The illustration shows various ways in which horses have been used by humans in both life and death. In life, the illustrations depict the horse as a beast of burden with the horse's strength used to move or hold weight such as carriages, small boats and agricultural equipment. Only three of the twelve relate to the horse's use after death for dog's meat, hide tanning and leather. Interestingly, while the people depicted usually carry whips, the horses themselves are all shown to be well fed and in good condition. For the most part, this implies that the horse should be seen as an essential part of society and should be given respect as there are significantly more uses of a living horse in comparison.
While an exact date cannot be found, Roake and Varty were based at 31 Strand, London between 1831 to 1842. As mentioned, this is plate one from their illustrations with other plates using other animals and highlighting their uses such as bears (see HMCMS:FA2010.605).
This object was audited and researched as part of the National Lottery Heritage Funded Data Hunters and Story Gatherers project.
