Thursday 4 April 2013

Tommy the Elephant



In May 1871, Plymouth was visited by the then Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred Ernest Albert. He had been on a world cruise and arrived in Plymouth Sound on the 19th May of that year. With him he brought a baby elephant which he named Tommy.
The crew of the ship marched down Fore Street in Devonport with Tommy at their head and this is probably the only photo of him that still remains. No-one knows what became of Tommy but perhaps he ended up in one of England's many zoos.
The Prince went on to become Vice-Admiral, Channel Squadron, Commander-in-Chief, Devonport in 1890 and later became Admiral of the Fleet.
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1 comment:

  1. Jane2 November 2013 at 12:18

    A fascinating tale and led me to do some research to find out what happened to Tommy. It appears that he was given to Portsmouth Zoo in June of the same year. On the way there he apparently, accidentally, crushed one of the handlers to death! I read about it at this link: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iDllhLZcF0IC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=Duke+of+Edinburgh+tommy+elephant&source=bl&ots=LTDnwe2kJX&sig=HBSAb190dekOzlXjuvpMYIBVLJQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=q051UvChDI6ThQfLtYHQBQ&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Duke%20of%20Edinburgh%20tommy%20elephant&f=false

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