Monkeys in Hampstead and Elephants in Kentish Town

The Old Bull and Bush is a Hampstead pub on the North End Way about halfway between Jack Straw’s Castle at the top of the hill and Golders Green in the opposite direction.

It was made famous in an Edwardian music hall song by Florrie Forde, ‘Down at the Old Bull and Bush’ which can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZlkScbpwbg

Rather oddly the publican kept monkeys in a cage in his garden. On the afternoon of Friday, 19 August 1898, two escaped and stayed hidden on Hampstead Heath until noon the following Sunday, when they were spotted by some boys who threw stones at them. The monkeys jabbered and made faces at their assailants, swinging from tree to tree easily eluding anyone who climbed after them, tempted by the cash reward for their capture.  

On Monday, the monkeys gave themselves up and returned to the Bull and Bush, ‘forlorn, dirty-looking, and evidently very miserable’. But within days they not only escaped again but took two more monkeys with them. The four explored Hampstead Heath in the area between the Bull and Bush and the Spaniards Inn, venturing into the well-kept grounds and conservatories of nearby houses, doing considerable damage and scaring the occupants. Sadly, and under pressure, the publican reluctantly gave permission for the animals to be shot. Three were killed outright; the fourth, called Joey, was slightly wounded and made his way back to his cage.
We do not know how long monkeys were kept at the pub after this event.

Elephants in a Fix
It is not often the streets of London echo to the trumpeting of elephants but that’s what happened in Kentish Town one Saturday afternoon in 1884. Sanger’s Circus was booked to set up its tents near Gospel Oak. Around 1.45pm on 8 March a train carrying the artistes, horses and four elephants arrived at the Kentish Town Midland station. The elephants were unloaded in the sidings, (on the site of Regis Road today), where they had to exit via the end of their truck. 

The first pair, Jim and Rose, walked across a ramp made of railway sleepers and calmly made their way into the yard for a long drink. But the second pair, Palm and Ida, were frightened by the sudden noise of an engine whistle. The animals panicked, pushing over their keeper and breaking his collarbone, before stampeding and bursting open the locked station gates, which splintered ‘like match-wood’.

Turning up Highgate Road, the elephants knocked over another man who fortunately, was more frightened than hurt, as he was seen to get up and run away leaving his hat behind him. It was amazing the beasts didn’t collide with any of the carts, buses or tramcars on the busy main road. Palm and Ida got as far as the Vine pub where a group of people fell over one another in their frantic attempts to escape, which resulted in a second broken collarbone. The elephants bolted along the narrow College Lane that ran parallel to and behind the houses of Kentish Town Road. They got as far as the Baptist Chapel on the corner with Chetwynd Road, and failed to get over the chapel wall before making a minor detour into Twisden Road. Here they knocked over a child, who fortunately was not seriously hurt. 

By now, Palm and Ida had travelled around a mile and were being chased by hundreds of people. The frightened elephants rushed up Chetwynd Road and Cathcart Hill to Junction Road, then across into Francis Terrace. This was a cul-de-sac that ended in a boarded-up passage to Pemberton Terrace, between Nos.29 and 31. Palm and Ida broke through into the Terrace where the chase ended. The passage floor between the two houses gave way and first one and then the second elephant tumbled into the cellar below. 

The police arrived with workmen who set about enlarging the opening and constructing a slope the elephants could walk up. After almost two hours the keepers were able to rescue the animals. Although one paper said jokingly ‘the capture was not completed without the aid of a bun’, the keepers actually fed Palm and Ida loaves of bread to encourage them up the incline, while Jim and Rose helped pull their companions to freedom. Then all four elephants were chained together and walked four abreast to Gospel Oak, none the worse for their extraordinary adventure, accompanied by a huge crowd. 

Sanger was a keen publicist, but even he couldn’t have thought up a better stunt to advertise his show and the circus played to record crowds all week. 

An earlier version of these stories appeared in our book, ‘Bloody British History: Camden’.