Ann Wombwell Carries On

To return to Ann Wombwell: She would seem to have been a formidable operator, and when George left her Menagerie Number One in his will, she proved well capable of taking the business forward. Nor was this merely a matter of efficient desk-bound delegation. The menagerie required hands-on management and this meant heading off on the road in the touring caravans and supervising the operation in person. In the 1861 census, Ann was in Doncaster, aged 73, aboard the menagerie caravans, and with a full complement of the Blight family accompanying her. The Blights, as we shall see, were also relatives, with one member in particular having a very special claim for fame. She did not pause for breath too long either after the death of the founder, George Wombwell, in 1850. In the 1851 census, she is again to be located on the road, this time in Lancashire. The census image is indistinct, but reveals enough:

Ann and her Blight relatives were living in adjacent caravans in Wardleworth, Rochdale, the Menagerie Number One show very much on the road. 

Photo from the SleepingGardensBlog

Ann did finally retire however, passed her menagerie on to a relative, and lived out her days in Hampstead in Belsize Park Road. She died in 1876, aged eighty-eight. Just in case it has not been noticed, if nothing else the Wombwells were for their time, an exceptionally long-lived family. Her memorial inscription is also to be found beneath Nero the sleeping lion in Highgate Cemetery.