Elephant

Has my historical protagonist seen an elephant? I want my apothecary surgeon Thomas Hammond, born in 1766, to compare the grossly swollen legs of a patient with dropsy (which we would call heart failure and Hammond would have treated with medicine derived from foxgloves ) to those of an elephant. I’m sure it will be impossible to find out, but some googling reveals that in the 18th Century Queen Charlotte, wife of George the third, received eight elephants which were on public view near The Queen’s House (which later became Buckingham Palace). There was also a menagerie at the Exeter Exchange on the Strand which displayed an elephant called Chunee. The animals were locked up in small cages although Chunee was often taken out. Lord Byron visited in 1813 when Chunee picked a silver sixpence from him with his trunk and “handed” it back. In 1826 Chunee killed his keeper and was shot with 152 musket balls by a platoon of guardsmen. Public outrage led to closing of the Exchange.

So my protagonist could have seen an elephant. I’m attracted to include the story of Chunee and also Byron’s visit, but that feels rather artificial, trying too hard. It’s a whole new novel. I’ll stick with Thomas spying one of Queen Charlotte’s when he was a boy.

Reference: Menagerie: The History Of Exotic Animals In England by Caroline Grigson