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Chunee
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Chunee
Chunee (also known as Chuny or Chuneelah; died 1 March 1826) was an Indian elephant in Regency London.
Three elephants were brought to England in East India Company ships between 1809 and 1811. The third of these was Chunee. He travelled on the East Indiaman, Astell, from Bengal, arriving in England in July 1811. Two other two elephants, also owned by Stephen Polito at some point, arrived in England. The first arrived in September 1809. The second elephant was brought to England from Sri Lanka on the East India Company ship Walthamstow in June 1810.
Mr Polito ... has obtained possession of a remarkably fine Elephant, brought to England in the Hon. East India Company's ship, Winchelsea, Capt. William Moffat, which will be exhibited at Rumsey [sic] fair on Monday; and it is expected he will be offered for public inspection for a day or two, in this town [Winchester], on his way to the Exeter 'Change London.
— Hampshire Chronicle, 23 April 1810.
Chunee arrived in 1811 (some sources mistakenly state 1810) and was originally exhibited at the Covent Garden Theatre, but was bought by Polito (along with a two-headed cow, kangaroos, beavers, and exotic birds) from the estate of Gilbert Pidcock of the Exeter Exchange after Pidcock's death in 1810. After Polito's death, the menagerie was eventually purchased by Edward Cross in 1814. The events which led to Chunee being put down at Cross's orders 12 years later became a cause célèbre. At the time of Chunee's death, he weighed at least 5 tonnes, stood between 10 and 11 feet tall, and was valued at £1,000. Cross had insured him for £500.[citation needed]
Chunee was described at one point as "between ten and eleven feet in height, and weighs at least, by computation, between four and five tons. This huge mountain of flesh consumes daily three trusses of hay, and about two hundred weight of carrots and other fresh vegetables, together with from sixty to eighty gallons of water".
Tame for most of his life but not as docile as it was sometimes claimed, Chunee was first trained as a theatrical animal, appearing onstage with famed thespian Edmund Kean. Kean "kept up an acquaintance" with the elephant who showed his appreciation for the actor, "whom he would fondle with his trunk" in exchange for loaves of bread. Chunee's appearances included Blue Beard, at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, and the pantomime Harlequin and Padmanaba, or the Golden Fish, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He was retired from the stage owing to "uncertain temper and stage fright" and subsequent poor reviews from audiences and critics during the pantomime role, which would be his last. He was relocated to the Exeter Exchange and learned tricks including being trained to take a sixpence from visitors to the menagerie to hold with his trunk before returning it. He was also trained to ring the bell for the menagerie supper every evening at nine o'clock. He could use his trunk to take a penny from his keeper to buy a cake from an old cake-seller. An entry in Lord Byron's journal records a visit to Exeter Exchange on 14 November 1813, when "The elephant took and gave me my money again—took off my hat—opened a door—trunked a whip—and behaved so well, that I wish he was [sic] my butler."
By 1820, Chunee had more than doubled in size since his arrival in England, requiring new quarters -- an "upstairs cage, made of iron-bound oak bars, three feet in girth" -- which cost Cross £350. Chunee by then was consuming 800 pounds of hay, corn, straw, carrots, mangel wurzel, and biscuit daily. Around that time, Chunee attacked his keeper, Alfred Copps (or Cops), a competent man with whom Chunee had seemed to enjoy a good relationship and who, up to that point, seemed to have had Chunee under control. He had taught Chunee some of his tricks. Chunee forced Copps into a corner of the cage. Copps was not pierced by the elephant's tusks, but fell to the ground unconscious and was worked on by Chunee with his trunk until Edward Cross was able to distract the elephant. Copps was extracted from the cage. The reason for the attack remains unknown. Cross was concerned but ultimately decided to keep Chunee, the menagerie's star attraction. Copps remained with the exchange until 1822 (when he became the last Keeper of the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London) but never dealt with Chunee again.
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Chunee AI simulator
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Chunee
Chunee (also known as Chuny or Chuneelah; died 1 March 1826) was an Indian elephant in Regency London.
Three elephants were brought to England in East India Company ships between 1809 and 1811. The third of these was Chunee. He travelled on the East Indiaman, Astell, from Bengal, arriving in England in July 1811. Two other two elephants, also owned by Stephen Polito at some point, arrived in England. The first arrived in September 1809. The second elephant was brought to England from Sri Lanka on the East India Company ship Walthamstow in June 1810.
Mr Polito ... has obtained possession of a remarkably fine Elephant, brought to England in the Hon. East India Company's ship, Winchelsea, Capt. William Moffat, which will be exhibited at Rumsey [sic] fair on Monday; and it is expected he will be offered for public inspection for a day or two, in this town [Winchester], on his way to the Exeter 'Change London.
— Hampshire Chronicle, 23 April 1810.
Chunee arrived in 1811 (some sources mistakenly state 1810) and was originally exhibited at the Covent Garden Theatre, but was bought by Polito (along with a two-headed cow, kangaroos, beavers, and exotic birds) from the estate of Gilbert Pidcock of the Exeter Exchange after Pidcock's death in 1810. After Polito's death, the menagerie was eventually purchased by Edward Cross in 1814. The events which led to Chunee being put down at Cross's orders 12 years later became a cause célèbre. At the time of Chunee's death, he weighed at least 5 tonnes, stood between 10 and 11 feet tall, and was valued at £1,000. Cross had insured him for £500.[citation needed]
Chunee was described at one point as "between ten and eleven feet in height, and weighs at least, by computation, between four and five tons. This huge mountain of flesh consumes daily three trusses of hay, and about two hundred weight of carrots and other fresh vegetables, together with from sixty to eighty gallons of water".
Tame for most of his life but not as docile as it was sometimes claimed, Chunee was first trained as a theatrical animal, appearing onstage with famed thespian Edmund Kean. Kean "kept up an acquaintance" with the elephant who showed his appreciation for the actor, "whom he would fondle with his trunk" in exchange for loaves of bread. Chunee's appearances included Blue Beard, at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, and the pantomime Harlequin and Padmanaba, or the Golden Fish, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He was retired from the stage owing to "uncertain temper and stage fright" and subsequent poor reviews from audiences and critics during the pantomime role, which would be his last. He was relocated to the Exeter Exchange and learned tricks including being trained to take a sixpence from visitors to the menagerie to hold with his trunk before returning it. He was also trained to ring the bell for the menagerie supper every evening at nine o'clock. He could use his trunk to take a penny from his keeper to buy a cake from an old cake-seller. An entry in Lord Byron's journal records a visit to Exeter Exchange on 14 November 1813, when "The elephant took and gave me my money again—took off my hat—opened a door—trunked a whip—and behaved so well, that I wish he was [sic] my butler."
By 1820, Chunee had more than doubled in size since his arrival in England, requiring new quarters -- an "upstairs cage, made of iron-bound oak bars, three feet in girth" -- which cost Cross £350. Chunee by then was consuming 800 pounds of hay, corn, straw, carrots, mangel wurzel, and biscuit daily. Around that time, Chunee attacked his keeper, Alfred Copps (or Cops), a competent man with whom Chunee had seemed to enjoy a good relationship and who, up to that point, seemed to have had Chunee under control. He had taught Chunee some of his tricks. Chunee forced Copps into a corner of the cage. Copps was not pierced by the elephant's tusks, but fell to the ground unconscious and was worked on by Chunee with his trunk until Edward Cross was able to distract the elephant. Copps was extracted from the cage. The reason for the attack remains unknown. Cross was concerned but ultimately decided to keep Chunee, the menagerie's star attraction. Copps remained with the exchange until 1822 (when he became the last Keeper of the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London) but never dealt with Chunee again.
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