George Wombwell Junior Timeline

Since this story of George Wombwell junior seems to have take numerous side-turnings and digressions including up the Yangtze River, the Duaro Valley and to Bedford, Virginia, here is a timeline that illustrates some of the main events in his long life:

14 Dec 1822	George is born in Stoke Newington, probably in Lordship Road, the son of Zachariah Wombwell and Mary Webb
19 Mar 1823	He is baptized in Stoke Newington
1832	He is adopted by his Uncle, George Wombwell, founder of Wombwell’s menagerie and heads off on the road.
1833	His father, Zachariah Wombwell, dies in Stoke Newington
1847	At the height of his career, he is a member of the party that meets Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Prince Edward at Windsor Castle
1849	His mother, Mary Webb, dies in Stoke Newington
7th Oct 1850	He marries Fanny Eliza Kienlen at the New Gravel Pit Meeting House, Paradise Fields, Hackney
1850	His Uncle George dies and leaves one part of his menagerie to George, namely Menagerie Number Three
30 Mar 1851	George is recorded as a Wild Beast Merchant of Wombwell’s Menagerie resident at 79 Corn Hill, Ipswich
1851	His daughter Ann Fanny Wombwell is born in Hackney, London. George’s servant, Thomas Burrows, is crushed by an elephant but survives the experience.
1855	A run of disasters leads to the decimation of George’s Menagerie stock
28 Apr 1855	George’s Menagerie Number Three is auctioned off for a pittance at Nova Scotia Gardens.
2 May 1855	The other Wombwells write to the Times disassociating their own Menageries from any involvement with George’s
18 June 1855	Bankrupted, George is removed from his caravan next to Cremorne Gardens to Whitecross Prison
30 July 1855	George appears in court. He may have been bailed out by members of the Wombwell family, and then worked for them as a hired hand.
26 Oct 1858	Jamrach’s famous Bengal Tiger escapes and wanders off down the Ratcliff Road. George may have been involved in its subsequent purchase.
7 April 1861	He is resident with his wife and daughter at 1 Grove Cottage, Poplar All Saints, and recorded as a photographer and artist.
6 Aug 1863	Death of his first wife, Fanny Eliza Kienlen in Hackney.
1866	Mrs Wombwell commissions George to bring an elephant back from Paris for her. After various disasters, George succeeds in bringing the elephant back to London, where it immediately dies.
22 Feb 1869	George marries Elizabeth Adella Cresey in Yarmouth, Norfolk. Born in 1849, Elizabeth is twenty-seven years younger than George.
1870	Their daughter, Amelia Gertrude Wombwell is born in South Shields, Durham.
2 Apr 1871	George is resident in Stockton, Durham, now a musician. His daughter Ann Fanny Wombwell is now living in Hampstead, London, with Mrs Wombwell, the partner of his Uncle George.
3 Apr 1881	George is living at 132 Provost Street, Shoreditch, Hoxton Town. George is still a musician, and his wife is working as a dressmaker.
11 Apr 1881	His first daughter, Ann Fanny Wombwell marries Herbert Sowerby in Shanghai, China. They are members of the China Inland Mission but shortly after join the American run Protestant Episcopal Mission.
Feb 1882	Ann Fanny Wombwell and Herbert Sowerby head up the Yangtze River to Wuhan and begin their work there.
5 Apr 1891	They are living at 107 Provost Street. His daughter Amelia has now become a shirtmaker.
1894	The marriage is recorded of Amelia Gertrude Wombwell and Jacob Valentine in the civil registration records. Jacob is a member of the Sephardic Jewish community and it is possible they went through a religious ceremony a few years earlier, since their first daughter seems to have been born in 1892. Ann Fanny Wombwell and Herbert Sowerby complete their missionary service in China and possibly return to England to discover that whilst they have been making conversions, George has been leaking them.
4 Jan 1897	The Daily Mail publishes a full-length profile of his life and sets up a subscription fund for him.
5 Mar 1897	The Daily Mail reports that its Subscription Fund has raised three pounds and fifteen shillings.
1897	His second wife, Elizabeth Adella Cresey dies in the Infirmary
Prob 1890s	George is visiting his Bradley relatives probably to get help in writing down memories for sale for publication. The full story of Peto the elephant is thus preserved.
1900	The entire family of Herbert Sowerby and Ann Fanny Wombwell are now settled in Virginia, USA, all to become naturalized American citizens.
31 Mar 1901	George, now a musician and widower, is living at 22 Ottoway Road, Hackney
3 Mar 1909	George’s obituary appears in the newspapers, reporting his death in Tottenham, Edmonton
1923	His first daughter, Ann Fanny Wombwell dies in Bedford, Virginia, USA
1958	His second daughter, Amelia Gertrude Wombwell dies in Shoreditch, London.

Mrs Wombwell Takes Charge

To review: By the time the 1851 census was held on 30th March, 1851, George Wombwell junior must have just come into possession of Menagerie Number Three. He was on the road and lodging in Ipswich along with his servant Thomas Burrows from Barbados, who was probably looking after the needs of the pregnant Fanny Eliza Kienlen, whilst himself recovering from being crushed by one of George's elephants.

It does not come as a surprise to record the absence of Thomas Burrows from the 1861 census record, the census in which George, now living at 1 Grove Cottage, Poplar, describes himself as a photographer and artist. Just two years later, Fanny Eliza died, and George was left in charge of Ann Fanny Wombwell, aged just twelve. 

By the time of the 1871 census, George had been reduced to blowing into his cornet in Stockton, Durham, and had married again, to a woman of half his age. Ann Fanny Wombwell, his daughter, was not attending to her father on that day of the 2nd April 1871. Instead, she was in the far more comfortable environs of Belsize Road, Hampstead: 

This record takes us right back into the mainstream of the original menagerie family. Having lost her mother in 1863, and with her father now up north with his new wife, the Wombwell aristocracy, in the person of Mrs Wombwell, partner of the original founder himself, had taken the nineteen-year-old Ann Fanny under their wing. If they had learned anything by now, it was that George junior could not be relied on for very little, least of all care of  elephants, wives, or daughters.

Menagerie Number Three

The story of George Wombwell junior's ill-fated menagerie has been summarised by Clin Keeling. This short article confirms that Menagerie Number Three was the smallest of the three menageries, employing twenty staff and at the height of its success enjoyed takings of around two hundred pounds a night. This did not last long however.

In early 1851, not long after he had inherited the menagerie, Thomas Burrows, one of the Wombwell staff was crushed by an elephant. Burrows recovered from his injuries and was living with George and his wife as their servant in Ipswich when the 1851 census was taken, most likely still recuperating from the assault. It would have been of little comfort to Burrows, who was from Barbados, to know that he was to by far the last victim of George's incapacity to control his elephants. 

1851 Census, 80 Corn Hill, Ipswich.

George himself meanwhile was attacked by one of his black panthers, which he managed to beat off with a broom-handle. Otherwise the story is much as reported in the 1897 Daily Mail Profile. Early in 1855, gales blew over six of his wagons near Edinburgh. Shortly after, he did his very best to burn Peebles to the ground, losing twelve of his horses when the horse-tents were somehow set on fire. Heading down to the Pennines, his elephant wagon got caught in the snow between Manchester and Huddersfield. Much as they struggled and failed to extract the wagon, they could not manage, and after twelve days the elephant died. On reaching London, the remaining stock was decimated by disease, and the rest, as we know, was auctioned off in Novia Scotia Gardens in April 1855. By the time, George headed off to Paris in 1866 to collect Peto, all involved might well have been assuming that George had actually learned something from his experiences. In this, they proved to be sadly mistaken.