‘Elephant, 2d all the way’, two of a long series of cards produced for London’s Regents Park Zoo in the early years of the twentieth century. ‘A ride not to be forgotten when we four meet again at the zoo. Love to yourself and Clumsy Dick’, wrote Frances Hartford to her friend Lilian Trinder in Acton in 1905.
London’s Regents Park Zoo is the oldest in the world. By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne, it had already been in existence for nine years – although not open to the public. Initially, it was conceived as a centre for the scientific study of animals – ‘for teaching and elucidating zoology’ – rather than as a form of entertainment, and was open only to members of the Zoological Society of London. All that changed in 1847 when the zoological gardens, facing financial collapse, had to find a way of making money and balancing the books. Opening the grounds to the public five days a week – keeping Sundays exclusively for the use of members – and charging them a shilling for the privilege of looking at the animals did the trick, and saved the zoo from closure.
The zoo had been the brainchild of Sir Stamford Raffles and others, but Raffles died before it was built. It initially drew its animals from the collection held in the Royal Menageries in the Tower of London, so the recently completed Regents Park was the ideal place to house it.
By the 1880s, visiting the zoo had become hugely popular. Many of the animals had been given names – Jumbo the six-ton Indian elephant being a particular favourite. Songs had been written about the pleasures of a day at the zoo, the visitor facilities on site had been praised for the quality of the experience, and prices had remained static for forty years.
In 1887, the price was still the same as it had been at the time of opening in 1847, and a one shilling adult ticket gained access to the entire site for a full day from 9am until sunset, except on certain holidays when it was reduced to a mere sixpence – the price always charged to children.
‘The Gardens of the Zoological Society of London contain the largest and by far the best arranged collection of wild beasts, birds and reptiles in the world’, wrote Charles Dickens Jnr in 1887, ‘and, being themselves laid out in the best taste and kept in the most perfect order, afford the best place of open-air amusement to be found in London.’The cab fare to reach the zoo from Charing Cross station was, he tells us, one shilling and sixpence.
‘Elephant, 2d all the way’, two of a long series of cards produced for London’s Regents Park Zoo in the early years of the twentieth century. ‘A ride not to be forgotten when we four meet again at the zoo. Love to yourself and Clumsy Dick’, wrote Frances Hartford to her friend Lilian Trinder in Acton in 1905. ‘Dromedary at the Zoo’, another of the zoo’s rides, photographed in 1905.
Three girls set off on their camel ride while their mother and a younger brother look on. This beautiful tinted photograph of the camel ride at London Zoo was published c.1907.
Facilities were rather sophisticated by then, and Dickens recommended his readers to ‘try the table d’hôte dinner’ in the ‘conveniently arranged refreshment room… [which] they can have served under the shade of the verandah, a very agreeable institution on a pleasant summer evening.’ A shilling was still a large sum of money, so the zoo’s visitors were probably largely drawn from the middle and upper classes. He went on to list the feeding times of the animals – from the pelicans at 2.30pm through to lions and tigers at 3pm and sea-lions half an hour later. He makes no mention of camel or elephant rides, which, if the postcards of the early twentieth century are anything to go by, became a highly popular attraction. At least fifty different postcard views of the zoo’s many attractions were available by the end of the Edwardian era, and at least a dozen of them showed children riding the camels.
To become a member of the Zoological Society itself in the 1880s, a joining fee of £5 was required, and an annual subscription of £3, which included free admission tickets and other privileges.
The polar bear enclosure, London Zoo, c.1906. A zookeeper keeps an eye on the photographer, a little girl stares at the bear, while two women – one of them perhaps her mother – engage in conversation.