Simpkin (cat)

Simpkin is the name of the resident cat at Hertford College, Oxford. The college's tradition of keeping a mouser was started in the early 1970s by the former college principal Geoffrey Warnock.[1] The college's cat is named Simpkin after a character in the children's book, The Tailor of Gloucester, by Beatrix Potter.[2]

To date, Hertford College has had four college cats called Simpkin. The first three were black with white chest and feet, but the current one, Simpkin IV, is entirely black.[1]

  1. ^ a b "The Simpkin Dynasty - Hertford College | University of Oxford". Hertford College | University of Oxford. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  2. ^ Potter, Beatrix (2002). The Tailor of Gloucester. Frederick Warne & Co. ISBN 978-0-7232-4772-2.