The Westminster Pit was a well-known blood sport

Blood sport

Bloodsport or blood sport is any sport or entertainment that involves violence against animals.Bloodsport includes coursing or beagling, combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, or other activities...

 arena in nineteenth-century London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It reached a zenith of popularity between 1820 and 1830, and hosted such spectacles as dog-fighting, cock-fighting, bear-baiting

Bear-baiting

Bear-baiting is a blood sport involving the worrying or tormenting of bears.-Bear-baiting in England:Bear-baiting was popular in England until the nineteenth century. From the sixteenth century, many herds of bears were maintained for baiting...

, badger-baiting

Badger-baiting

Badger-baiting or badger baiting is a blood sport in which badgers are baited. A baiting session typically results in the death of the badger, and possibly serious injuries to the dogs.-Background:...

, monkey-baiting

Monkey-baiting

Monkey-baiting is a blood sport involving the baiting of monkeys.-Background:The English were always keen for something new to challenge their dog fighting breeds. This resulted in rather strange fights, in part with completely surprising outcomes...

, and rat-baiting

Rat-baiting

Rat-baiting is a blood sport involving the baiting of rats in a pit. Unlike most varieties of baiting, there were usually more rats than dogs involved in an exhibition.-History:...

. A legal enterprise at the time, the Westminster Pit openly declared its activities, ushering notoriety on the district in which it existed.

The Westminster Pit was located on Duck Lane, Orchard Street (since renamed St. Matthew's Street), and its dimensions were approximately 20 feet (6.1 m) by 18 feet (5.5 m). The gallery was 3 foot (0.9144 m) above the arena and was capable of containing 200 people – or, by report of William Pitt Lennox, "perhaps a greater number of less refractory persons, for the common run of spectators were so obstreperous and so agitated by various emotions, according to the amount of bets depending, and the various turns of the conflict, that a decent orderly person would feel himself much incommoded by a considerably less number."

Prior to the beginning of matches, the stakes would be formalised and the dogs weighed. It was common in the Westminster Pit (and other venues like it) for cheating to occur, often by way of covering a dog with substances – such as acid or pepper – that would deter his opponent from biting him. For this reason, it was compulsory that all combatants be washed in water or milk, and a participant was permitted to lick his opponent's dog as a precaution.

Perhaps the most famous dog to perform in the Westminster Pit was a Bull and Terrier

Bull and Terrier

-History:The Bull and Terrier is a cross between the Old English Bulldog and a variety of Terriers. The anatomy of the Bull and Terrier is the result of selective breeding for the purpose of hunting, dog fighting and baiting.-Hunting:...

 named "Billy", whose fame was his rat-baiting ability. The October 1822 edition of The Sporting Magazine

The Sporting Magazine

The Sporting Magazine was the first English sporting periodical to devote itself to every type of sport, thus providing the historian with a reasonably comprehensive source.-History:...

describes his feat of killing 100 rats in six minutes and twenty-five seconds: almost six minutes faster than what was wagered. Billy's best time ever is recorded as five minutes, or slightly over "by a very few seconds". The name of Billy's owner is not consistently documented: some sources refer to a Charles Dew, some to Charley Westropp, and others to Charley Aistrop. Pierce Egan

Pierce Egan

Pierce Egan was an early British journalist, sportswriter, and writer on popular culture.Egan was born in the London suburbs, where he spent his life. By 1812 he had established himself as the country's leading 'reporter of sporting events', which at the time meant mainly prize-fights and...

 gives Billy's date of death as 23 February 1829. Later commentators have questioned the legitimacy of Billy's success; in particular, James Rodwell, in his 1858 The rat: its history & destructive character: With numerous anecdotes, stated: "let it be borne in mind, and I assert it on the testimony of living witnesses, that numbers of the rats were dead before the dog commenced, and that the whole had been poisoned with nux-vomica before being put into the pit . . . and when he did commence, several were thrown out as dead that were able to crawl away".

In 1830, an indictment was lodged against the Westminster Pit by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. In 2009 the RSPCA investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints and collected and rescued 135,293 animals...

. The Society charged the proprietor, John King, with a nuisance

Nuisance

Nuisance is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public or private. A public nuisance was defined by English scholar Sir J. F...

, while noting that it was "indebted to corporal Denny, of No. 17, Queen Square, Westminster, and to James Yewen, of No. 6, Horseferry Road, Westminster . . . for obtaining a sufficient number of witnesses, residing on the spot, to prove the case as a nuisance." King was convicted, and, according to The Cottager's monthly visitor, "the prosecution completely suppressed that notorious sink of cruelty and vice".