Poster apparently unrecorded, although a similar poster by D. W. Burley (featuring roaring lion, and same “Chessington Zoo & Circus” font) was sold with another from the same era, in 2017 by London Transport Auctions.
The design is for an advertisement for the Zoo and Circus at Chessington, in collaboration with Southern Railway. The poster’s design fanfares Chessington as “England’s Largest Private Zoo” and mentions the Circus’ show times (3 and 6). It also outlines how to get there (“Near Surbiton & Easily Accessible by Road, Coach or Bus”), and mentions ticketing options (“Cheap rail fares … including Admission to Zoo, Circus etc, issued from many S[outhern]. R[ailway]. Stations. For particulars enquire at Booking Office”).
The founder of Chessington, Reginald Goddard, had the idea for a Zoological Gardens from a young age, but it didn’t materialise until he bought Burnt Stub mansion and the surrounding land. After acquiring a “lion, [and] a den of monkeys” to join his existing St Bernard dogs, Chessington Zoo first opening in 1931 (see Foster, 1949, p. 157). The Zoo grew in size and popularity throughout the 1930s, and the collaboration with Southern Railway undoubtedly helped with ticket sales.
It is possible that this poster was never used, as it dates from 1939 and, with the outbreak of WW2 in September in that year, large public gatherings were outlawed, meaning the immediate closure of all zoos. In fact, that first winter, according to Frank Foster’s 1949 book about Circuses, Pink Coat, Spangles and Sawdust, the show found a novel way to go on - a number of the performers and animals moved to Bloomsbury that first winter to appear at the Scala Theatre at the corner of Tottenham Street and Charlotte Street. Frank Foster, who recalls his time as “equestrian director and manager of the Chessington Zoo Circus”, writes how “our programme included thirty-six horses and ponies, three elephants, two camels, two llamas, a mule, three monkeys, a sea lion, twelve pretty West End chorus girls and the best circus acts available” (p.157). In order for the show to go ahead they had to satisfy L.C.C. requirements, which included reinforcing the stage to safely support the elephants (with “a hundred and fifty railway sleepers placed perpendicularly underneath”). Furthermore, there was no stabling nearby and so the animals “had to be taken through the black-out in all weathers to Great Ormond Street, a mile-and-a-half away” (ibid). The stage circus was fortunate (“it was a comparatively quiet period”) and no bombs landed near the theatre “until two days before the finish of our lease”. However, Chessington Zoo itself was less lucky, with a number of bombs landing on the site during the course of the Blitz. It is suspected that the buildings and enclosures were mistaken for a nearby munitions factory and so sustained more than one direct hit, the most deadly being in October 1940, which claimed three (human) lives. Most reports signal that the animals were unharmed excepting an injured ostrich, although various accounts note that various animals, including the penguins and monkeys, escaped their cages (apparently all were safely recaptured). It should also be noted that a number of the animals were removed to another zoo at Paignton for the duration of the war to prevent animal casualties.
A rare and unique piece of Circus history.
