Royal Aquarium Westminster

[Tarsius]

I'm looking for informations about beluga whales, manatees and "Pongo, the gorilla" which should be kept at the Royal Aquarium Westminster in London, which was opened in 1876 and closed in 1903.

So it would helpful to me to know in which years these species have lift at the aquarium and if the gorilla was maybe that one,which was purchased by the old Berlin Aquarium in 1876 and were send on loan to London Zoo for a short time.

Thank you.

 

[Tim May]

In his book “Notes and Jottings from Animal Life” Frank Buckland records that a short lived white whale was displayed at the Westminster Aquarium in October 1877.

Buckland adds that, in spring 1878, four more beluga were captured in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River; these were transported across the Atlantic in boxes filled with wet seaweed. One of these died on route; of the three that survived the five week journey, one went to the Westminster Aquarium to replace the earlier specimen, one to Manchester and one to Blackpool.

Buckland reports that he was present at the Westminster Aquarium when the 1878 whale arrived and he watched it being introduced to the whale tank.

In the same volume, Buckland also mentions that a manatee, captured in the Essequibo River, was exhibited in the Westminster Aquarium in 1878.

(Incidentally, if anybody knows of anywhere in the UK, apart from London Zoo, the old Westminster Aquarium and the Brighton Aquarium that has ever displayed manatee then I would be very interested to learn details please.)

NB Frank Buckland was a fascinating, eccentric character his “Curiosities of Natural History” and “Logbook of Fisherman and Zoologist” are worth reading too. It was Buckland who made the plaster cast of a hippopotamus calf that some of the older ZooChat members will recall seeing on the walls of the Giraffe House in London Zoo

 

[Tarsius]

Hi Tim,

thank you for the great Informations, they are very helpful to me. I know, there was a beluga whale stranded at Selsey in 1885. He was send to Brighton Aquarium, where he has lived for six month until he was sold to the Westminster Aquarium ! The Brighton Aquarium also kept porpoises. So where did you know about the Manatee at Brighton Aquarium ?

What about the Book notes and Jottings from Animal Life, is it good to get more informations about old historic aquariums in britain ? Or do you know other books to get more informations about them ?

I'm still looking for details of the Aquariums Belfast, Edinburgh and Galway, so opening and closing years would be helpful.

Thank you.

 

[Tim May]

So where did you know about the Manatee at Brighton Aquarium ?.

In the book that I mentioned in my earlier post “Notes and Jottings from Animal Life” Buckland records that “two young manatees have been exhibited in the Brighton Aquarium”.

What about the Book notes and Jottings from Animal Life, is it good to get more informations about old historic aquariums in britain ?

Unfortunately, this book does not have a lot of information about other old British aquariums; it features a chapter on the whale at the Westminster Aquarium, a chapter on manatees (which has brief references to those in Brighton and Westminster) and a chapter on alligators in the Southport Aquarium.

One of Buckland’s other books "Logbook of a Fisherman and Zoologist" has a chapter on the Brighton Aquarium.

 

[John Dineley]

Brighton Aquarium did display porpoises and apparently they bred at least once although this may have been a still birth. There is a print called 'Feeding Porpoises Brighton Aquarium' dated 1874. I have found a note that lists the deaths of 2 female porpoises in 1914 on Ceta Base which has an interesting time-line for cetaceans in captivity prior to 1950.

The 4 Belugas that were transported to Westminster Aquarium I believe were supplied via PT Barnum who capture beluga for display in 1862.

Flamingo Park Zoo acquire a young beluga called 'Titch' in 1964. New cutting HERE..

I am not aware of manatees being kept in any UK zoo or aquarium aside from the ones Tim lists.

The last manatees to be displayed at London Zoo were collected from Guyana by my colleague Lee Thomas in I believe the late 1950's or early 1960's. They were temporarily housed in a lake in Georgetown Botanical Garden and then transported to London via ship in a large tank.

 

[Tim May]

So where did you know about the Manatee at Brighton Aquarium ?

In the book that I mentioned in my earlier post “Notes and Jottings from Animal Life” Buckland records that “two young manatees have been exhibited in the Brighton Aquarium”.

Further to my earlier post, I can supply a little more information about manatees in the Brighton Aquarium.

The Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1881 records that the Brighton Aquarium purchased a male and a female manatee in September 1879. The female died in the spring of 1880; the male died 8th February 1881.

 

[John Dineley]

The last manatees to be displayed at London Zoo were collected from Guyana by my colleague Lee Thomas in I believe the late 1950's or early 1960's. They were temporarily housed in a lake in Georgetown Botanical Garden and then transported to London via ship in a large tank.

Update by the man who imported these animals:

"July 61. One adult male,and adult female with calf, journey across Atlantic 17 days, they were kept in collapsible canvass Pool and collected at Liverpool Dock by zsl"

 

[Tarsius]

Very intersing informations, Thank you both.

At which place they have kept the manatees at London Zoo ?

Further I'm looking for data about the historic aquariums in Edinburgh, Galway and Belfast, opening and closing dates would be fine, but more details on this aquariums would be great.

Does anybody know if a walrus was kept at Westminster Aquarium ? I've found the info, The Great Farini toured with a walrus through europe, so it was displayed for a couple of weeks at Frankfurt Zoo. The only"Great "Farini I know as a showman named William Leonard Hunt, he used the stage name The Great Farini and he arranged some of the entertainment acts at Westminster Aquarium. He was a also a circus guy, so I think, he was the person with the walrus, so this animal must be kept at Westminster Aquarium, or was is private owned by Farini himself ?

At the present time, I'm fascinated about the beginngs of public aquariums and it is amazing, how many of them were build in victorian times in england, and just three of them survived and were run until the 21. century. Unfortunately, one of this Aquariums, the Blackpool Tower Aquarium, founded in 1875, was closed last year to build a "Dungeon" in it. Its a shame, there a no books about the history of public aquariums, but hundreds of zoo history books...

Thank you.

 

[Tim May]

At which place they have kept the manatees at London Zoo ?

Again referring to Buckland’s book, he states that the first manatee was kept in the “small seal pond”.

Subsequent early London Zoo manatees were housed in the Reptile House (now the Bird House).

The more recent London Zoo manatees were kept in the Aquarium.

 

[John Dineley]

Does anybody know if a walrus was kept at Westminster Aquarium ?

It's interesting to note that London Zoo did have a young walrus in the 1967 called 'Alice'. She was kept in the then elephant house in the area where the elephant bath was. From what I recall she sadly died due to a broken rib. It's a great pity that no serious attempt to keep walrus in the UK over the years.

Alice is in this archive footage on Pathe News relating to the Queens visit to ZSL. HERE

As to plans to keep manatees at London I doubt that this will happen unfortunately. They were on the original plans for the Silver Keys docklands aquarium which was subsequently cancelled but their proposed pool was then planned to be used for seals.

You are correct that there we do seem to have very few books specifically relating to UK aquaria. There are a few on US aquaria however but mainly the oceanariums such as the Miami Seaquarium, Marineland (Marine Studios) and Marineland of the Pacific.

 

[Tim May]

Does anybody know if a walrus was kept at Westminster Aquarium ? I've found the info, The Great Farini toured with a walrus through europe, so it was displayed for a couple of weeks at Frankfurt Zoo. The only"Great "Farini I know as a showman named William Leonard Hunt, he used the stage name The Great Farini and he arranged some of the entertainment acts at Westminster Aquarium.

Yes, there was a walrus at the Westminster Aquarium.

Regarding Farini; according to Buckland it was Farini who sent his agent Zach Coop to obtain the four beluga, that I mentioned in an earlier post.

It's interesting to note that London Zoo did have a young walrus in the 1967 called 'Alice'. She was kept in the then elephant house in the area where the elephant bath was. From what I recall she sadly died due to a broken rib. It's a great pity that no serious attempt to keep walrus in the UK over the years.

Yes, I well remember seeing the walrus ‘Alice’ in the elephant bathing pool in the Elephant & Rhino Pavilion. She arrived in 1966 and sadly died in 1967.

Incidentally, London Zoo’s first walrus arrived on 12th October 1853 although, sadly, it died the following day. London Zoo’s second walrus, ‘Jemmy’, arrived 1st November 1867.

Several London Zoo postcards from the 1930s depict walrus .

 

[Bele]

Last weekend I read a review of a new book on the history of aquaria in the 'Telegraph' . Unfortunately I do not remember any more details and the papers have gone for recycling .

Just done a search on 'Amazon' . The book is ' The Ocean at Home - An Illustrated History of the Aquaria ' by Bernd Brunner .

 

[Tarsius]

I have another qusetion. When was the Westminster Aquarium closed ? Accordingt to" zoos and Aquariums of the World" it was 1890, but according to Wikipedia, it was 1903. Maybe the Aquarium itselfs was closed earlier than the whole Entertainmetn facility, which was named Royal Westminster Aquarium " ?

 

[Tim May]

It is hard to find details about the old Royal Aquarium at Westminster.

Since my earlier posts in this thread, I have spent an afternoon at the Westminster Archives Centre (only a short walk from the site of the old aquarium). The archivist there was very helpful and let me search through a large box of material appertaining to the aquarium.

This comprised mostly programmes for the various variety shows that were held there over the years; frustratingly there was little information available about the species in the collection and I was unsuccessful in trying to find out more details about the manatee or walrus.

However, the programme for June 19th 1878 mentioned that Farini’s live whale was on view in the annexe and visitors were charged one shilling (i.e. 5 pence) extra to see the whale.

 

[zooboy]

Westminster Aquarium

In response to Tarsius's original questions, and some subsequent ones, the first Beluga arrived there in September 1877; there was a Beluga there in 1878 (but may not have been the original animal). A female manatee arrived in June 1878 and the walrus in 1883. Pongo the gorilla and came from the Berlin Aquarium (and probably returned there) in 1877. The Westminster, or Royal, Aquarium closed in 1903, although it is not certain when the last animals were exhibited there. It should be understood that an aquarium then was not necessarily a place that only kept aquatic animals; it had a much wider role as "a place of enlightenment" with music,lectures, exhibitions and entertainments, much as "Winter Gardens" were/are places that were often concert halls as well as enclosing, or being surrounded by, some horticultural exhibits.
There is an article about the Westminster Aquarium - and other early aquariums - in The Bartlett Society Journal 20 (anyone with a serious interest in zoo history should become a member of the BS). There is also a fairly obscure book about the place "The Royal Aquarium: Failure of a Victorian Compromise" by John M. Munro, published in 1971 by the American University of Beirut.
I would be interested in any additional information about early UK aquariums, including this one.

 

[Tim May]

..the first Beluga arrived there in September 1877; there was a Beluga there in 1878 (but may not have been the original animal)...

I’m sure that the beluga in the aquarium in 1878 was not the original specimen that arrived in 1877.

Buckland records the white whale that was present in the aquarium in 1877 was a short lived animal and that Farini instructed Zach Coop to acquire a replacement whale when the earlier animal died.

I assume that “Farini’s live whale” mentioned in the programme for June 19th 1878 was the one that Buckland records as being captured in spring 1878 to replace the deceased 1877 specimen. (This was one of the four animals captured in spring 1878.)

PS I do, of course, agree that anybody seriously interested in zoo history should join the Bartlett Society.

 

[Tarsius]

The fisrt beluga arrived in 1877 at the Westminster Aquarium and lived only four days! Four more belugas were displayed betwen 1878 and 1885, but all of them lived only a reall short time. Three of them were delivered by P.T Barnum, who has kept also belugas at his private Aquarium in New York.

Very interesting there is a book about the Westminster Aquarium.

 

[John Dineley]

Last weekend I read a review of a new book on the history of aquaria in the 'Telegraph' . Unfortunately I do not remember any more details and the papers have gone for recycling .

Just done a search on 'Amazon' . The book is ' The Ocean at Home - An Illustrated History of the Aquaria ' by Bernd Brunner .

I got a book sometime ago via Amazon a reprint of a book published in 1922 which relates to the construction and operation of the New York Aquarium. The preamble states:

Originally published by the Bureau of Fisheries of the U. S. Department of Commerce in 1922, this may be the only book ever published on the operation of commercial aquariums. At the time of original publication the author, Charles Haskins Townsend was Director of the New York Aquarium.

The writer has had long experience in the management of the aquarium in New York City and has assisted in planning certain aquariums already built as well as others projected. He was connected with the National Commission of Fisheries during the period when that organization maintained temporary aquariums at the great industrial exhibitions held in this country and observed some of them in. operation. Millions of people saw those aquariums of the past, while other millions enjoy the few that exist here at present.

Having supplied information recently to a score of cities that contemplate constructing aquariums, the writer has felt it incumbent upon him to set forth the essentials of the matter for the guidance of an increasing number of inquirers. The present discussion is based largely on the methods ofthe large aquarium in New York City, which has been in operation for 30 years and is now undergoing extensive modernization.

 

[dean]

I have come to this discussion rather late , but I have a book AQUARIUMS WINDOWS TO NATURE by a Leighton Taylor published in 1993 (which i bought at the national Aquarium in Plymouth,UK) it has a comprehensive bibilography in the back I can scan it if any one wants me to.

 

[John Dineley]

I have come to this discussion rather late , but I have a book AQUARIUMS WINDOWS TO NATURE by a Leighton Taylor published in 1993 (which i bought at the national Aquarium in Plymouth,UK) it has a comprehensive bibilography in the back I can scan it if any one wants me to.

That would be very interesting.