Looking back – Extreme measures to cure Horsham district pest problem

As we’re all aware, attitudes and outlooks change over decades and what seemed a great idea may not be viewed favourably today!

The Rat and Sparrow Clubs are definitely a good example.

These rather macabre clubs were first formed in the 19th Century and were still around in the 1950s.

They were created out of the desire to help farmers and landowners who were losing up to a third of their produce due to various pests.

Rats were the obvious culprits, but many, especially in the Victorian era, saw sparrows merely as ‘avian rats’!

So these clubs were formed up and down the country. Members paid a subscription and this enabled various folk (often farm workers) to hunt down the ‘pests’.

However, (and this is not for the faint-hearted) they kept the rats’ tails and sparrow heads to prove how many they had killed, as they were paid around 1d per tail or head.

Other ‘vermin’ were also targeted, such as squirrels and starlings.

The Horsham district had Rat and Sparrow clubs in villages such as Slinfold, Rusper and Five Oaks.

While many clubs folded when pesticides became readily available some evolved. The West Grinstead branch, founded in 1876, became the West Grinstead and District Ploughing and Agricultural Society (according to a society speech made in 1957).

Not everyone agreed with the value of Rat and Sparrow clubs, though. The fact that sparrows in particular did their bit to keep other crop-eating culprits (such as caterpillars) down was recognised even in Victorian times.

One Naturalists’ Field Club member observed, after hearing about thousands of sparrows being killed: “While the clodhoppers of Sussex are killing sparrows by the thousand, the Australian colonists are importing them at considerable expense from England, to act the part of protectors of the crops.”