Piccadilly butcher

English

Etymology

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

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
  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
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