Peter+Morrison

__**Gut Girls History**__

This part of the wiki page will be devoted mainly to the historical aspects of the play. The play 'The Gut Girls' takes place in Deptford England in the early 1900's. The storyline involves woman who, around that time, worked in slaughterhouses in the Dockyard of that town. According to several sources, the setting and the characters in the play are historically accurate to that of the actual slaughterhouses of in Deptford in the 1900's. It is interesting to note that the woman or 'The Gut Girls' were actual people and were well renowned around that area. At this particular time in history woman had a lot fewer roles to play than they do today as far as how they would provide for their families and themselves. The Gut Girls however seemed to be one of the few exceptions. These strong independent woman made more money in one week working at the slaughterhouses than a house wife or maid might make in an entire year! This was almost unheard of at this time as woman were not considered money makers or providers for their families. After seeing Sarah Daniels obvious interest in feminist issues, it is clear why she chose these particular females to focus on for her play. Over 500 woman were employed at these slaughterhouses during this time. I assume the play takes place around the demise of the Foreign Cattle Market. In the play, these formally independent woman were being forced to live, what the majority of the populous at the time would agree, was a more 'female oriented' role such as maids for the middle-upper class. Most of what Sarah Daniels describes of the setting and the characters in her play is historically accurate an displays a rather early example of what woman are indeed capable of as far as breaching their dependence on men and surviving independently.

__**Deptford Dockyard/Foreign Cattle Market History**__

Until the late 1800's, Deptford England was most widely known for its Dockyard and ship building expertise. This small shipbuilding town is situated near the Thames Rives in the Kent county in England. Known as the Royal Victoria Victualling Yard it was used mainly for building and repairing war ships during and shortly after the Napoleonic Wars. When the war ended in the early 1800's their was a major decline for the need of wooden ships to be either built or repaired. Near the end of 19th century technology was beginging to expand its horizons. Both the size of ships and the materials used to build ships at this time were beginging to change and the need for the Deptford Dockyard ship building and repair was becoming obsolete due to the small nature of the Thames River. The Dockyard's use for shipbuilding and repair was closed in 1869. Since the Dockyard had become too outdated to continue to launch ships, England began to re-think the possible uses of this space. "In 1869 the government introduced the Cattle Diseases Prevention Act". (see London Metropolitan Archives below) This meant that all imported animals must be slaughtered upon their arrival at the Dockyard as oppose to being sent inland to a butcher shop where the slaughtering would normally take place. This was done in order to prevent the spread of disease that may have been brought to England from whatever foreign land the animals came from. So in 1871, the City of London Corporation's Foreign Cattle Market was made and gave a new reputation to the Dockyard in Deptford. Since the dockyard was formally for building ships, naturally it took up a great deal of space. Pens for 4000 cattle and 12000 sheep spanned over twenty-three acres as Deptford became a predominant Cattle Market in Europe at the time. Near the beginning of the first world war the slaughterhouses began to dwindle. Perhaps the demand for raw freshly slaughtered meat was at a low. At its peak the foreign cattle market was pushing over 234,000 animals annually to its demise at around 1914 when the numbers decreases to a little over 40,000 animals a year. It was at about this time that the Cattle Market was commandeered by the British War Office and hence served as an Army Supply Reserve Depot for most of the 20th century.

Foreign Cattle Market Slaughterhouse. Deptford Dockyard

[|London Metropolitan Archives]

[|Deptford Wikipedia]

[|Port Cities London]

[|British Library]

[|Memorial University]