Researchers publishing a collection of historical records have uncovered Coventry’s Victorian ‘Lion Queen’, who was mauled by her charges at one of Regency and Victorian Britain’s most famous menageries.
Historical documents relating to Ellen Bright and her cousin William were discovered in a collection of over 280,000 records published online for the first time by Findmypast, in partnership with Coventry Archives. The records date back to 1747 and offer a rich and colourful snapshot of the people, places, events and life in the city over the past 277 years.
17-year-old Ellen Bright, who died in 1850, was dubbed the “Lion Queen” in her lifetime for taming and exhibiting the big cats at her uncle George’s famous menagerie, ‘Wombwell’s Travelling Menagerie’ which toured the country exhibiting elephants, giraffes, tigers, panthers, lions, a gorilla, and a kangaroo. Ellen’s lion William was the first lion bred in captivity in Britain. The menagerie presented numerous times at the royal court for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – however the newspapers reported that just a month before her death, Ellen was expressly forbidden by Queen Victoria to demonstrate the cats.
Sadly, while in Chatham, Ellen was asked by a group of army officers to perform for them and, on entering the cage, was mauled by the tiger and pronounced dead within minutes. Burial records show that she shares her grave with her cousin William, who died just a year earlier at age 25 after being gored by the menagerie’s seven-foot bull elephant. The collection contains the newspaper reports from the incident, which reveal that William had looked after the elephant for six years, including walking him in a procession through Coventry.
Other records in the collection offer a unique snapshot of major moments in the city’s history. The bomb damage which occurred during Coventry's devastating Blitz during the Second World War is laid bare in over 73,000 records, which detail the streets, addresses, occupiers’ names and damage, as well as the records of the 794 victims of the raids.
Some of the first ever motorcar registrations after the Motor Car Act in 1903 are also included, a seminal moment in the city’s manufacturing past. In fact, experts have uncovered early ‘petrol head’ Sir WIlliam Lyons, who founded Swallow Sidecar Company which became SS Cars and finally Jaguar.
The full collection of 284,027 records spanning from 1747-1966 are now available to search online at Findmypast.
Mary McKee, UK Archives Manager at Findmypast, said:
“This is a significant chunk of historical information which offers an amazing opportunity to understand more about Coventry’s colourful past – as well as uncover family stories. It has been fascinating to delve into these rich and varied records to uncover stories like those of Ellen and William. Thanks to our exclusive partnership with Coventry Archives, more people will now be able to delve into the collection online and make their own fascinating, touching, and surprising family discoveries.”
Taniah Simpson is Head of Collections at CV Life, the organisation that runs Coventry Archives. Taniah said: “Findmypast is a fantastic resource for anyone stepping back in time to find out about their background or rich local history - like the story of Coventry’s Lion Queen.
“So I’m really excited that Coventry Archives has been able to partner with Findmypast on a 3 year project to digitise records from the archives making available 1000’s of records from the collection.
"I look forward to seeing the positive impact digitising these records will have for those researching Coventry history or their family history- as I’m sure they will make some fascinating discoveries when they start exploring the records."