertised as being "warm from the cow" and this was seen as a good thing. As a result, TB and Typhoid commonly resulted from its use.
Fred

[suttontrust]

My uncle worked at a dairy in central London pre war.  He delivered milk from open churns - he contracted TB.

[AlBERT72]

Most towns and cities had a number of small Dairy's to provide milk and butter to the inhabitants. My Great Grandfather was described as a Cowman in Hammersmith in one census while in an earlier census he was a Milkman, so I suppose the two were interchangeable.