Whipsnade Zoo

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  • Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell (ZSL Secretary 1903-1935) was inspired by a visit to the Bronx Zoological Park to create a park in Britain as a conservation centre. Hall Farm, a derelict farm on the Dunstable Downs, 30 miles (48 km) to the north of London was purchased by the Zoological Society of London in 1926 for £13,480 12s 10d, The site was fenced, roads built and trees planted. The first animals arrived at the park in 1928, including two Lady Amherst's pheasants, a golden pheasant and five red junglefowl. Others soon followed, including muntjac, llama, wombats and skunks. Whipsnade Park Zoo opened on Sunday 23 May 1931. It was the first open zoo in Europe to be easily accessible to the visiting public. The collection of animals was boosted in 1932 by the purchase of a collection from a defunct travelling menagerie and some of the larger animals walked to the zoo from Dunstable station. During the Second World War, the zoo acted as a refuge for animals evacuated from London Zoo. During 1940, 41 bombs fell on the park with little damage to the zoo structure. Some of the ponds in the park are the remains of bomb craters from this period.

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      Whipsnade Zoo

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        Whipsnade Zoo

          35 Archival description results for Whipsnade Zoo

          PRE/5/2 · File · 1952
          Part of ZSL Presidents

          Correspondence between Alan Francis Brooke and Officers of the Zoological Society of London regarding minutes of the Secretaryship Committee, Scientific Meetings, action taken by the Society on the occasion of the death of the Sovereign, the opening of the new boiler house, Council Meetings, the Garden Party at Whipsnade and Ordinary General Meetings

          LEG/18/1 · File · 1987-1989
          Part of Legal

          Correspondence regarding amendments to the Charter and Byelaws, British Waterways Board, Whipsnade and a copy of Transfer of Land at Whipsnade in 1952

          Cox & Danks Ltd
          SUP/5/1/2/73 · File · 1946
          Part of Superintendents

          Correspondence between Cox & Danks Ltd and Geoffrey Marr Vevers regarding orders of wire netting for Whipsnade Zoo

          Drake, Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt
          SEC/11/1/20 · Item · 1943
          Part of ZSL Secretaries

          Letter from Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt Drake to Sheffield Airey Neave about Geoffrey Marr Vevers returning to the Zoological Society of London, and a report on the buildings at Whipsnade

          Duke of Bedford
          SUP/5/1/3/18 · File · 1947
          Part of Superintendents

          Correspondence between the Duke of Bedford and Geoffrey Marr Vevers regarding getting European Bison from Poland, the Curator of the New York Zoological Society sending White-tailed deer to the Zoological Society of London, an offer of Chartley Cattle and Soay Sheep by the Duke of Bedford, a specimen of the under-coat of the Pere David's deer, the early history of Pere David's deer, an Indian Rhino being brought from Calcutta by ZSL Overseer L M Flewin, Wisent bulls in Stockholm, the rearing of Pere David's deer at Whipsnade, an exchange of Parakeets, and the importation of Pere David's deer to Australia,

          Eggler, John
          SUP/5/1/2/88 · File · 1946
          Part of Superintendents

          Correspondence with Geoffrey Marr Vevers regarding John Eggler's resignation from Whipsnade Zoo