Jack Black, Her Royal Majesty's Rat-Catcher and Mole Destroyer.

I have found the most ridiculously British man ever, and his name is Jack Black, he was a rat-catcher and mole destroyer. I can find no other reference of a mole destroyer so I assume it's name is very bluntly described. He did so many things related to rats, and in such a way I believe he just must've been some sort of neuro-divergent to be so interested in rats.

I want to also put a disclaimer that this man was both a lover of animals, but also very cruel to them by todays standards, I don't agree with a lot that happened here I'm just sharing all the info I know, this is a very interesting rabbit hole.

----| Life of Jack Black |----

Born in Battersea, England at some point in the early 1800's (what is known of his life is quite scarse) Jack Black grew up at a point in time where rats ran rampant through European cities, spreading disease, eating holes into new construction, and eating through food storage. But as a boy he wasn't afraid of these animals at all. Jack Black found himself in Regent's Park often as a child, picking up rats and throwing them into small cages, exciting passerbys and turning himself into a bit of a celebrity.

Jack Black at one point in time became of such notoriety that he decided he was to need a uniform. So he made himself, by hand, a uniform which boasted a green overcoat, a scarlet waistcoat, and a leather sash which had patches and hand shaped metal rats pinned to it. (His swag is undeniable).

Throughout his life he would become interested in many more activities including animals, such as fishing, bird-watching and keeping, taxidermy and dog breeding. Jack Black had bred a dog by the name of Billy for the purpose of rat-killing, he referred to him as the greatest dog in the city and was quoted as saying "[He fathered] the greatest portion of small black tan dogs," in the city.

Terriers like Billy were a vital tool to Jack Black when hunting to kill, but sometimes he'd see a rat he thought to have exceptional patterns or colors. These rats would be caught by him, brought home, and bred to what we know today as Fancy Rats. One such fancy rat was given to Beatrix Potter, who wrote and dedicated the book Samuel Whiskers for her rat of the same name.

Besides terriers Jack Black would use ferrets on harnesses to smell out and locate the rats before he would cage it himself, or unleash a dog to kill it. He employed the labor of other animals as well, but to not much success, these animals included: raccoons, badgers, and a monkey at one point. YES A MONKEY. He was quoted as saying that the monkey "didn't do much" (The British can do whatever they want ig). 

Jack Black would face many many many injuries in his life and claimed to have even been killed entirely on 3 separate occasions by the rats he chased. Describing scenes I do not wish to put on a public blog..... but I have no issue linking so, here is the best source of Jack Black describing his antics, including a full interview from 1851: He sure had a lot to say. The most I'll share here is a quote of his from said interview which shall put it into perspective, "When a rat's bite touches the bone, it makes you faint in a minute, and it bleeds dreadful, most terrible, just as if you had been struck with a penknife. You couldn't believe the quantity of blood that come away."

Of the many reasons Jack Black caught and was interested in rats the old blood sport of Rat Baiting was most interesting to me.

----| Rat Baiting |----

Rat Baiting was an old British blood sport where a room of people would bet on how long it would take for a dog to kill a certain number of rats in a pit they shared, the owner of the winning dog would often by given a cash prize. The sport was quite violent, imagine the violence Jack Black faced, but rather instead of a full size man a 15 pound terrier. These dogs, referred to as ratters, would often end their career with but only one eye, countless scars on it's muzzle, and missing a clutch of teeth.

The sport gained popularity in 1835 when British Parliament introduced the "Cruelty To Animals Act of 1835". However this law only applied to large to medium size mammals, allowing small dogs, rats, and roosters to continue fighting across England. At the height of the sport there were 70 rat pits in London. (The most British sentence ever uttered).

One of the most famous of the ratters ever to enter a rat pit, Billy (Not the same Billy Jack Black raised), was a bull-terrier of 26 pounds in weight and was descended from the best line of Old English Bulldogs known in London at the time. The usual strategy for a dog was simple: carrel the rats into a space, grab them one by one and give a single strong bite, throw the rat away and move on.

After the rounds were fought the referee would grab all the rats put into the pit with the dog, line them up in a circle, tail to nose, on the floor, and give each rats tail 3 whacks with a stick. If the rat didn't leave the formation it was considered dead. If it did leave it was put back into the pit for the dog to attack again, and the extra time to be added to the final count.

Billy's best time ever was achieved after a bet was placed: 20 sovereigns on Billy killing 100 rats in 12 minutes. he took only 5:30 minutes. Only 3.3 seconds per rat, achieved in a famous 1823 fight. He ended his career with one eye and two teeth.

This record would stand until 1862 when Jacko, weighing only half as much as Billy at 13 pounds and owned by Jeremy Shaw was wagered to be able to kill 100 rats in 12 minutes, same bet as Billy, but he finished all 100 in only 5:28 minutes, a slightly faster time at 3.28 rats per second. Only 2 months later he killed 60 rats in 2:42 minutes, at 2.7 rats per second this remained the record for the foreseeable future.

Jacko's final great feat was killing 1000 rats in 10 weeks, 100 rats each weekend, becoming the first and only ratter to achieve such an accomplishment, ending with his last match being the aforementioned match that took Billy's record.

The last known rat-baiting event to take place in Britain was in Leicester in 1912, the organizer was fined and made to promise never to do it again.

----| Final Thoughts |----

All in all a very strange history. I am obsessed with Jack Black being such an interesting figure who caught so many tens of thousands of rats, all the while using Ferrets while dressed in a hand made uniform. ADORABLE. Also... Jack Black... like the actor... what a name lol. Rat-baiting is an interesting sport too with lots of history, I do recommend doing your own reading as the sport and whole history is absurbly british, some of the written accounts describing rat-pits and the shows that would happen were just as hilarious as they were objectionable.

I am sad so many dogs were brutalized in a sport and so many rats killed in such an inhumane way, but as is 19th century London, I didn't expect much better. Games also took place often in Scotland and Ireland but it didn't seem unique in any standout ways compared to British rat-baiting so this is all.

Have a fantastic day, thanks for being my neighbor, and I'll talk to you all on another lovely day.