William Clarke ran a bakery and confectioners , selling bread and cakes. One unusual customer of the bakery was an elephant owned by Daisy, Countess of Warwick. A receipt from 1901 shows payment for ‘Brown bread for elephant’.
Daisy, Countess of Warwick, kept many exotic animals at Warwick Castle and her second home in Essex, Easton Lodge. Kim, the baby elephant, used to travel by train between the two homes.
Daisy’s memoirs recall how Kim used to steal bread rolls from the dinner table.
[Kim] would trot after me everywhere, even following me into the dining room and helping itself to a roll from my plate.1
Eventually the baby elephant grew too large to be kept as a pet. The elephant rolled onto, and killed, a donkey by accident. There was concern that the elephant could harm the stable man looking after her too. Kim was given away to Sam Lockhart, the famous elephant trainer who lived in Leamington Spa.
I had a pet elephant which spent its time partly at Warwick and partly at Easton. When I bought the elephant it was a mere baby and very attractive and manageable. It would trot after me everywhere, even following me into the dining room and helping its self to a roll from my plate. Little by little it grew until it was seventeen hands high. Then it became a danger. It rolled over upon and killed a little donkey that had always been its playmate. I feared some injury to the stableman who looked after it, so I gave it to a retired elephant trainer who lived at Leamington and had ample accommodation.
Read here for more information about Daisy and the pets she kept.
1 A quote about Kim the elephant, taken from ‘Life’s Ebb and Flow’, memoirs by Frances (also known as Daisy), Countess of Warwickshire. P.98.
This article is part of the Through the Shop Window trail showcasing the links between Warwick businesses and Warwick Castle in the 1800s. Supported by The Friends of Warwickshire County Record Office, The Steven Wallsgrove Legacy and Warwick Town Council.
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