As one of the oldest and still most respected professions, butchery has a long history. It dates back all the way to the domestication of livestock that made meat a regular part of our diet.

Before history began

The earliest butchers animal to be found is a giant sloth. It was found by scientists from the University of Miami and archaeologists in a Florida sinkhole and is estimated to be about 12,000 years old. Butchery in the Ancient world was found in Ancient Rome with images of how the Romans carved and dressed meats before selling it on.

British butchery begins

The oldest recorded history of butchery was in London in 975AD, when butchers would meet regularly at different Butchers Halls that were located in various locations around the city. It was the earliest form of what would become butchers guilds and later in the 14th Century, the Worshipful Company of Butchers was founded and still continues to this day as one of the oldest Guilds in the country.

European butchery

In Europe in the 16th Century, butchers guilds began to issue new rules and restrictions for how butchers could slaughter animals. These included having to use professional slaughterhouses rather than private houses or meat markets.

In Jerusalem

In 16th Century, Jerusalem, Butchers guild members filled the hisba office that was responsible for promoting good and forbidding evil within the Islamic State of the time as proscribed in the Koran. The head of the hisba office, the muhtasib inspected the market activities and collected taxes that resulted in the butcher’s seal tax that guaranteed the quality of the meat supplied.

Back in London

Back in London, the standard of workmanship within the butchery profession was protected under the apprenticeship system that determined that “Until a man grows unto the age of 24 he has not grown into the full knowledge of the art that he professeth”. This meant a butcher's apprentice had to train until he was 24 before he was qualified as a butcher.

In England in 1835, the Municipal Reform Act was passed and it abolished all guild trade privileges and that greatly weakened many of the guilds and the Butchers’ Guild was one of the hardest hit. It lost many members and by the 1940s, it only had single digit amount of members.

Almost 200 years later, quality meat from small producers has started to make a comeback and because these farmers don’t send their animals to large processors. Because of this, these farmers needed butchers and that has led to a rise of locally raised meat. This is why Butchers Equipment Warehouse supplies so many butchers than include large and small producers.