United Kingdom Elephants calfs born in London between 1888 and 1909

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Bonnie Griffin

Active Member
Hello Zoo Peeps,

I'm looking for some very specific information.

I have translated a german memoir of circus manager Leo Weste from 1925, in which it describes a letter from animal trainer Thompson (1859-1909) at some point between 1888 and 1908:

'He wrote to me from London that the zoo there had a mother elephant that had recently given birth to a living boy, a rarity in Europe and an unparalleled attraction for the garden'

Other dates suggest the letter was written after 1888, and before Thompson passed away on April 17th 1909.

The only birth of an elephant calf I can currently find for London is of a stillborn female, offspring of Palm and Jenny, on Aug 31st 1902 from this wonderful resource: stillborn, an Asian elephant at London Zoo

Does anyone know any details of a surviving male baby elephant, born somewhere between 1888 and 1909, in London, UK?

Best wishes
Bonnie
 
Bonnie Griffin said:
Hello Zoo Peeps,

I'm looking for some very specific information.

I have translated a german memoir of circus manager Leo Weste from 1925, in which it describes a letter from animal trainer Thompson (1859-1909) at some point between 1888 and 1908:

'He wrote to me from London that the zoo there had a mother elephant that had recently given birth to a living boy, a rarity in Europe and an unparalleled attraction for the garden'

Other dates suggest the letter was written after 1888, and before Thompson passed away on April 17th 1909.

The only birth of an elephant calf I can currently find for London is of a stillborn female, offspring of Palm and Jenny, on Aug 31st 1902 from this wonderful resource: stillborn, an Asian elephant at London Zoo

Does anyone know any details of a surviving male baby elephant, born somewhere between 1888 and 1909, in London, UK?

Best wishes
Bonnie
Click to expand...

The zoo imported many elephant calves from the wild over the years (especially around that time frame); but the only birth to have ever occurred in London Zoo’s history was the stillbirth you mentioned.

Jubilee, an Asian elephant calf born at Chester Zoo in 1977 was recognised and celebrated as the first (successful) elephant calf born in the UK.
 
Just a couple of details about the stillborn Asiatic elephant:

Sanger's Circus deposited the mother "Jenny" at the zoo on 19th September 1901, almost a year before the birth on 31st August 1902. About three weeks after the birth, on 20th September 1902, the mother "Jenny" was returned to Sanger's circus.

Details of the dead baby elephant's anatomy are supplied in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1902.
 
Zoofan15 said:
The zoo imported many elephant calves from the wild over the years (especially around that time frame); but the only birth to have ever occurred in London Zoo’s history was the stillbirth you mentioned.

Jubilee, an Asian elephant calf born at Chester Zoo in 1977 was recognised and celebrated as the first (successful) elephant calf born in the UK.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

Do you know where i could find information of the imported elephant calves?
 
Tim May said:
Just a couple of details about the stillborn Asiatic elephant:

Sanger's Circus deposited the mother "Jenny" at the zoo on 19th September 1901, almost a year before the birth on 31st August 1902. About three weeks after the birth, on 20th September 1902, the mother "Jenny" was returned to Sanger's circus.

Details of the dead baby elephant's anatomy are supplied in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1902.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim, I think it's definitely not this poor stillborn baby that the text is referring to, so perhaps it's either referring to an imported baby or perhaps baby Kaspar (Copenhagen zoo) or baby Nick (Ringling) that were born in the same timeframe.

I'll keep investigating! thanks again!
 
Bonnie Griffin said:
Thanks Tim, I think it's definitely not this poor stillborn baby that the text is referring to, so perhaps it's either referring to an imported baby or perhaps baby Kaspar (Copenhagen zoo) or baby Nick (Ringling) that were born in the same timeframe.
I'll keep investigating! thanks again!
Click to expand...
I agree the text you translated is definitely not referring to this stillborn calf, which is the only elephant ever to have been born at London Zoo

I think it most likely that it's referring to an
imported calf.

The book "The Zoological Society of London : a Sketch of its Foundation and Development, and the Story of its Farm, Museum, Gardens, Menagerie and Library” (Henry Scherren; 1905) reproduces a picture of an Asiatic elephant with her very young calf at London Zoo. This picture was first published in the illustrated London News on 26th April 1851.

London Zoo purchased the elephant and its calf from the circus proprietor Batty in 1851.

Scherren writes that "this was certainly the first instance in which so young an animal of this species had been brought to England. Indeed, its small size led to the erroneous belief that it had been born in the gardens."
 
This is a great find Tim, thank you so much!

it’s sadly far too early for it to match my timeline but I suspect a similar situation happened between my *new* date period 1888 and 1893.

the memoir mentions vesuvius erupting and the earthquake at Messina which all happened after the turn of the century so I feel the narrator has perhaps conflated their dates as it’s unlikely the trip he took to Ceylon took him over 7 years...

your info has been very helpful to me evaluating the memoirs accuracy! Thanks again!
 
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