Alfred the Gorilla ( – 10 March 1948) arrived at Bristol Zoo, England, in 1930 and became a popular attraction and animal celebrity. BBC His fame grew to international proportions during World War II and after his death he remained an important mascot for the city of Bristol.
Alfred's distinct personality led to his popularity among younger visitors and he quickly became one of the zoo's main attractions. His profile was further increased during World War II when visiting soldiers took images and stories of Alfred back to their home countries with articles about him appearing in the US and Australian press. After Alfred died in 1948, his taxidermic form was put on display in Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery where he continued to act as a mascot for the city. Alfred's form was stolen from the museum in 1956 and was missing for a weekend before he was discovered and returned, a mystery that remained unsolved until the death of one of the perpetrators in 2010. Many people to this day still remember him. Bristol zoo still remembers him after almost 75 years.Alfred the Gorilla mystery solved 4 March 2010 The Guardian He remains on display in Bristol today and served as inspiration for the popular Wow! Gorillas trail in 2012.
Gorillas and Bristol Bristol's connection with gorillas dates back to the first gorilla bones ever brought to Britain. After being sent to Liberia as a missionary in 1836, the American naturalist Dr. Thomas Savage wrote to Professor Richard Owen in London, declaring,
'I have found the existence of an animal of extraordinary character in this locality, and which I have reason to believe is unknown to the naturalist. As yet I have been unable to obtain more than a part of a skeleton.' Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p38
The letter included a sketch of a skull which Savage speculated might be related to a chimpanzee. Savage also wrote to Samuel Stutchbury of the Bristol Institution, a forerunner of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Stutchbury had more remains sought out and in 1847 Captain George Wagstaff obtained three skulls from the Gabon River in West Africa. When these arrived in Bristol, Stutchbury sent them to Owen who published a paper, on the specimens proposing to call the species Troglodytes Savagei after Thomas Savage. By the time the full paper was published in 1849, however, Dr. Jeffries Wyman of Harvard had already published a description of the bones with Savage's own preferred name of Troglodytes gorilla. The skulls were returned to Stutchbury and can be found in Bristol Museum's collection today.
The first living gorilla reached Europe in the 1880s, although a ‘very unusual chimpanzee’ exhibited by a travelling showman in England in 1860 was later thought to be gorilla. Most of the early gorillas sent to Europe died within a couple of years, often from lung disease. One of the longest lived resided at Breslau Zoo and reached the age of seven. The first living gorilla to reach Bristol Zoo, purchased for £75, arrived in 1900 but died after a short period.A. C. Van Bruggen, ‘International Zoo News’, 1 July 2007.
Early life Alfred was initially found by an Expedition from the American Museum of Natural History, New York and Columbia University in 1928 in what was then Belgian Congo. The expedition members were told that a pair of gorillas had been shot for ‘raiding’ a farmer's field for food, afterwards a baby was discovered and suckled by a local woman.H. Paddon, ‘Biological Objects and "Mascotism": The Life and Times of Alfred the Gorilla’ in S.J.M.M. Alberti, The Afterlives of Animals - A Museum Menagerie (2011) The baby gorilla was later sold to a Greek merchant and taken to the town of Mbalmayo in modern-day Cameroon, where the expedition encountered him playing in the streets. He was described by the Expedition as ‘the liveliest specimen of his kind we had ever seen’.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p38.
In 1930, Alfred was sold to an Italian who, after bringing him to Europe, sold him on to an animal dealer. Bristol Zoo, already successful in rearing chimpanzees, acquired Alfred for £350.H. Paddon, ‘Biological Objects and "Mascotism": The Life and Times of Alfred the Gorilla’ in S.J.M.M. Alberti, The Afterlives of Animals - A Museum Menagerie (2011) Alfred spent a few months housed in Rotterdam in 1930 before continuing to Bristol Zoo.A. C. Van Bruggen, ‘International Zoo News’, 1 July 2007. Alfred was named after Alfred Mosely, Companion of Honour, a benefactor of the zoo, it was his gift to the NationHarry Edwards, ‘The Old Cliftonian’, 13 July 1993. Although during his life he was thought to be a mountain gorilla, it is more likely that he was a western lowland gorilla.
Life at Bristol Zoo Alfred arrived at Bristol Zoo on 5 September 1930, which was thereafter celebrated as his birthday. His cage was positioned just inside one of the entrances and this prominent position, alongside his vibrant personality, meant that he quickly became one of the Zoo's main attractions. During his first two years at the zoo, Alfred regularly took walks around the grounds with his keeper Frank Guise. He did this on the end of a long collar and chain and was well known for wearing woollen jumpers.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p39.
During his third year at the zoo, Alfred had grown to weigh eight stones. His increasing strength had become a concern to his keepers; when he broke a photographer's tripod during his birthday celebrations, his walks around the zoo were curtailed. Alfred also caught whooping cough during these early years but received medical help. This remained the only significant illness that he contracted until the end of his life.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p40.
Despite being confined to his enclosure, Alfred continued to be a popular attraction. Alfred was featured beating his breast on a radio broadcast from the zoo in 1937.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p39. He became the oldest gorilla to survive in captivity in 1938; later that year, visitors were invited to guess his weight on a specially constructed machine. The closest guess the public managed was 20 stones, with Alfred actually coming in at 26 stones, four pounds.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p39. His diet was completely vegetarian, which was an innovation in the practice of keeping captive gorillas. It also cost the zoo just £3 a week.
Popularity, habits and personality Alfred's status at the zoo led to him becoming something of a local celebrity with visitors, especially with children. Their recollections often refer to Alfred as having a number of distinct character traits and quirks that made up his personality. On occasion he would approach the children who stood around his cage and make what they perceived as friendly gestures and conversations with them.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L4, 19 April 1993.
Popularity Although Alfred's habits could occasionally be perceived as offensive by some of the zoo's visitors, many of the children who saw him regularly formed a deep bond with him. One visitor even going as far as to say that because of Alfred's ruder habits, he both ‘loved and hated him’ at the same time.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L19, 9 November 1996. Others recall simply enjoying the gorilla's company and would sit beside the cage for hours just to be close to him.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L8, 24 June 1993. His status as one of the zoo's main attractions is reflected by the fact that many of them recall that rather than ‘going to the zoo’, they would often think of their visits as ‘going to see Alfie’.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L5, 4 June 1993.
Other visitors made regular trips to the zoo on their way through Bristol to other destinations. One woman from the West Midlands recalls that they would drop in on the gorilla every year on their way to a campsite in Somerset. She also notes Alfred's habit of wearing a large hessian sack like a holiday maker wearing a handkerchief on their head which always amused her.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L12, 20 July 1993.
Temperament and nickname Alfred was allegedly offended by Rosie the Elephant being allowed to walk past his enclosure which would cause him to sulk.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p39. He also allegedly harboured a dislike of bearded men, double decker buses and aeroplanes.BBC Article, AHOTW: Bristol Museum's Alfred the gorilla, http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8940000/8940723.stm This stood in contrast for the affection he reciprocated towards his early keepers Frank Guise and Bert Jones, as well as to the sparrows who visited his enclosure to pick at breadcrumbs. He would sometimes be tickled by his keeper and a crowd would gather to watch.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L6, 10 June 1993 As fascism rose in Europe Alfred acquired the nickname, the ‘Dictator of Bristol Zoo’.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p39.
Habits Alfred was also fond of making and throwing snowballs. At the age of three years he can be seen doing just that in the company of two young children in a photo from January 1931.Ray Barnett, ‘The Dictator of Bristol’ in Nonesuch, the University of Bristol Magazine, Spring 1999, p39. His expertise at throwing however, was not limited to snowballs. Alfred, one visitor recalled, 'used to express his opinion of the human race by picking up large lumps of his droppings and hurling them accurately at the spectators in front of his cage. It was a delight for small schoolboys to be able to act as cheerleaders to this somewhat one-sided contest’.Harry Edwards, ‘The Old Cliftonian’, 13 July 1993. Alfred also had a habit of urinating on visitors after climbing the bars of his cage. One child was beckoned over by the gorilla and when she approached he urinated on her head, the story is still remembered by her grandchildren today who often ask to see the gorilla who ‘did a wee on great grandma’ when they visit the museum.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L9, 1 July 1993. Another writer described how Alfred was her favourite animal at the zoo and she has many memories but her favourite is of her aunt eating plums in front of Alfred. He kept asking her for some and when she simply laughed at him he went to the back of his cage and threw his dung at her. She continued to laugh and not feed him so he climbed the bars of his cage and urinated on her. The writer got in trouble for telling her aunt that the incident was her fault and she should have given Alfred the plums.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L17, 4 August 1993. Alfred was also fond of playing hide and seek with visitors.James Belsey, ‘Bristol Evening Post’, 30 July 1992. One visitor recalled how she once got her head stuck in the bars of Alfred's cage when she was ten. She was later rescued by a St. Johns ambulance worker. ‘How did Alfred react to my dilemma’, she recounted, ‘he just sat in the corner of his cage clapping his hands loudly and laughing’.Bristol Museum, Alfred Archive L14, 24 July 1993. She now tells the story to her grandchildren when they visit the zoo.
Wartime