Charles Waterton

Charles Waterton was born in 1782. A devout Catholic throughout his life, he is said to have been a descendant of Aelric, the thane of Edward the Confessor, the name Aelric, oddly being an Anglo-Saxon version of the current Eldridge surname.   

He travelled widely in South America, and wrote about his experiences in accounts that are credited as being an inspiration to both Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin. Indeed, having passed his skills as a taxidermist onto one of his uncle's slaves, John Edmonstone, it was Edmonstone, freed, and practising taxidermy in Edinburgh, who in turn taught the art to Charles Darwin.

Jenny's transformation into Martin Luther was just one of many eccentric creations through which Waterton chose to comment on the world around him:

One tableau he created (now lost) consisted of reptiles dressed as famous English Protestants and entitled "The English Reformation Zoologically Demonstrated". Another specimen was the bottom of a howler monkey which he turned into an almost human face and simply labelled "The Nondescript". 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Waterton)

 

He died in 1865, a passionate conservationist to the last, and, as far as one can guess, no great admirer of the Wombwell menagerie enterprise.