A statue of the lion "Nero" guards the grave of George Wombwell (1776/1850) at London's Highgate Cemetery.
Courtesy of Jim Stockley
Frank Bostocks grave is now Grade II listed. Does anyone know what the legend is or the origin of the placing of a yellow flower between the lions front feet?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Bostock & Wombwell
Bostock & Wombwell's Elephants
Note this elephants skull formation, above. I'll bet anything she grew up to have a thin, paralyzed trunk.
Bostock & Wombwell's Elephants
It's amazing how many "new learned innovations" were actually used years and years ago. 
Modern Depiction of Menagerie Life
Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London, by Walton Ford 2009. Watercolor, gouache, ink, and pencil on paper.
Martini Maccomo--The African Lion King
I find it interesting that the gentleman pictured below in front of Manders Menagerie and named 'Black Joe' bears a striking resemblance to trainer Martini Maccomo, 'The African Lion King' who was mauled by yet another lion named Wallace?
Frommer's Britain For Free - Google Books Result
The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Wallace the Lion
Illustrated and descriptive history ... - Kevin Scrivens, Stephen Smith ...
Black animal trainers in late 19th century Britain
By Jeffrey Green
The old horse-drawn menageries expanded as railways provided faster journeys between towns and permitted more of the public to gather in one place. Animals on show were exotic but to increase the attractiveness men (and some women) performed with them. Lion tamers were at the top of the list for thrills – and a large number of them were ‘coloured’ or ‘black’.
In August 1860 the Alhambra in central London had a boring show with a black man riding on a hippo. On 6 January 1862 The Times reported that Maccomo the ‘African lion tamer’ working with Manders’s menagerie in Norwich had been attacked by a lion. The year before, the census had recorded him as Angola-born Martini Maccomo aged 25, then in Bath. He performed with both lions and tigers, and was in Newbury then Southampton in July 1870. He died in Sunderland in January 1871.
Charles Wood was attacked by a bear at Day’s menagerie in Walsall (Birmingham Daily Post, 28 September 1870). Martin Largue worked with both lions and tigers for the Sanger-Astley group in London in 1879 (Standard 21 January 1879) and the Aquarium in Shoreditch, London, had Richard Jorgnis (he worked as Dacona) in 1880 according to Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper of 18 January. Hezekiah Moscow had that job in 1884 – the RSPCA alleged he had mistreated a bear but the law relating to animal cruelty was restricted to domestic animals and bears were not domestic (Morning Post 4 February 1884, Manchester Times 9 February 1884 etc). Ledger Delmonico was successfully sued by the RSPCA for cruelty to his hyenas in Derby in 1880.
Some of these animal trainers were foolish: Alexander Young returned drunk from a day at the races in Irvine, Scotland in August 1889 and got into the lion’s cage (Glasgow Herald 27 August 1889) and Marcus Orenzo went into a cage of five lions with just a short stick – and was attacked (Shrewsbury, September 1889).
The fashion for coloured animal trainers can be seen in advertisements in Britain’s weekly show business magazine Era: 28 October 1893, 1 June 1895, 2 May 1896 for example.
Ephraim ‘Eph’ Thompson was a skilled elephant trainer born in Philadelphia and known well into Russia. He and his beasts were in London in December 1893. He died in Egypt and is buried in Woking, Surrey as is his Russia-born son. There are relatives in England a century later. Martin Bartlett was based in Yorkshire in the 1890s. And Alexander Beaumont had been attacked by one of his lions in Bolton in January 1893, and was killed by one in Islington at Christmas 1895. John Humphreys who was born in St Vincent in the British West Indies was widely known as Alicamousa, and was in London in 1882 and in Scotland in the 1890s. An American who married into an English circus family in 1866 worked as a lion tamer before becoming an actor. Joseph Ledger died in England at the end of the century.
Unknown Trainer
travelling menagerie - Fairground Heritage Trust
The 'cowboy bandana' was sure a popular English costume accessory.
Captain Fred Wombwell
For the spectator these shows must have been a great spectacle. Viewing animals in their cages, elephant rides and feeding times were all very well, but most people were there for the excitement of seeing the big cats and the trainers that risked their lives with them. We all have in our mind's eye a vision of the 19th century lion tamer and this first-hand account by Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake of "Captain Wombwell" (yet another distant relative of the famous George) in his book "English Fairs and Circuses" fits that stereotype perfectly: "The most popular and best known trainer of my day was Captain Wombwell, who worked the lions for Mr E.H Bostock. He was a heavily built man, about 5ft. 8 in. in height, with fair hair, a long waxed moustache, and the largest hands I ever saw. "He was attired in a crimson plush jacket with gold braiding and frogs - evidently made before he became so stout, as it would not meet anywhere. It was emblazoned with many medals presented to him to record special deeds of valour - in the menagerie and not on the battlefield. "Armed only with a twisted willow whip stock and rawhide thong, he would climb slowly up the steps leading to the door of the cage. With his hands on the door-catch and his eye on the position of the animals, he would at the right moment open the door, and with extraordinary agility for such a heavy man, be inside with the door slammed behind him in a split second. Then the fun began. "The five big lions would start bounding round the 6ft-wide cage, with Wombwell unconcernedly standing in the centre. After the first mad rush round, the usual jumping and posing took place and then, to my mind, the most exciting moment arrived when the trainer had to leave the cage. Again, the exact moment had to be gauged for a hasty exit backwards, which was accompanied by a mad rush at the door by two or three of the lions." 'I am still not convinced that the "fighting act" was an American invention as so many people, rushing to the defense of Clyde Beatty claim?"
Captain Fred Wombwell with a lion cub. Captain Fred sure looks like a tough old brute.
Captain Fred Wombwell with Mary the lioness at Leicester in 1927
Excerpt from The Fairgrounds Heritage Trust:
Hull Fair 1919
Manders Menagerie on the left, set up beside Bostock & Wombwells at the Hull Fair. These traveling show's must have been magical for folks living at that time before the advent of movies, tv, and mass communication.
But did the Menageries possibly assist in their own demise? When people today whine about tv, movies, video games, etc. being the cause of poor business, you have to wonder if it didn't start along ago and they just weren't aware of it:
On Calder Street, in the ground now occupied by Coopers Yard, our very own
“ Cinema Paradiso “ once stood. It was owned and managed by the Manders family and officially called the “ PALACE “. To every one in the village, though, it was affectionately known as “ Johnny’s “.
The story of how the village cinema came into existence goes much further back. The Manders, who brought “ Hollywood to Lochwinnoch “, were a branch of a travelling circus family whose story is told in “ The Illustrated & Descriptive History of Manders Menageries & Shows “ published under the auspices of the Fairground Society. By the 1830’s James Manders had built up three businesses, the “ Royal Menagerie “, the “ Grand Star Menagerie “, and the “ Royal Waxworks “ all of which toured the UK. A popular exhibit of the latter was a tableau of the Last Supper which was contained in its own box-van. In 1899, moving pictures were added to the waxworks exhibition ; the first showing was at the Newcastle Christmas Fair. The show was then renamed “ Manders Royal Waxworks & Edison’s Electric Animated Pictures “. And the man who introduced this exciting innovation was John Manders; the “ Johnny “ after whom the Palace Cinema would later become affectionately known.
Johnny brought the show to Lochwinnoch after the end of the First World War. The tent, photographed below, was set up in the area now occupied by the War Memorial in Harvey Square and a era of cinematic entertainment for the village began. Johnny, his wife Polly and their sons, Johnny, Jimmy, Tommy and Billy decided to make roots here and end their involvement in the travelling tradition. They built the Palace Cinema on the site in Calder Street in the early 1920’s. The Scottish Screen Archive held in the National Library of Scotland records this as 1923 but Fulton Barclay, employed as a projectionist in the early days and today living in Dalry, suggests that it may well have been earlier than that.
In the era of “ silent movies “ an accomplished pianist was needed to play the film score. The Manders found a musician with the necessary talent here in the village. Mabel Lunney, a Cockney lady married to a local man, was employed to provide the musical accompaniment.
The photograph below shows the original building on Calder Street. The projection room was accessed from within the foyer but stricter fire safety rules resulted in an external staircase access being built. This was the only major change to the cinema.
Sadly the “ Palace “ closed in 1970 and the last film shown was Circus of Horrors.
The site was sold to the local Coal Merchants, George Patterson & Sons and then demolished to make way for the Cooper’s Yard housing development.
Professor Vanessa Toulmin at the National Fairground Archive at the University of Sheffield, a leading authority on travelling cinema.
Manders Grand Star Menagerie
From the back cover:
"William Manders was described by Edwin Lawrence as "the greatest showman of his day". He was the proprietor of the Grand National Star Menagerie, but soon after his death in 1871 it was auctioned from the Agricultural Hall. Was the Mandernethecca the greatest show ever travelled? It is said to have cost over £3,000 and taken over fifteen months to build. Martini Maccomo, its most famous lion tamer, has become a legend in his own right. Over the years the history of Manders' Mammoth Menagerie has become blurred and confused.
"Manders' Menageries and Shows have attracted a great deal of interest over the years, and more recently several members of the family have corresponded via the internet, tracing various strands of the Manders family tree. This book is the result of that research and has been compiled by Kevin Scrivens and Stephen Smith."
Brass Admission 'ticket' 1906
Excerpt from The Fairgrounds Heritage Trust:
Away from London George Sanger in his book "Seventy years a showman" talks of a great battle fought in 1833 between employees of Wombwell and the menagerie of Hilton on the Oxford Road between Reading and Henley, as both shows raced between one fair and another. Sanger comments, "at this time Wombwell's and Hilton's were the two great menageries and involved in deadly rivalry."
Hilton eventually sold up to former employee William Manders.The owner of what became "Mander's Grand National Star Menagerie" was initially Hilton's spieler and legend has it he eventually bought out Hilton following a prolonged period of passing his hat around at the end of each performance, although E.H. Bostock is on record as saying Manders was also financed by a very wealthy Liverpool turtle merchant.
Although not having the provenance of the Bostock shows William Manders was, nevertheless, a proprietor of menageries from 1850 to 1871, eventually employing 60 people and touring in America.
Great Dorset Steam Fair 2011
Bostock & Wombwell's
The 'Duke of Kent'
These 'bad boy's' have generators on the front that turn the mechanical energy of the steam off of the fly wheel into electricity. What a glories era!!!!
The Effectivness of Destroying Confiscated Ivory On Stopping Poaching?
An unidentified helicopter has been flying over the airspace of the National Park of Quirimbas in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado, allegedly owned by poachers who are investing in new techniques of slaughtering wild animals, local authorities have warned. The case was reported by the park administrator, Jose Dias, who said this level of investment goes beyond the supervising capacity of local authorities, which are already fragile. The newly found trend puts the preservation of forest species in danger, the state news agency AIM said on Wednesday. Dias was quoted as saying poachers use the helicopter to transport ivory after killing elephants, making interventions much more difficult for the forest authorities. In most of the cases, poachers are better equipped than the park supervisors themselves and it is much worse if compared with community supervisors who are fundamental to control the situation in the park, according to the official. By new techniques, poachers have killed 52 elephants this year in the Niassa reserve in northern Mozambique, and a total of 124 elephants in two years. The Namibian government has said it will take tougher measures to fight against rampant poaching, as suspected illegal hunting activities of elephants and rhinos in the Caprivi and Kunene regions have raised concern. Speaking at the fifth annual MET Field Awards’ ceremony at the Arebbusch Lodge, Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism (MET) Uahekua Herunga said his ministry and law-enforcement agencies are taking wildlife poaching seriously. Law-enforcement agencies, including the ministry, have taken wildlife poaching seriously, and will continue to put measures in place to curb this illegal activity, he was quoted by Nampa as saying. Last week, a local newspaper published a report about a female elephant that was killed with an automatic weapon, 500 metres south of the Angolan border in the Bwabwata National Park in the Caprivi Region. She was one of nine elephants allegedly killed for their tusks over the past few months in the park. Despite the success rate in reducing poaching in Namibia, the number of elephants killed for their tusks in other African countries has recently soared. It has now sparked concern that this poaching has now spilled across the border from South Africa. Earlier this month, an incident of poaching in the Huab Conservancy was reported when a young rhino calf carcass was spotted during a routine patrol on 25 October by conservancy rangers. Herunga boasted that Namibia’s strengths in the tourism sector include sustainability, pro-poor community-based tourism programs, and an increase in the number of previously endangered species such as rhinoceros, as well as the country’s protected area network. Countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa region is planning to harmonize policies in tourism and wildlife management in fresh attempts to fight poaching, local media reported on Wednesday. Tanzanian Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Ezekiel Maige said the joint efforts were necessary to curb rising illegal trade in wildlife in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. "We are now discussing how we can possibly harmonize our wildlife laws so as to add to our collaborative efforts to combat illegal trading of fauna and flora," he was quoted by The Citizen daily as saying. More coordinated efforts to fight poaching could also increase the support of other countries in the region to the bid of Tanzania and Zambia to sell the ivory stockpiles that were seized from poachers over the years. Early last year, Tanzania was asking to sell almost 90 tons of ivory that would have generated as much as 20 million U.S. dollars. However, the UN conservation meeting in Qatar ruled in favor of the proposal by such countries as Kenya that wanted the stockpiles to be destroyed to discourage poaching and related activities. The minister, who was speaking at the 10th governing council meeting of parties on the Lusaka Agreement over the weekend, also urged member states to honor their financial commitment to the task force to facilitate the war against poaching. The Lusaka Agreement on protection of wildlife is a multilateral environmental agreement signed in 1994 in the Zambian capital city under the auspices of the UN Environment Program. The Agreement came into force on Dec. 10, 1996 with the ratification, or formal acceptance, by four signatories. Currently, there are seven member states to the agreement, which include Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania. Ethiopia, South Africa and Swaziland are signatories.
Ringling circus pays record fine in animal welfare case
Reuters) - The owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has agreed to pay a record $270,000 fine to settle charges it violated federal animal welfare laws. Feld Entertainment Inc., of Vienna, Virginia, did not admit wrongdoing or violating U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations in settling the dispute over handling of performing animals, it said in a Monday statement. "We look forward to working with the USDA in a cooperative and transparent manner that meets our shared goal of ensuring that our animals are healthy and receive the highest quality care," Kenneth Feld, chief executive of Feld Entertainment, said in the statement. The USDA said the $270,000 fine was the biggest assessed under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Feld also agreed to set up a compliance officer's position on its staff by the end of February 2012. Employees who work with animals also must undergo AWA compliance training, the USDA said in a statement. In one episode logged by USDA inspectors, Banko, a 35-year-old female Asian elephant, was required to perform in July in Los Angeles despite pain from probable sand colic. A circus veterinarian said Banko had seemed comfortable enough to perform and that to separate her from the group would have been more distressing to her, the report said. USDA inspectors reported in 2008 that wheelbarrows used to carry meat to tigers were also used to transport waste. Inspections also turned up allegations of worn pens and feeding areas, poor medical record-keeping, improper fencing and failure to control elephants. The allegations followed complaints from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals about abuse of elephants and tigers at the circus, including physical punishment. Courtesy of Josip Marcan
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