'Crowly, who is now grown a great lion and very tame': The Tower Menagerie

It has long been traditional for foreign dignitaries to make gifts of the exotic creatures of
their kingdoms to the countries they visit. In this way Britain acquired a polar bear from
Norway in 1252. He was at first allowed to roam about the Tower of London, but when he
became huge his keeper was given a muzzle and a chain and they were sent to spend
their days outside, fishing and bathing in the Thames. Many of these animals were a
burden to the recipient, and often quietly hived off to parklands where they lived out
shortened lives. However, by the time England had begun to squabble over a fair
proportion of the globe under Elizabeth Ist, the animals were arriving thick and fast. Ever
the public relations guru, Elizabeth improved the menagerie and had it opened to the
populace on high days and holidays.

In 1603, James Ist overhauled the menagerie again, providing much larger cages for the
animals, running water 'for the Lyons to drinke and wasche themselves in,' and a viewing
gallery so that visitors could look down upon them in safety. Lions were the obvious
choice as a gift for England, being as fond of them as an emblem as we are. During the
Georgian period the Tower contained up to eleven lions at any time, although sadly the
cubs tended not to survive the shedding of their milk teeth for some reason. As lions of
similar origin (Bengal and Cape seem to be the two clearest labels) were housed together,
the females were regularly pregnant, and therefore their temperaments were naturally
changeable. The male lions were regarded as the tamer of the two and Samuel Pepys
records going to the Tower on the 11th of January 1660 to see 'Crowly, who is now grown
a very great lion and very tame'. When young, all the lions were allowed out to play in the
Tower grounds, much to the amusement of the visitors, who patted and played with
them. The Duke of Sussex was particularly fond of a brother and sister who had been
fostered by a goat, and he visited often to see them. In 1729 the cost of 'seeing the lions'
was threepence, a figure that rose to ninepence by the end of the century. Dead cats and
dogs were used to supplement the feed of the big cats and free entry could be had for
anyone bringing one of either. In 1741, the guide to the Tower included an introduction to
the lion Marco, his wife, Phillis and their son Nero. The lions roared at dawn, and before
their feed arrived, which consisted of eight to nine pounds of raw beef daily, excluding any
bones and any dogs or cats. Given the acoustics of the Tower, this must have been quite
a racket, and audible for some distance. On Sunday, the Tower was closed to visitors, and
the keepers noted that the lions would often roar all day until someone came and paid
them some attention.

Other big cats kept in the menagerie included tigers (Dicka was recorded as a cub in
1741), leopards (a single Willa in the same guide), 'hunting-leopards' as cheetahs were
known, lynx and ocelot. Visitors commonly agreed that the ocelot was the prettiest cat, but
that the cheetah the most affectionate. The cheetahs were led about the grounds on
leashes in pairs for exercise and as a spectacle. There appears to have been a great deal
of respect for the natures of the animals, and 'responds to kindness' is regularly
noted. Animals that did not show any such response included the famous grizzly bear, Old
Martin, who was an old man in 1823, but still regarded his keepers as 'perfect strangers'
and would no doubt prove dangerous should he be allowed out. Allegedly, Martin died in
1838, aged well over a hundred years old, but I imagine this was Martin mark two or
three. Other dangers included the hyena and the jackals. I'd imagine they were pretty ripe
in summer as well. The disconsolate solitary mongoose was made happy by the addition
of a friend, and the two slept together, interlacing 'their limbs and tails in a singular fashion'
so that they can each see over the other's back, 'and like that fall comfortably asleep'.

The area I would happily avoid would be the monkey enclosure, or 'The School of
Monkeys' as it was known in the 18thC, which lay in an outer yard near the Lion
Tower. Chimps occasionally cannibalize the young of their most vulnerable mothers for
fun, baboons are vicious and the smaller the monkey, the more it looks at you as if it wants
to kill you as soon as you turn your back. A marmoset in a drummer jacket would not have
been my pet of choice; I'd have spent all my time hiding from it. The visitors to the Tower
didn't always like the monkeys either, particularly the baboon, who 'becomes disgusting in
habits as he advances in age.' In 1753, the guidebook issued a warning about one of the
baboons had become expert in throwing missiles and would 'heave anything that happens
to be within his reach with such Force as to split Stools, Bowls and other Wooden Utensils
in a Hundred Pieces'. Not only were the baboons disgusting in their habits, they 'were gay,
playful and docile; but as he grows older he becomes intractable, malicious and
ferocious'. As far as I can discern, there were no apes in the Tower Menagerie. The
monkeys were removed in 1810 for 'one of them having torn a boy's leg in a dangerous
manner'.

There was usually an elephant in the menagerie, and it was almost always an Indian
one. The English understanding of the temperament and requirements of the elephant
seems to be very limited from the documents I have seen. They were largely judged to be
inferior to a dog or a horse in understanding, yet they were observed to play by spraying
things with water from their trunks, and Mr Cops, one of the better, and later keepers at the
Tower was convinced of their 'wisdom'. Quite how they found out that elephants are 'fond
of wine, spirits and other intoxicating articles' is probably best consigned to the past, but
the elephant rations contained a gallon of wine daily until the closure of the menagerie.

The bird house must have been unspeakably noisy, with macaws, cockatoos, eagles, owls
and all manner of ornamental and song birds and sadly, some seabirds, who must have
suffered due to their large size and the confinement. It was noted that few developed their
full plumage in captivity.

Kangaroos and emus wandered about in the grounds, sometimes confined and sometimes
not. The Royal Park at Windsor had quite a stock of freely roaming kangaroos, and they
were were breeding successfully at the Tower sometime before 1820. An aside in an
account of the Tower Menagerie of this period notes that there were various parklands
around England where kangaroos were present in some quantity, so they were not quite
as much of a novelty as I would have imagined.

By far my favourite account of an animal in the Tower is from the 1820s, when a zebra was
recorded in the menagerie. Zebra are stubborn, and remain wild under all but the most
confined circumstances (such as being bred in circuses), and the Tower zebra had
retained her character, suffering the indignities of her confined state with a tolerably good
nature, provided she got her reward:
The subject of the present article, which has now been about two years in the Menagerie,
will suffer a boy to ride her aboiut the yard, and is frequently allowed to run loose through
the Tower, with a man by her side, whom she does not attempt to quit except to run to the
Canteen, where she is occasionally indulged with a draught of ale, of which she is
particularly fond.

The Menagerie was much improved by Mr Cops, and during his tenure, it became clear
that it was no longer acceptable to house animals in such conditions as the Tower
afforded. The menagerie, housed 280 animals by 1832, mainly in the Lion and Tower was
finally closed in 1835, when the animals left to form the basis of the collection for London
Zoo.