Piccadilly butcher

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

In reference to their savage onslaught upon the crowd on the occasion of the arrest of Sir Francis Burdett at his house in Piccadilly.

Noun[edit]

Piccadilly butcher (plural Piccadilly butchers)

  1. (obsolete, UK, slang, derogatory) A member of the regiment of Horse Guards, or "Royal Blues".
    • 1875, The Law Magazine and Review, page 554:
      The mob in the meantime holloaed out, "No Corn Bill!" While they were proceeding in this manner, a cry was raised that "the Piccadilly butchers were coming."
    • 1913, Ash's Monthly, page 532:
      "In 1810, my father very nearly had his head cloven by a Piccadilly butcher when merely looking on to see Sir Francis Burdett taken to the tower."

References[edit]

  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
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