As April is National Pet Month, we thought we’d take the opportunity to share a few fascinating furry friends featured in our collections.
A man’s best friend
A 2020 survey found that dogs are the most popular pet in the UK, with 26% of adults owning one. Until 1987 all dog owners in Britain were required to obtain a licence. One example from 1935 permits Nathaniel Yates to keep one dog. The cost of the licence was 7 shillings and 6 pence, approximately £19 in today’s money. The penalty for keeping a dog without a licence was £5, the equivalent of 3 days wages for a skilled tradesman then or approximately £253 today. The reverse of the licence sets out the symptoms of rabies, which includes the warning that owners should listen out for their dogs ‘ordinary bark being replaced by a peculiar howl.’
Our photographic collections are awash with people and their canine companions. Here are a few favourites:
D-WRS/F/15/5: A clip of some dogs enjoying ‘The Big Snow 1978’ filmed around Wyke Olive Farm, Preston, near Weymouth.
The ‘cameleopard’
The giraffe is not such an obvious choice of pet when you live in England. But for Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt it was a natural choice.
This giraffe was painted in Sennar, Sudan by L.M.A Linant de Bellefonds, a talented artist and young French midshipman accompanying William John Bankes. The painting is part of a significant collection of drawings and paintings that William brought back from his travels around Egypt and the middle East.
Muhammad Ali Pasha clearly wanted to spread his love of giraffes to his European counterparts and sent three as diplomatic gifts in the late 1820s. Captured as calves, the giraffes were shipped down the Nile to Alexandria and on to Europe. They each created a sensation in their destination cities, being the first giraffes to live there. Soon fashion designers, composers, hair-stylists and interior designers were all incorporating giraffes into their creations. Even Austrian bakers were inspired by the long-necked creatures, serving Giraffentorten in Vienna’s cafes.
One giraffe arrived in London for George IV in mid-1827, along with two milk cows and two Arabian keepers, and was added to his menagerie at Sandpit Gate. The giraffe survived for less than two years and was stuffed by taxidermist John Gould. Another giraffe was sent to Emperor Franz I of Austria, living at Schönbrunn Palace until its demise only 8 months later. The third, and most well documented giraffe was sent to Charles X of France. Later named ‘Zafara’, the young female reportedly walked from Marseille to Paris and survived for 18 years at the Jardin des Plantes. If you happen to visit the natural history museum in La Rochelle you may see her on display!
National Pet Month aims to promote responsible pet ownership and to make people aware of the benefits of pets for people, and people for pets. It also aims to raise awareness of the role, value and contribution to society of working companion animals.