Famous Cat Owners

Sir Winston Churchill: PM of England (1874 - 1965)
Sir Winston owned a cat named Jock who attended many wartime Cabinet meetings. Rumor has it that meals at the Churchill household could not begin until the ginger colored tabby was at the table. Other cats he owned: Tango, Bob, Nelson, Margate.

Samuel Clemens: Mark Twain: (born 1835)
Quote: “If a man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve the man but deteriorate the cat.” Had cats named Sour Mash, Apolinaris, Zoroaster, Blatherskite, and Bellezebub.

Abraham Lincoln: US President (1809)
Abe came to presidential office accompanied by Tabby, a cat belonging to his son. “No matter how much cats fight, there always seems to be plenty of kittens.” (Quote by Abraham Lincoln.)

Nostradamus: Prophet
The French Astrologer, 1503-1566, had a cat named Grimalkin.

Edward Lear: Artist and author (1812-1888)
Edward was devoted to Foss, his tabby cat. His devotion was so great that when he decided to move to San Remo, Italy, he instructed his architect to design a replica of his old home in England so Foss would not be disturbed and suffer a minimum of distress after the move.

Henry III, King of France: (1551 - 1589)
The King of France must always appear to be bold and fearless, and Henry did his best to keep his image intact. But he had an Achilles heel, if a cat happened to wander into his presence, the king would faint dead away.

Sir Walter Scott: poet and novelist: (1771 - 1832) author of Rob Roy and Ivanhoe
Sir Walter Scott was also an editor, critic and deputy sheriff of Selkirk in 1799. Absorbed in folklore and the supernatural, Scott was devoted to cats, and a portrait of him by John Watson Gordon shows the author at work at his desk with his tabby, Hinx, lying close by. On the subject that fascinated him most, Scott wrote: “Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of.”  

Sir Isaac Newton: philosopher
Sir Isaac Newton, famous for his laws of motion and gravity, was a confirmed cat lover who was deeply concerned about the welfare of his feline friends. Therefore, so his research would go uninterrupted, and his cats should not feel restricted and be at liberty to wander freely in and out when the doors were closed, he invented the cat-flap.

Michel de Montaigne French author: (1533 - 1592)
“When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her?” 

William S. Burroughs: (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997)
He lived with several cats who became significant in his personal mythology, and was watched over by friends and protégés. He wrote "Naked Lunch" and "The Cat Inside" among many other books.

Miscellaneous Note:
Difficult as it is to believe, not everyone loves cats. Genghis Kahn was a famous cat-hater and so were Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. It may be that men with dreams to dominate the world can’t get used to the idea that cats won’t submit to them. The same streak of ailurophobia (cat hate) affected the personalities of Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, and Adolph Hitler.