John Daniel (1917-1922)
Uley became a home from
1918 to 1921 to a young Lowland Gorilla known as John Daniel. He was
an orphan from Gabon in French Equatorial Africa, after his parents
were shot by French game hunters and was eventually brought to the UK
by animal dealer John Daniel Hamlyn, who gave him his name. He was
put up for sale in a large London departmental store and was
purchased for £300 by Major Rupert Penny as a present for his aunt,
Alyse Cunningham, whose main home was in Sloane Street, London. She
also had a country house in the Gloucestershire village of Uley.
Alyse & John Daniel travelled by train to Stroud and then by road
to Uley, with John journeying as an ordinary passenger and without
even a chain round his neck. He integrated well into the village and
quickly became a favourite with the local children. He had his own
bedroom and he always went to bed at 8 pm. He was able to use the
light switches and the toilet. The school children loved him and
pushed him around in an old wooden wheelbarrow. He was very partial
to a glass of cider now and again; he knew where this was kept and
would often draw himself a mug! One of his favourite people in the
village was the local cobbler, he would often visit his house to
intently watch the shoemaker at work.
After nearly 3 years of
happily living in Uley, he had now grown into a 110 lb (50kg)
juvenile just over 4ft tall and it became evident that soon it would
no longer feasible to be able to incorporate him fully into village
life. By 1921, he was 4½ years old, and weighed over 13 stone
(82.5 kg). Although John Daniel was happy in the village, Alyse began
to realise she could not keep him for much longer, so in late 1921,
she sold him in good faith to an American buyer for 1,000 guineas. on
the understanding he would have a comfortable home in Florida.
However, Alyse had been cruelly deceived and she learned, to her
horror, that he was to join the combined circus of Ringling Bros and
Barnum & Bailey, that made its ‘World’s Greatest Show’
debut at Madison Square Gardens in 1919.
In 1922, sometime after
his arrival in America, he was sent to the Ringling Zoo, also at
Madison Square Garden, New York. Here, having little or no freedom,
John Daniel pined, and being desperately unhappy, his health rapidly
deteriorated. Alyse was informed by cable and she immediately booked
a passage to New York. Sadly, John Daniel died before she arrived,
with the cause of death being given as pneumonia. However, those
close to him say it was of a broken heart. His body was stuffed and
put on display in the New York City Natural History Museum later that
year. More than a century later, visitors today can still see Uley’s
most unusual resident. It was a sad end for a well-loved,
affectionate, amusing and extraordinary Uley character.
In 2018, a local
stonemason, Sebastian Rasch, was commissioned to create a sculpture
in Portland stone (as local Cotswold stone was too soft) in memory of
John Daniel's life in the village: this now stands proudly on Uley
Village Green, looking west down the valley.