Emma Wombwell and James Bostock

Originally from A Zoo on Wheels
by J.L. Middlemiss. Also at the Bostock website

Emma Wombwell was the last of William’s daughters, born much later than Harriett, in 1834. In 1852, she married James William Bostock, and thus was set in motion what would be the last but lengthy chapter of the menagerie saga. James himself was initially a waggoner in the Harriett Wombwell menagerie, and worked his way up to become a contract and advertising manager. He left in 1867 to set up his own menagerie. He died in 1878. At the time of their marriage James was thirty-eight, and Emma just eighteen. 

In 1866, that strange year when George Wombwell junior was unsuccessfully trying to convey a live and healthy elephant back to the menagerie, and Harriett’s husband, James Edmonds was being convicted for ill-treatment of a camel, Emma gave birth to Frank Bostock, very possibly whilst the menagerie was in Darlington. 

Frank was one of eight children, all x1 removed fourth cousins of Hetty Jane Owen, and through Frank’s elder brother, Edward, what was basically about to happen was a merger between the two branches of the family, and the creation of a new brand for the menagerie, from then on to be known as Bostock and Wombwell’s menagerie.