Henri Martin Paper--The First GGW

Henri Martin talking to the lion in the menagerie 1833

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Henri Martin (1793–1882) was a French lion tamer, who became a member of directory of the Rotterdam Zoo.

In 1819, a French circus performer named Henri Martin entered a cage with a tiger, shocking the audience when he emerged without a scratch. Martin, a retired horse trainer, soon taught the tiger to obey a series of simple commands. He eventually incorporated lions into his act as well, becoming the first famous lion tamer. Martin earned the big cats' trust by introducing himself to the cage little by little, over time.

A curious history, and one that sheds many gleams of light upon the character of beasts in the menagerie, is that of Henri Martin, the lion- tamer, who died, ninety years old, quietly at his home, " among his collections of butter- flies and his books of botany."

Popular Science - Sep 1882 - Google Books Result