SUPPLIERS TO THE COUNT

 

See Also: ANIMALS; VAMPIRES Dracula

In the novel Dracula (1897), Count Dracula purchases his wolf bersicker from Jamrach s Animal Emporium. The Wapping-based business was mentioned in a number of other works of fiction.

Charles Jamrach, a German, inherited the enterprise at the start of the 1840s. He developed the firm into being London s foremost animal dealing business. He became widely known to the general public in 1857 when a recently arrived tigress escaped onto the streets of Wapping. She encountered John Wade, a nine-year-old boy who had no idea what she was and therefore did not regard her as being dangerous. When the child tried to pet her, she took hold of him with her jaws. She only released him after Jamrach had struck her head with a crowbar. She then chose to flee back to the relative safety of her cage. The dealer sold the creature to Wombwell s Travelling Menagerie for £200. She was publicised as 'The Tiger Who Swallowed The Boy'. The animal dealer was prosecuted by Wade s parents. A court ordered him to pay them £300.

The nature writer Eliza Brightwen bought a number of exotic animals from Jamrach s. When she purchased some armadillos from the firm, she was advised that, if she tired of the creatures, they would be able to furnish her with a fine meal.

Location: Brightwen Grove, Stanmore, HA7 4WH. A street named after Mrs Brightwen.

179-180 The Highway, E1 0DF. On the northern side to the west of Betts Street is where the yard for the large animals was (possibly leads into Swedenborg Gardens). (orange, pink)

Pennington Street, E1W 2SF. Entrance to Tobacco Dock. By the complex s northern entrance there is a statue of a boy and a tiger. (red, red)

David Backhouse 2024