George Wombwell [SEP] place of death
George Wombwell
George Wombwell, (24 December 1777 at Dudnorend, near Saffron Walden – 16 November 1850 at Northallerton), was a famous menagerie exhibitor in Regency and early Victorian Britain. He founded Wombwell's Travelling Menagerie.
Life and work.
George Wombwell was born in Wendon Lofts, Essex in 1777. Around 1800 he moved to London and in 1804 became a shoemaker in Soho. However, when a ship from South America brought two boas to London docks, he bought them for £75 and began to
place. "George Wombwell (1777 - 1850): Volume Two" covers Wombwell's life as the most famous showman, from his arrival in London around 1800 to his death in 1850.
In 1851 a tapir broke out of its den at Wombwell's Menagerie in Rochdale, causing panic among the spectators.
In fiction.
In the Sherlock Holmes short story The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger the lion tamer, Ronder is described thus: "Ronder, of course, was a household word. He was the