Could This Be The Enigmatic Mrs Wombwell?

A carte de visite is now part of the archives. It shows a Victorian lady in mourning dress. Across the back is pencilled ‘Mrs Wombwell’. Could this be the enigmatic ‘Mrs Wombwell’ of Menagerie fame? The carte was made either in Newcastle or London by the studios of W & D Downey a popular photographer to the Royal family and others.

Image of Mrs Wombwell

Back view of Carte

There’s no guarentee of this being George’s partner, but the locations are consistent with Mrs Wombwell travelling to Newcastle or being photographed in London. The eminence of Downey might also suggest the wife of Sir George Orby Wombwell, 4th Baronet, although he married Lady Julia Sarah Alice Child-Villiers who would not have been known as plain Mrs! Incidentally, Villiers is also one of my names too and other relatives existed in Maldon, Essex during the twentieth century with the same family name.

*Downey was an active studio from the mid century to the end of the nineteenth century.

I’ll keep an open mind on its authenticity.

Carte de Visite: Mdlle Sherazade and her Performing Elephants

One of the most popular uses that the Victorians made of the new photography technology was the Carte de Visite. Millions of them were produced throughout the world. They are though, rare in the Menageries and Circus world, but Edmunds, the proprietor of Wombwell’s after ‘Mrs’ Wombwell retired, made use of them for his acts. One such act was Mdlle Sherazade and her elephants. Billed as the only Lady Elephant Trainer in Europe, she came, probably from Brussels around 1884. Edmunds was known to have even sold off an elephant already in the menagerie to make way for Sherazade’s two performing elephants. She even married the other animal trainer in the Menagerie and also trained big cats as well. This carte is now in the collection.

A full report will be entered on the research website in due course.