In the latest edition of our A-Z archive series, volunteer archivist Cluny Wells explores the extraordinary history of elephants at Chiswick House & Gardens.

Unlikely though it sounds, Sadi, an Asian elephant, lived in our grounds during the time of the 6^th Duke of Devonshire. She was resident here for about 10 years until her death. Sadi’s gender, from different reports, was never a conclusive fact but it is thought that she was most likely female.

Shipping Sadi from India

It seems that the Duke’s friend, Lady Hastings, on her way to visit India, asked what he would like sent as a present – his answer that nothing less than an elephant would do – was taken seriously, as one was sent to his care via the East India docks.

Translation of the above, taken from the accounts sent by a Mr. Heaton to the Duke in 1814, after Sadi arrived in London:

“J. Heaton Esq for His Grace the Duke of Devonshire

For Charges on an Elephant…. The Lady (Hastings) from India. Landed from the East India Docks at Blackwall.

1814

Dec 2/12 Paid Customs Duty on the Elephant valued at £50. Entry fees …….           £16..1..6

Paid Elliott the Keeper for …ing  }

£1..5..6 …for straw                         }                                                                            1..7..6

Paid Charges to Weighers, assistance of men at Docks, at Landing….                      1..1..-

Paid 4 men Keepers from Polito’s Menagerie to walk him up by Night                    3..3..-

Paid Expenses at the East India Tavern for him after he was Landed,

Supper & refreshments for the Men ……                                                                   1..8..6

£23..1..6”

The elephant keepers

There seems to be some discrepancy around the exact dates that she and her keeper, William Elliott, arrived at Chiswick. Elliott is first listed in the servants’ register as ‘Elephant Keeper’ in 1811, yet Sadi did not seem to have arrived until at least 1814. Yet there was only one elephant and two elephant keepers ever known to have lived at Chiswick. Elliot’s successor took over Sadi’s care by 1823.

Sadi’s life in Chiswick

Sadi lived in in a large, well-ventilated house in the Gardens and had the range of a spacious paddock, on the south side of the Classic Bridge. She performed some tricks, which were very popular at the Duke’s parties, such as taking a broom and bucket, filling it with water from the river and proceeding to clean her house. She would also kneel down and give rides for guests. She was considered to be both wise and docile.

What the Duke’s visitors said about Sadi

In 1826 Prince Puckler-Muskau said

There is a menagerie attached to the garden, in which a tame elephant performs all sorts of feats and very quietly suffers anybody to ride (him) Sadi about a large lawn.

Sir Walter Scott talks of visiting Chiswick in 1828, and when depicting the gardens which he thought resembled a Watteau painting stated:

The scene was dignified by the presence of an immense elephant, who, under charge of a groom, wandered up and down, giving an air of Asiatic pageantry to the entertainment.

Sadi was apparently much admired by the Prime Minister of the time, George Canning, and his family, and they visited her regularly. The knowledge of an elephant living in Chiswick spread far and wide. When Tsar Nicholas visited Chiswick in 1844, his first question to the Duke was “Where is the elephant?” And the Duke had to inform him of her death some years before.

A male elephant, possibly the one known as Chunee, visited Sadi. He resided in the menagerie at Exeter Change, and the visit was mentioned in the Letters of Harriet, Countess of Granville in 1820.

Other celebrated Georgian elephants and their owners

Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, also kept an elephant, with a couple of zebras, in the stables at Buckingham Palace.

George Wombwell had a travelling menagerie which included an elephant. (See first image).

In 1812 Stephen Polito, who owned the menagerie called Exeter Change in the Strand in London, acquired an elephant from Calcutta. Maybe this was Chunee, mentioned above as Sadi’s visitor.

There was also an elephant who walked on the ice during the last Frost Fair on the Thames in 1814.

Sadi’s death

Let us return to Sadi, the elephant who lived at Chiswick fairly contentedly for a captive elephant, it seems, until she died, probably from pulmonary consumption, in 1829. The remainder of the Duke’s menagerie was transferred to Chatsworth by 1836, presumably as he was spending more of his time there.