George Wombwell

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George Wombwell (1777-1850)
Wombwell's menagerie announcement notice , early 19th century

George Wombwell (born December 24, 1777 in Wendon Lofts , Essex , † November 16, 1850 in Northallerton ) was a famous animal showman in Great Britain and the founder of Wombwell's Traveling Menagerie , a traveling animal show .

Live and act

George Wombwell left the city of his birth around 1800 and went to London . From 1804 he worked as a shoemaker in Soho . He bought two boas for £ 75 that had landed in the docks on a ship from South America . He exhibited the reptiles in the inns for a fee. Wombwell used the profit to buy more exotic animals in the London harbor and first put them on display in Soho on Old Compton Street .

In 1810 he founded Wombwell's Traveling Menagerie , with which he went to the fairs all over the country . In 1839 he needed 16 cars to transport his growing collection. Over the next few years, he expanded his company to include a total of three traveling animal shows. He appeared a total of five times at the British royal court, three times before Queen Victoria . In addition to monkeys, Wombwell's animal shows not only showed large species of big cats, but also giraffes , elephants and kangaroos ; a gorilla and a rhinoceros were also part of his menagerie. He marketed his not inconsiderable animal losses by selling the carcasses to taxidermists . Even animal fights were sometimes part of his program, banned until the British government these events throughout the year. 1835

George Wombwell also raised wild animals himself. The first lion to be born in captivity in Great Britain grew up with him , whom he named Wallace in honor of William Wallace . The animal was dissected after his death and has been in the Saffron Walden Museum ever since . George Wombwell died in 1850; his grave in Highgate not far from the final resting place of Karl Marx is adorned with the sculpture of his tame favorite lion Nero .

literature

  • Robert Chambers: The Book of Days. A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character . W. & R. Chambers, 1864; P. 586

Web links

Commons : George Wombwell  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wombwell, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British animal showman
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1777
PLACE OF BIRTH Wendon Lofts, Essex
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1850
Place of death Northallerton