Lord Derby's collection at Knowsley Hall 1846 & 1851

gentle lemur

gentle lemur

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I was reading about this collection today and thought to search for more information on-line. The Biodiversity Heritage Library has two titles, scanned by the Smithsonian, which are downloadable and may be of interest.

The first volume of Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary of 1846, with some splendid illustrations by Edward Lear .
Details - Gleanings from the menagerie and aviary at Knowsley Hall. - Biodiversity Heritage Library
Unfortunately the second volume, dealing with the ungulates, does not seem to be on-line.

There is also the catalogue of the sale of the collection in 1851 after the 13th Earl's death (which was mentioned in the thread discussing the centenary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon). I knew the collection was large, but I hadn't realised how large. It would make an impressive zoo today, in spite of having no large carnivores or monkeys. Quite apart from the quagga, Carolina parakeets and all those passenger pigeons, I think many zoo directors would be salivating at the breeding pairs of bontebok and four-horned antelopes (with their offspring) and the Guilding's parrot, which I think must have been a St Vincent amazon, even if they passed on the 'sparrow parrakeets' (sic) (= budgies ;)).
Details - A catalogue of the menagerie and aviary at Knowsley : formed by the late Earl of Derby ... which will be sold by auction / by Mr. J.C. Stevens, on the premises, Knowsley Hall, near Liverpool, on Monday, 6th October, 1851 ... - Biodiversity


Alan
 
Hehehe, he was a "barstard" like most noblemen then, rather than a "bastard" :p
 
gentle lemur said:
He had a lot more than is listed over the years - but this is the list of the collection when he died.

Alan
Click to expand...

Thankyou for posting these GL, very interesting. Amazing lists of species- I've never seen anything reflecting the range of species he had before. The range of deer,in particular, including difficult to keep species like European Roe, and South American Marsh and Pampas, and the birds is amazing. If not a nobleman then I certainly think he would have been eligible for one of TLD's 'LB' awards.;) He must have been on a par with, if not far outshining, Rothschild's collection at Tring.

I notice at the time of sale there were still 70 Passenger Pigeons, but only 4 Carolina Parakeets.

Only one Quagga is listed too, a female-and I believe he only ever had one genuine Quagga- the others(including the ones often cited as being bred there) were actually 'DauwQuaggas', another term sometimes used for Burchell's Zebra.
 
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