The skeleton of the elephant Chunee at the Egyptian Hall

In the 1810s and 1820s Chunee was a well known elephant who even today has his own Wikipedia page. For many years Chunee was exhibited at Exeter Change on the Strand in London before becoming aggressive, which resulted in him being destroyed in 1826. His death was horrific and widely reported at the time, see Ref. no. N1984. The item illustrated here is a tracing of a handout for the exhibition of Chunee’s skeleton at the Egyptian Hall. There is no date but in the Davenport Collection there is another copy with the handwritten date May 1829. This is one of the items contained in a wooden box of 19th century ephemera, mainly relating to the Egyptian Hall. To view all the items from the box, click on View Details and then the Key Phrase ‘Wooden box items’.