Wilberforce

Long before Larry the Cat became a social-media celebrity, Wilberforce held the post of resident mouser at 10 Downing Street and served under four Prime Ministers — Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher. Adopted from the RSPCA's animal shelter in 1973, Wilberforce was a working cat brought in to control the rodents in the warren of government offices, and by all accounts he was good at his job. He became something of a national fixture during his fifteen years in residence, his comings and goings occasionally noted by the press. The most enduring anecdote concerns Margaret Thatcher, who was said to have brought him back a tin of sardines from a trip to Moscow — a small kindness from the Iron Lady that helped cement Wilberforce's place in Westminster folklore. He retired from Downing Street in 1987 and died the following year, after which his role briefly fell vacant before being filled by his successor, Humphrey. Wilberforce belongs to a long and surprisingly well-documented tradition of British government cats, official rodent controllers carried on the public payroll for centuries.