Where does the name Tom and Jerry come from?

From Pierce Egan's 1821 monthly serial about Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn and their sprees through London, illustrated by George and Robert Cruikshank and staged at the Adelphi for two seasons.

What was a Tom and Jerry shop?

One of the small beer houses, often run out of private homes, that sprang up in Britain after the Beer Act of 1830 freed the market for ale. The name borrowed Egan's byword for riotous behaviour.

The Journal — Echoes

Tom and Jerry

Before the cat and the mouse there were Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn, Pierce Egan's Regency rakes, whose names attached themselves to beer houses and a Christmas eggnog.

Filed 29 January 2012

Cruikshank's 'Life in London': Tom, Jerry and Logic at Carlton Palace. · Wikimedia Commons — public domain

To the late twentieth century the term "Tom and Jerry" means two famous cartoon characters, or, for a more select group, the early name for Simon and Garfunkel. The term, however, goes back much further, into the Regency.

Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn

In January 1821 a well-known journalist and sportswriter (sport meaning prize fighting and horse racing) called Pierce Egan began a monthly journal under the title The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq., and his elegant friend, Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their rambles and sprees through the Metropolis.

Illustrated by George and Robert Cruikshank, it was a tale of generally rakish behaviour that also became an instant success in the theatres of London, running at the Adelphi for two seasons and being exported to France and the United States.

Tom and Jerry shops

"Tom and Jerry" became a euphemism for riotous behaviour, and from 1830 it was attached to the avalanche of small beer houses, the Tom and Jerry shops, often set up in people's own houses, that appeared in Britain after the Beer Act of 1830 freed up the market for ale. They continued throughout the nineteenth century.

The punchbowl

In the United States the name also became attached to a hot eggnog-style drink spiced with brandy and rum, probably some time in the 1830s and purportedly invented by one Jerry Thomas. The drink swept the country for well over a century, most particularly at Christmas, with Tom and Jerry punchbowl and mug sets to drink it from.

The violent and riotous behaviour of a cat and a mouse, and the nineteenth-century punchbowls that now turn up in American antique shops, are examples of those curious echoes of history which constantly crop up, but of which we are mostly unaware.

The term 'Tom and Jerry' became a euphemism for riotous behaviour.

Notes & questions

Where does the name Tom and Jerry come from?: From Pierce Egan's 1821 monthly serial about Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn and their sprees through London, illustrated by George and Robert Cruikshank and staged at the Adelphi for two seasons.
What was a Tom and Jerry shop?: One of the small beer houses, often run out of private homes, that sprang up in Britain after the Beer Act of 1830 freed the market for ale. The name borrowed Egan's byword for riotous behaviour.

Sources

First published January 29, 2012, kept and lightly revised September 16, 2026. On how this journal is rebuilt and sourced, see the about page.