Victorian menageries brought exotic animals to North East towns

Summarised from The Northern Echo's report · Updated 26 Oct, 21:14 · Archive

Touring menageries brought exotic animals to Victorian England, visiting North East towns from the 1860s to 1890s 'in search of an audience'. Towns the size of Northallerton, Darlington and Durham were visited by menageries most years during this period. The Northern Echo reports that a tiger escaped from George Wombwell's menagerie into Raby Castle's parkland in 1891 whilst travelling between Barnard Castle and Bishop Auckland. The escaped tiger killed seven deer and five sheep and, despite showmen pursuing it with rifles, was never recaptured. Local newspapers reported that 'the utmost consternation has been caused amongst the inhabitants of the surrounding villages'.

Wombwell's menagerie was the most famous of the touring shows. Its founder, George Wombwell, was a London shoemaker who around 1805 bought two boa constrictors that had stowed away on a ship from South America and began exhibiting them in pubs. By 1830 he had established a touring menagerie. That year, 10-year-old Princess Victoria visited Wombwell's menagerie at Thirsk during her first national tour, becoming the first royal to visit such a thing.

Read the report

• Escaped tiger, buried elephant, rampaging ape and other North East menagerie talesIN the days before Blue Planet III beamed the wonders of the natural world onto the 60-inch plasma-screened, high definition television, with surround sound, in your living room, the only way to see exotic creatures was when a touring menagerie came to town.The Northern Echo · 26 Oct, 20:00

In this story: George Wombwell · Princess Victoria · North East England · Raby Castle · Wombwell's menagerie

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